This has been a very difficult year. But it has not been all darkness. Robin Sears writes:
For all the pain of this year, let’s also celebrate the solidarity that most of us showed. Conflict sells newspapers, so the tiny number of jerks — anti-vaxxers, covidiots, and gun-wielding conspiracy paranoids — got far more attention than they deserved. Despite their threats, there very few violent clashes. Overwhelmingly, people reached out to help those in need. There is hope in that.
The horrific police killings in the United States produced change as well as tragedy. Cities are banning chokeholds, excessive use of force, and trying to reassert civilian control over what have become heavily armed hostile forces in too many communities. Those smartphone videos first shocked the world, and then lit the fuse that led millions to take to the streets and demand real change on racism.
In the midst of our basest instincts, large numbers of people chose a more noble path. Health care workers, public servants, and volunteers rose to the challenge. And we were forced to confront the deep-seated inequalities in our society:
The virus has revealed growing inequality and social injustice more starkly than we have seen since the Depression era. For the first time there is broad and serious discussion about two previously unthinkable policy steps: guaranteeing a decent basic income for every citizen, and taxing the accumulated wealth of the rich. They may not happen soon, but the genie is out of the bottle and will not easily be forced back down. Like the demand for pensions a century ago, or broad public health care two generations ago, these ideas will become irresistible over time.
This is not to say that we have triumphed. We are far, far from any victory -- particularly as we enter the Christmas season:
Now we go into one of the most emotionally difficult holiday seasons of our lives. Mourning the ones we have lost, fearful about who might be next, lonely for the embrace of distant family and friends. Some will view any holiday cheer as unseemly in the face of so many in pain. The opposite is true. There is no better time to show determination and even laughter at our surviving this awful year. And celebrating the promised changes in race relations, policing and public health the pandemic brought.
Traditionally, Christmas is a time when we look forward to a better world. The pandemic has shown us why we desperately need a better world.
6 comments:
Not sure I can share Sears' optimism, Owen. I guess time will tell, but my feeling is that as the sense of crisis gradually fades, so will the memories of the horrific things we should never forget.
I'm caught between two possibilities, Lorne. People have occasionally risen to a challenge. I'm hoping this is one such time. Unfortunately, human history is full of examples of greed and myopia.
As you say, time will tell.
Re people have occasionally risen to the challenge!
The challenge of Covid has yet to be exposed.
Until the local ER has no beds available for emergencies there are too many that will party on , travel to winter climates for the the season and generally disrupt our daily lives.
It's sad that we live in a world that promotes personal freedoms above responsibility.
TB
.. I'm an 'unpublished author' and an artist.. But as Marshall McLuhan and his co-athor and translator Derrick de Kerckhove posited.. 'generalists' like me would 'man the outposts of Culture and Technology'. Along the way I found so many who were exactly who they had described. People like you, or my sister,. Like Lorne, Mound.. people who evolved into Social Media warriors. They're all over Indy Media, posting, painting, blogging, tweeting, singing.. and are of any age as well ! But the main thing is.. 'they're chock full of try'.. and the doing of..
What the 'politicians', Public Servants & Mainstream Media seem incapable of 'managing' cannot put a dent in the collective power of the individual warriors.. the Greta Thunbergs.. or the 'retiree' Dan Rather or a 'Kap' - Colin Kaepernick, or a man choked out on the street and dying.. or a nurse in an Alberta COVID ICU. Look what happened when Ms Jane Philpott resigned to uphold 'principle'. She immediately volunteered in her local Ontario hospital.. She's a Doctor - and this is a Pandemic.
For every spoiled brat a la Poilievre or Rempel - there are 100,000 Canadians step up to bat every single day. For every BBQ guy in Toronto there are thousands who text their friends.. and communicate. I do not know what is cooking in the minds or kitchens of this country.. but I take great satisfaction that I do know its going to be 'good' - real good, damn good.. Its the way Canada builds us.. its the way Spaceship Earth needs to work.. we're all passengers
Selfishness has always been one of humanity's most salient characteristics, TB.
Precisely, sal. We're all passengers on the same spaceship. And we will survive or perish together.
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