Twelve days are all it took—twelve days for one vengeful man bent on punishing those who tried to bring him (justifiably) to justice to make proclamations, declarations and policies clearly meant to divide and further an agenda that has angered many across the world. While his supporters and his own party blindly support him, it is evident that there are key figures involved who would like to return the world to 1950.
February 1st, 2025, in my opinion, should be considered Patriot Day in Canada. Across social media and throughout the news, Canadians are waking up and realizing that we need to stand up to this man and people of all stripes. This is not and should not be about politics. Whether you are liberal or conservative in your beliefs, we should all realize that, fundamentally, this is a threat to our democracy. In Canada, we are free to disagree. We can have all kinds of beliefs and can be anti-anything. It’s our right as a free person. But being anti-anything also does not mean our opinions can make the changes we see developing south of our border. We are, by and large, a tolerant nation. That is our wheelhouse. As divided as things can be, we don’t threaten each other with the mass of guns available (we have guns here too). We don’t elect one person to walk into the office and make unwilling changes to our daily lives. There are processes to observe, laws to abide by, and a constitution to obey. We don’t all have to like it, but we must respect it.
I have interacted with many who are of the opposite mindset, as most of us have in the last while. While it astounds me that this is so, I also have to acknowledge that I am as out there as they are from their perspective. But even so, I don’t think that most of these Individuals would want to impose these kinds of restrictions and changes without a democratic process. It’s just common sense. Unfortunately, some would do that, but thankfully, they are in the minority, at least for now.
For the last four years, the world has bounced back from the chaos this man created. Yes, there are many problems still challenging society; there always will be. There are wars, religious and political conflicts, and social and economic issues that need to be addressed. Some will, some may never be. But the human condition we all live by is one hope of the possibility of change for the greater good. Of course, we disagree, but we don’t have to hate because of that.
The rights of marginalized people, for instance, have always been precarious. As a devout humanitarian, it’s in my DNA to root for the underdog. Who are we to decide what someone should identify as? Who are we to decide who should live and who should not? What gives us the right to decide who has rights? We are all born the same way. We pop out of a uterus and through no fault of our own, are immediately judged by our colour, ethnicity, family ties, economic situation, religion or lack thereof, all before you even take your first breath. It’s wild.
At this particular moment, as Canadians, economics are enough to make us take note. The tariffs being imposed on our economy are entirely unnecessary. We live in a global economy, and proof of that is that as I sit at my desk and write, I see all the products sitting in front of me that are here because they literally come from everywhere. There is not one nation on earth that does not depend on other countries for products and services. Do we grow our own bananas? How about raw resources? Do we all grow our own trees, mine our own metals, or pump our own oil from the ground and then process it for all the petroleum products we consume? Logically, we all know the answers to this. But to attain a position in life where we can enjoy and share these things, we must also strive for peace because, without it, we have chaos.
Should this man continue down this path of self-destruction and mayhem, something will have to change dramatically. It’s just physics. There is only so much give in anything. Keep trying to bend something, and eventually, it will break. Keep making changes to a mass of people out of spite, and spite will be mirrored back at you a million-fold. It won’t be pretty unless someone wakes up and actually abides by their own laws and says, ‘Enough is enough.’ This will require courage, but I still believe in humanity. I am, after all, Canadian.
Please, my fellow Canadians. Put away your hate, put away your grievances. Save our country, save our way of life. Rise to the occasion. We are all one nation, the greatest country in the world to live in. Don’t allow one man to change this. Look further than your own front yard. We must stand together.
Bill's Musings 