If we scrutinize the truckers for unacceptable flaws, we should also turn a critical eye toward the people who have controlled our lives over the past two years.
I always had the distinct impression our capital city was populated by a majority of rather smug, suburban bureaucrats. Now these "hard-done-by citizens" tell us they are "accustomed to demonstrations but that this time it was different". This time, it seems to me, they resented having their quiet respectability disturbed by working-class people - people who knew their rights, understood the sleight-of-hand played on all of us over the last 2 years and most awful of all were able to express love and happiness -- for 3 weeks straight.
If the lofty pompadoured fellow and his colleagues in parliament had had the humility to listen to Canadians' concerns months ago, this present cruel and disgraceful response could have been avoided.
Thank you so much, Annabelle. You powerfully describe the flaws that this crisis revealed. We at Ottawa will have to work harder on practicing humility, gratefulness and peace from the heart.
P.S. Thank you also for your insightful comment on my previous post. For some reason, Substack sent your comment to my email but did not post it on the blog. I emailed them to ask for technical help in fixing this problem.
Pasted below is the reply that I received from Substack about the technical problem of your previous comment not posting (even though I received it in my email). It seems that comments are now posting again, so hopefully this problem will not affect future comments. Best, Gefen
From Substack:
"For the comment issue, is the reader able to see the comment if they were to look right now? Could they possibly try to comment again and send us a screenshot if successful and any error messages if they aren't successful?"
Thank you for a beautiful piece! It breaks my heart to see what has happened to society. I just don't understand how society lost its willingness to talk with those it disagrees with. I am devastated, and terrified of the slippery slope we are on.
Thank you, Julius. These are exactly my feelings and those of some other people I know who say that they cannot recognize Canada. The beautiful pieces that you wrote over the last few weeks will give us much strength and a moral compass during the peaceful struggle ahead.
This will be a constructive trauma that will help us to rebuild and speak clearly about principles that must be peacefully defended (as you have done all along).
Thanks so much for this heartfelt essay.
I always had the distinct impression our capital city was populated by a majority of rather smug, suburban bureaucrats. Now these "hard-done-by citizens" tell us they are "accustomed to demonstrations but that this time it was different". This time, it seems to me, they resented having their quiet respectability disturbed by working-class people - people who knew their rights, understood the sleight-of-hand played on all of us over the last 2 years and most awful of all were able to express love and happiness -- for 3 weeks straight.
If the lofty pompadoured fellow and his colleagues in parliament had had the humility to listen to Canadians' concerns months ago, this present cruel and disgraceful response could have been avoided.
Thank you so much, Annabelle. You powerfully describe the flaws that this crisis revealed. We at Ottawa will have to work harder on practicing humility, gratefulness and peace from the heart.
P.S. Thank you also for your insightful comment on my previous post. For some reason, Substack sent your comment to my email but did not post it on the blog. I emailed them to ask for technical help in fixing this problem.
I need to practise those things too!
All the best!
Pasted below is the reply that I received from Substack about the technical problem of your previous comment not posting (even though I received it in my email). It seems that comments are now posting again, so hopefully this problem will not affect future comments. Best, Gefen
From Substack:
"For the comment issue, is the reader able to see the comment if they were to look right now? Could they possibly try to comment again and send us a screenshot if successful and any error messages if they aren't successful?"
Thank you for a beautiful piece! It breaks my heart to see what has happened to society. I just don't understand how society lost its willingness to talk with those it disagrees with. I am devastated, and terrified of the slippery slope we are on.
Thank you, Julius. These are exactly my feelings and those of some other people I know who say that they cannot recognize Canada. The beautiful pieces that you wrote over the last few weeks will give us much strength and a moral compass during the peaceful struggle ahead.
Thank you Gefen! I am in complete shock at what has happened over these past days.
This shock will help in the long run to peacefully defend truth and humanity against power-oriented behavior.
This will be a constructive trauma that will help us to rebuild and speak clearly about principles that must be peacefully defended (as you have done all along).