Amazing Grace

Occasionally grace takes your breath away.

There I was, Saturday morning, cradling my coffee, and reading the usual diet of death, despair, and scandal. Page 3 carried the headline “Tamahori busted in LA sex sting”. A famous New Zealand film director dressed in a black wig and off-the-shoulder dress had been arrested after offering sex for money to an undercover cop.

It was the sort of juicy story that newspapers and their readers love. The glamour of film and wealth, in the heathen heart of Hollywood, laced with kinky sex, takes a tumble at the hands of the law.

The journalists immediately pursued all who knew or worked with Lee Tamahori for comment, trying to make a big story bigger.

Enter Cliff Curtis, the well known New Zealand actor, who had worked with Lee on Once Were Warriors. Cliff’s comment was, “I didn’t know he did those kinds of things. I just hope he’s okay and his family and son are okay.”

My coffee cup stopped in midair and I re-read that comment. What a kind comment. What a loving generous response in the face of a media feeding frenzy. What amazing grace.

I spent the rest of the day in awe of Cliff Curtis.