Canada at war, 2021.

 

Canada at war, 2021.

My mom used to tell a story about a soul that found itself in the afterlife with everything turning to gold. It may have been an opera in Europe. It occurred to me that someone may write about people around us being condemned to exist in a Hell where everything turned into black gold or bitumen. Art influences people.

There is a pandemic going on, economic disaster looming because of supply chain issues, drought affecting food supplies, racial problems, migrant crisis, democracy failing in neighbouring countries, and now floods and fires right next to us. Hospitals full, shortage of homes, food banks stretched to limits, labour shortage, medical professionals leaving, and above all, people fighting each other over politics or how to combat the disasters. I remember myself as a child saying, mom, why is God letting bad things happen? She answered, He is not doing it; we are.

Canada was at war just a few years ago against Afghanistan on the other side of the planet. 40,000 Canadian troops were deployed, 159 died and over two billion dollars were used up. This morning I heard on the news that Canadian armed forces are being deployed in BC and saw videos of soldiers, planes, and helicopters. Not far from here, there is devastation greater than what many wars cause. Fires caused by a Heat Dome and soon after floods by an Atmospheric River, destroyed many Canadian lives. Meteorologists agree that the primary cause is global warming. The manufactured news financed by my taxes and fossil fuel industries is working overtime to dispute. We have been broadsided, and the crew is arguing if there really is a problem.

While we focused on the news from the destroyed Fraser Valley, some black-clad military force attacked the Wet’suwet’en first nation in northern BC. The gas pipeline company made a deal, ignoring the hereditary chiefs government of the nation that owns the land. They installed another government and told the nation to be happy with some jobs.

From space, you can see a blue planet that is perfect for life as we know it. On the dark side, you see lights, mostly where there is a concentrated wealthy human population. The world of humans was all dark half a century ago. Now humans harnessed sun energy stored in the ground and made life easier for the lucky few and the others wish to share in the bounty. If they all do without changing the source, they will damage the host and the game will be over. Nature is testing us.

The test is serious and failing is an option we shouldn’t even consider. It could easily become the final test. Many of us have been enjoying the good times and not doing our homework. Some are panicking while others are ignoring the writing on the wall, letting someone else handle the problems if they will. The sad reality is that we already used up the time we had to study for the test. We are facing many tests. We slept in and the car broke down. Thankfully, humans don’t normally break down in times of despair, instead, we strengthen our resolve.

I dug up an old documentary by the National Film Board of Canada.

“OUTBREAK: Anatomy of the 1885 Montreal Smallpox Epidemic”

It showed the same situation as now. People were dying, but a stubborn minority was going wild in an attempt to stop the vaccinations. Some places instituted mandatory vaccinations but a lot of damage was done. The way that pandemics work is spreading through the path of least resistance. It looks like people are getting the upper hand until close to the end when large numbers are infected spreading it out of control. At that point, it’s too late.

I tested the theory (not really) that our rights are being taken away. I tried to fly to another country. No, they will not allow me without my shots. Well, I tried a smaller test. I went to a restaurant with no pants on. They stopped me even as I was complaining about my constitutional rights. I showed them a study confirming that pants can restrict my ability to have children, and they laughed at me. How insulting. Now I realized people are more concerned with potential death than my constitutional rights or freedoms and gave up.

Next, I took aim at the supply chain problems. It must be the Lefties demanding too much pay. A kind old economist told me to look again. It is a problem with capitalism trying to be too efficient; he said. We used to store goods for sale until it was needed. Now we order what is presold and expect it to be there when we need it. Any disruption stops the flow. We have such disruption with labour he said. As long as we kept unemployment at about 5% we could always hire some desperate unemployed people. Now when we were forced to pay people to stay home or face massive bills for health care, while we also couldn’t find proper care for children, we lost that edge. Austerity and efficiency provide very little flexibility. We went overboard; I concluded.

The world is a mess, so I look again at The Pass, where I live. It was named paradise by a wise woman who now passed away. Here live older people and the average income is low. I don’t see poverty, nor great wealth. There are no signs of war. We have fewer cases of the pandemic than most places. People express their differences while helping each other regardless of opinions.

Paradise is where people share, help each other, tolerate differences, and we have it here in a mountain pass. No one is filthy rich, and no one is left behind. The local government has honour and traffic stops in the middle of the street to let you cross. I found Heaven without dying. Thank you, great creator.

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