Changes, or how I never thought I would miss the last guy.
My word it has been a while.
Over the time I have not been here many things have changed, as they tend to do. And the other things that haven't changed are the ones that will bring you down.
Now, you know I can't resist talking at least a little about politics. So let's get that out of the way.
Alberta, we are on the cliff. As of July 1, 2022 (according to Google) our province's population was 4,543, 111. That is a lot of people. Through the magic of politics, 42000 people elected our current leader, on their sixth shot at it. I am sure you know about our current leader. How can you go anywhere without hearing about her next try at speaking her truth into existence and then backtracking on what she said like a three year with red hands telling you that they aren't the one who got red paint all over your walls?
I never thought I would be able to say anything positive about our last leader, but at least Kenbabe never seemed to be actively trying to tear our province apart. The divide between rural and urban areas was stoked by his government and his lack of care. But this new leader really seems to be working towards ensuring that the two groups will never find any sort of common ground again.
Remember that cliff I spoke about before? Here is where it really comes in. A few posts back I mentioned how we seem to be a few steps behind our neighbours to the south when it comes to political consequences. And this timeline is being accelerated by someone who really doesn't care about us. Even less than the last guy did, at least he realized that he needed us to move forward. Our current leader has bought the Kool-Aid and is working towards force-feeding it to all of us.
I don't know what it's going to take to wake up the people who support her. The logical argument doesn't work, nor will reason. Compassion has been replaced by the need to be right. The real problem though is that that statement can be said from both sides. The virus of ego and refusing to listen is spreading. We are heading toward a place we swore we would never go back to. Discrimination is on the rise, goodwill towards others is falling fast, and the far right tried to take over the German government. It feels like a rerun. And yet here we are.
The time to turn this car around is now, we need to start working to make sure people turn up on election day (should one ever be called). We need to remind each other that it isn't us versus them, we need to be all in this together if we are going to affect the change we need.
It's not enough to find people who think like you and agree while not speaking up when you hear something that you can't stand for. Hoping they'll go away or be miraculously changed isn't working. It's time to get uncomfortable. We need to stop pretending that was has happened in the past will never happen again. We are on the same path and the snowball just keeps getting bigger.
Maybe my next post will be a little more fun. Maybe. It is the holiday season after all.
Inspired by a Bloody Sunday. This one was on a September afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young black girls were killed by a white supremacist terror attack. A group blew up the 16th Street Baptist Church. After Simone heard about the attack she was ready to act. She started to gather the things she needed. Including weapons. She wanted to go out and kill. To take from the cowards who had perpetrated the act as they had taken away from her community. Her husband stopped her and reminded her who she was.
Instead of rushing the streets she sat down and wrote this song.
Here we are so many years later, and instead of moving forward and hearing the message, and treating each other as equals, we have stalled and are going back. Is this what we want?
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