If all you ever did was read news reports, you might start to believe that nothing good ever happens in the world and the Zombie Apocalypse is truly upon us. War everywhere you look. Class wars. Political wars. Religious wars. Race wars. The whole concept of community and cooperation is increasingly cast aside. These various combatants are engaged in a desperate quest for media coverage and the power it brings to shape public opinion. The thing is, we each have a choice as individuals to either follow along or to say no, this isn’t the world I want to live . This isn’t the country I want to live in.
During the last election, I heard a story about an elderly man who had put a Liberal sign on his front lawn every election since the 1970s. His neighbours all knew he was a proud Liberal and when he didn’t put up a sign that year they were surprised. When asked, he said the was afraid to put up a sign because he couldn’t afford to have his car or his home targeted by people who hate Liberals. One of his young neighbours, a Conservative, heard about this and put a big Liberal sign up in his yard on the other man’s behalf. When people asked him about it he said he was still a proud Conservative and he wasn’t changing his vote. He just felt he had to take a stand to say people shouldn’t be afraid to put an election sign up in their yards no matter who they vote for. It’s just an election, it shouldn’t change who we are and it shouldn’t make us forget what’s right and wrong.
And that’s the country I want to live in.
