DU JOUR ISSUES
Friday, October 15, 2021
To be sure, I cannot tell where I stand on every issue du jour, don’t know if my opinion is sufficiently justified or well informed. I’d love to be doubtless about everything, but I’m not. Yes, we all need to care about all these pressing issues – but we get tired. And quagmired. The quality of our intentions, methinks, is best focused on what is most important and urgent. Essential for whom? Critical for whom? Often, what is urgent/important for any of us is not the same as what is most urgent/important for all of us. It’s hard enough to get consensus in a committee of three, so it’s ludicrous to expect we can reach consensus and/or give a call-to-action that resonates with 7.5 billion people. But before we can unite behind any cause, we each need to decide what we care about, what we believe strongly enough about, and choose the hills we’ll die on, choose which issues are worth living for, worth fighting for – the most. But it’s more than triage or prioritization. Being overloaded, unfocused, or unclear leaves us concentrating too weakly on too many things, without sufficient resources or energy to be very effective at anything. For now, I will focus on things I can do something about, cast my ballot for what I believe is best and NOT delegate my proxy to anyone who might pretend to speak for me. As long as I can speak for myself, I’ll hit SEND, point-click, and shout from my soapbox. As has been said, and re-said, not nearly often enough, the times, they are a-changin’
Any dialogue lately about politics, climate change, vaccinations, COVID-19, government policies, back-to-work dynamics, and leadership – with anyone – will, more often than not, reveal wide variances of opinion. We can bite our tongues for a while, but how much tension can we all combat?
Reacting, and knowing our point of view, is often instantaneous and knee-jerk; whether words pass over our lips or click on ENTER or SEND, it’s out there. In our technology-rife society, I find there is a tendency to say too much rather than too little and to speak too soon more than too late.
We don’t use our power of silence enough, but I wonder – do these contentious issues of the day produce different results than controversial issues of yesterday? Or not?
I recall race issues in the 1960s, anti-war protests too, abortion rights, women’s rights, capital punishment – each mattered then, and surely they weigh as heavily now. But, were people as prone then to such deep divide about those issues as they are now?
In an era when computer mouse clicks can equate to public-park soapbox shouting, are we Tweeting because we can, or should we be shouting because we care? Media and politicians are wise to these trends and use them to their advantage while giving short shrift to obscure people without a soapbox or an audience.
When we think someone with an opposing view is crazy, we can confront them, rage online about them, or talk about them to our friends in terms like, “You wouldn’t believe what Bob said about vaccinations.”
We’ve all been doing it. It’s time we stop. Not because we suddenly became less right or they became less wrongheaded – but beating up on friends and neighbours because we can’t agree on the terms of agreeing to disagree is an absurd waste of energy and brain cells.
Yes, pandemic-driven issues are real; healthcare systems are stretched far beyond circuit-breaker triggering measures – we know this, all too painfully. And yes, somebody should have known better, planned better, regulated better, seen it coming better, etc. The truth is, worldwide, experts have predicted our current troubles – some more presciently than others, but widely within the regulatory and academic communities, while we (via our politicians and business leaders as our proxy) ignored advice (as we continue to do) about being better prepared.
Why aren’t we arguing about tolerance and understanding?
Why aren’t we arguing about how we can help people in need?
Why aren’t we opening our doors and rolling out the welcome mat for those who feel disenfranchised from an equitable life?
I watched a film about elder abuse the other day, and then I read a news account of the treatment of people in a homeless camp in Wetaskiwin where their council is not providing support and threatening fines against people and organizations who want to help. In each of those examples – one near, one far away – realization these issues are present in our backyard, in everyone’s backyard, make me wonder why we are fighting each other on some matters and maintaining silence on too many others.
For those of us thinking we’ve passed our best-before dates, it’s time to give our heads a shake and remember this adage, “If we aren’t part of the solution, then we are part of the problem.”
Are you confused about who to vote for, for Mayor? see it on YouTube - Your Vote Matters! ... 20 Mayor Candidates – 3 minute each - a collaborative project presented by THIRD ACTion Film Festival and Kerby Centre
Reader feedback:
Well said Mark, DS, Calgary, AB