Tag: respect

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Respectful Summer Get Togethers

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Messages that feel like commands – even good advice coming from a friend- aren’t always received well. If you feel like you’re being pushed into a corner, you’re more likely to push back.

Elena Renken

Most stories being told around the world right now seem to share several common distressing themes. Inflation and what is driving it. The war in Ukraine. The Pope’s apology to Canadian residential school survivors. Heat waves creating unbearable conditions in parts of the world that normally don’t have them. Fires, droughts, floods all predictable as a result of our continued environmental destruction.

And then the predictable debates about who, what, and how we should address climate action.

Affordable housing crisis, food insecurity, moving into a recession, extraordinary gas prices, and of course the ever present supply chain issues. Gun violence. School shootings. Grocery store shootings. Mall shootings. Continued anger about Covid vaccine mandates and the odd, lingering protest about public health guidelines. Populist political bullying, dismantling women’s right to choose, coupled with a full on attack on “woke” culture.

And you’ll never guess who’s back delivering mayhem and ridiculous soundbites cause he got raided by the FBI?

The stories we are telling each other range from angry conflict that sometimes disintegrates into outright chaos all the way to a senseless war across the ocean. This polarizing rhetoric gains traction as people are not feeling heard and from dangerous people who then take license to impose their will through bullying behaviour or use of force.

When did we stop listening to each other. Agreeing to disagree. Respecting democratic institutions that we have taken pride in building. Collectively. Collaboratively. It seems so far away from the world I thought I knew. Disenfranchised people whose demands across social media are no longer about civil society but about individuals rights and freedoms.

What does that actually mean? When I hear the word freedom right now, I know my personal definition can’t be similar to fellow Canadians who decided to disrupt and destroy the narrative most familiar to me. Horns blaring because Freedom. My freedom trumps yours.

How do I listen to their stories and really hear them?

Would anything make it easier for them to hear my stories?

All stories matter and have the potential to shape attitudes that colour our views on relationships, politics, and our society. But they have little meaning when we stop listening to one another. And when we also stop caring about the importance of the stories that each of us needs to tell.

It seems bizarre that at a time when we need to come together to address so many challenges that we keep moving far apart.

But there are glimmers of hope. Right?

I can’t help but remain hopeful that the celebrations we have this summer have mostly remained respectful of the stories that each one of us carries in our hearts. No matter how different it seems from our value base and moral codes.

We have a long ways to go but if we all learn to listen a little more, we just might make the upcoming fall and winter a different story than the one told last year.

Stay happy and safe this summer!

Featured

Words to live by…

Source: Anonymous

Watching the events that have been unfolding south of the border, has been astonishing and upsetting in equal measures. As a woman, I have grown up in a time and culture where human rights are at times hard to come by. But once enshrined, it seemed inconceivable that the right to make choices could just be erased.

As the world grapples with a war, climate change, roaring inflation, threats to income and food security, it just boggles the mind that we will likely be facing another summer of social discontent. And given the previous power struggles over how to manage the pandemic, one can only hope for a better display of human civility.

The time is now to work with one another collaboratively rather than pulling even further apart on ideological issues that drive self-serving politics. There are simply too many tangible pressing world needs that must be addressed with immediacy.

If only our world could be sprinkled with a modicum of respect, kindness, and care, imagine how far we could go together.

Stay healthy and safe!

Remembrance Day – November 11th

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In Flander’s Fields

In Flander’s fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the dead, short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flander’s fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high

If ye break faith with us who die.

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

in Flander’s fields.

(From Poet.org – in public domain, written by John McCrae 1918)

We’re not quite there yet…

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If we lose love and respect for each other, this is how we finally die

Maya Angelou

Watching the news last evening my heart skipped a couple of beats as I watched the first woman in the United Kingdom become the first recipient of the vaccine for Covid-19. That is until, the next stories aired, which were about anti-mask demonstrations in my province, seniors dying in nursing homes, and the usual nonsense from the outgoing President of the United States who continues to wreak havoc.

So how do we get through the next number of months until most of the globe receives the vaccine? Surveys indicate that a sizeable portion of our population will not participate in this process and that larger numbers of people in our community will fall ill before those who want the opportunity to become immune to this virus actually have a chance to do so. How does this level of dissonance play out?

What are the chances I wonder, that people will begin to respect each other long enough to reach the finish line in this global race that we are in together? My fervent hopes are that reason and rationale will be restored, misinformation will disappear from social media and other sources, and that for what is likely only several months of next year, we will once again pull together by staying apart to keep each other safe.

Stay healthy and well!!

We Shall Remember Them

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The world doesn’t belong to leaders, the world belongs to all humanity

Dalai Lama

This year, Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies will take place virtually across the country. Our time honoured tradition of pausing for a moment of silence during the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month has not been cancelled due to COVID.

This past week on one of our local radio stations, listeners have been sharing stories from across our province, of relatives who served in either the First or the Second World War. It has been illuminating to learn about these personal stories telling of the psychological and physical impacts that have shaped families, and our communities. It drove home the need we all have to take the time to learn about this part of our past to help us to understand the freedoms gained that most often get taken for granted.

As we watch the unfolding drama and conflicts taking place around the world, now has never been a better time to try and develop appreciation for times when others made personal sacrifices for the greater good.

Lest we forget.

Sifting through a kaleidoscope of emotion

Photo by L. Meyer

The dark does not destroy the light; it defines it. It’s our fear of the dark that casts our joy into shadows.

Brene Brown

It seems challenging to say the least, to stay grounded and positive with so much anxiety and uncertainty looming in our lives these days. It seems that many of us are experiencing an ongoing kaleidoscope of mixed emotions.

We may be watching to understand how the return to school for students around the globe will turn out.

Waiting for information about the timing of a safe vaccine.

Worrying about political pandemonium close to home.

Wondering about the possibility and probability of a second wave.

Feeling frustrated that the positivity of earlier months in the pandemic seems to have vanished.

Being courageous during trying times requires conscious and mindful attention to all that is good in our lives. Finding the self-knowledge within to understand that life is about seeking balance. Being grateful for what we have. Recognizing that shifting between the positive and negative allows us to see the value of both.

Reaching out to our people as often as we can. Our connections with one another remain the most important aspects of our lives. Respecting that will enable us all to safely get through these trying times. May you find both joy and light during these difficult times.

Stay healthy and safe!