This is why I would like to quit my job...
I just received the following text as an attachment in an email from my boss. He spent the weekend deleting and/or crossing out large sections of the first two chapters in the draft I’ve been writing for the last couple of weeks. He also suggested I head to the bookstore to take a look at some books from the “Dummies” series to get an idea of a more appropriate writing style. Then he drafted a new opening to the handbook we’re writing that reads like this…
“You may already know where the idea for this handbook about marae encounters originally came from. If not, no worries. You are not alone.
Here is the story. Like many people, you may harbor a secret longing to visit and vacation in beautiful, far-off New Zealand. Possibly you have heard how great the trout fishing is there. Or how beautiful are New Zealand’s hiking trails. How incredibly welcoming and friendly are the local inhabitants. If not, no worries. This handbook is not about New Zealand as a place you may or may not want to visit, but as a place where it is possible to find really neat ideas. Like the idea of marae encounters.
If truth be told, almost nobody outside this beautiful nation in the South Pacific even today at the start of the 21st century knows much about New Zealand, or New Zealand’s “First People,” who are called the Maori. Well, again if truth be told, this isn’t quite right. Strictly speaking, the Maori people of New Zealand are not really called the Maori, at least not by themselves. The word “maori” in Maori doesn’t mean “First people,” or for that matter, even “people.” No, this ancient word in Maori just means “ordinary.” But ordinary in a special way—in the sense of “normal,” “natural,” or “down to earth.” Hence you may agree with us that it makes perfect sense for people who are not Maori to call the first people who colonized New Zealand—they did so around 800-1,000 years ago—the “Maori.” Or more properly speaking (at any rate, in the Maori language of the Maori), “tangata maori.” That is, a “human being.”
Now you may be wondering how the idea of marae encounters comes into play here… .”
Yep, that’s real… not a joke. I have to get out of there.
HELP!
