Sunday, July 26, 2020





Choices


Here in the Gatineau Hills, we temper our days to the weather—the simmering heat, the torrential rains, the rare temperate days. We do this because we live here in greenery that reminds us always of our small part inside a natural world. It is much harder to find this in the city. On weekends now, huge crowds of people venture our way from the city’s cement grey streets in search of rivers and lakes and trees. They feel like an invasion and our little municipalities scramble to find rules and regulations and parking lots while residents, although somewhat used to this in the past, are shocked at the numbers of visitors now. Human beings in times of trouble seek the familiar, the fun, the meaningful. Those of us who get to live it everyday sometimes forget or are lucky never to have known what it is like to hear sirens instead of songbirds in the morning. It is a revelation and a rebellion to touch a tree and not a traffic pole.

How long now have we been in this strange new world? We lose track of time. Has it been four months or five? Does it matter? Mostly we want to know when it will all end. And there are no promises there. And so, for us, so used to predictability and freedom and positive thinking and achievable goals and controlling every little thing, all of this wears on us. We are not used to this. We can be angry, frustrated, anxious, worried, bored, cranky and sometimes deeply peevish. We’ve all been there. It’s just important not to stay there. Which is much easier said than done. It is about finding the stillness inside the noise. And there is and will be a lot of noise. Nobody said it would be easy. Cultural revolutions rarely are. 

And that is where we are.

And when you’re in a revolution, reason hardly matters. In fact, it is reason that can be your enemy. Reason and revolution are hardly compatible. Inside revolutions, the truth is never known until all is said and done. In a world where every argument has a counter argument, every fact has an alternate fact, every known an unknown, and everybody has an opinion, reason will drive you mad. Some would say this is deliberate. Perhaps. It does not matter. This is when you hold on to being “in” the world but not “of” it. Our role is not to take sides but to be still inside the noise until the noise is done. Our role is to find kindness one to another even when we want to rage and argue and judge and shame. At the end of the day it is all most of us can do. One day at a time. One kindness given. One forgiveness sought. One gentle word. One small act of love. We do what needs to be done. We take care of our families, ourselves, our community. We put our faith in love and not hate. It is the wise that understand that choice. It is the brave that understand that sometimes you have to fight for love. And the wisest of all understand that love unites and does not divide. 

It is fortunate for us that love and the fight for it is very quiet. It is so quiet you’d hardly notice it was there. It does not tell you what to think, what to own, what to believe, what to argue, what group to join, what political party to vote for, what gun to buy, what everyone should do, what to believe. It does, however, tell us what action to take. In the smallest of things sometimes. The choice for love, for kindness is always there—in every issue. In every small act.

It’s the masks. 

If ever there was galvanized in one issue all the choices we face in an unpredictable world, it would be the masks. We want to rely on reason alone and that is where reason fails. It is also where faith in institutions fails. Do you believe in the WHO, Health Canada, scientists, experts, your neighbour? The virus is a hoax, the virus is real, the masks work, the masks don’t work, the statistics are made up to be worse than they are, the statistics are worse than we are given, it’s a conspiracy by the elite, it’s an experiment for artificial facial recognition, it’s a communist plot, a way for aliens to live freely among us without recognition, a means to make us all scared so we have to get a vaccine so the rich get richer or the evil empire can put in a microchip or because they want us to be controlled and in our homes so that when the asteroid hits, a way to recognize who is selfish and who isn’t…. Reason fails. Reason divides here. We want to rely on common sense and that is where we realize that sense these days is not common at all. Everyone will have a well-researched reason pro or con. It can easily be said however there is one commonality: nobody wants to wear them.

And here in Quebec it is now mandated.  We have to wear them. Well that great divisive thing was settled wasn’t it? And yes, in a democracy when people can’t agree to be tolerant of other’s choices, that’s how it goes. It was a way to err on the side of caution when people are getting sick and dying. And now we have to live with it—all those who wanted masks are vindicated and all those who didn’t want them are not. And that can lead to trouble. There are a lot of angry people wearing masks they don’t want to and a lot of vindicated people who are ruthlessly and righteously on guard for those who don’t. The fervour on both sides is palpable. For some, the wearing or not wearing of masks is the red-line in the sand. It is where they take their stand. Even though it is all very early in this game of what will happen. So be still. Breathe. One day at a time.

When you come across someone who isn’t wearing a mask you have four choices: 1) You stay away from them and do your own thing, 2) You ask them kindly why they aren’t wearing a mask and hope to learn from each other 3) You scream, argue and shame them. 4) You report them. Which choice does love and kindness give you?

Love may not be reason, but love is reasonable. We need to listen to each other and stay on guard that we do not become the monsters we fight. Be kind.

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