Marg Johnson
That’s it. Take me out. I’m done.
I am sick and tired of listening to certain people bemoan their loss of freedom, their conspiracy theories (horse urine in COVID-19 vaccinations? You can’t make this stuff up), and their belief in our earth as flat.
If the complainers bothered to study a little science or world history they would know that many diseases have killed large numbers in quick order. Have they never heard of polio, scarlet fever, mumps, red measles, tuberculosis, or polio? Why? Because these fatal and contagious disease have been virtually eradicated by mandatory vaccination programs that made EVERYONE in Canada safe.
The history that’s studied in our public schools has been so watered down and bastardized that there is little mention of the wondrous things Canadians have accomplished by looking outwards, to their communities, to their province, their country and allies.
Nobody enjoys killing people — unless there’s an underlying pathological diagnosis at play. Yet throughout our history men and women have joined the Canadian Armed Forces and headed overseas to stop wickedness in its tracks. This willingness to be peacemakers and defenders of allies is what has given Canada its esteemed international reputation.
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) of the 1970s didn’t throw a gazillion dollars overseas trying to buy friends. It picked its targets and provided physical help in the form of teachers and builders, along with the supplies needed to transfer the skills onsite to get a country going.
You know the expression: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” Well, CIDA built the airport in Sri Lanka. Did you know that?
No, probably not, because Canadians don’t boast of their accomplishments. I discovered it only when we flew through Sri Lanka with my dad (CIDA). The border control officers there didn’t look at our passports, medical papers, or baggage. The first man to see dad’s CIDA stamp shouted across the airport to his co-workers. “Hey! This man’s country built our airport!”
We were glad-handed, applauded, congratulated, and seated in a taxi within minutes.
Canada seems to have lost that strength. The self-centred and judgmental making so much noise these days need to get their heads out of their butts and learn to look at The Big Picture.
They need to learn to really see who and what we are as a country. Stop virtue signalling. Get vaccinated. Think of somebody other than yourself. Make the welfare of fellow Canadians your focus.
That’s the Canadian way. And it’s good enough for me.
Sarnia’s Marg Johnson is a retired Certified Child & Youth Worker who formerly worked with behaviour children as an educational assistant at the York Catholic District School Board.