Tag Archives: politics

What has become of Politics?

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It used to be an honourable race. You may not have liked a politician but he or she received and afforded respect. Now it has become mean, disrespectful and vile. People are voting for who will do the least amount of damage. We don’t know who is best for the job because all we hear is malicious rhetoric.

Nowadays scandals are more important than policies and everyone likes to twist the facts to their own agenda. What happened to honesty and honour? Political Bashing has become a favourite occupation of politicians and their voters. Why?

As a child I used to listen to my parents discuss an upcoming election. They would talk about platforms and policies and which party had the best track record of fulfilling their promises. It was a conversation that was repeated in cafés and restaurants, pubs and parks. People talked, they didn’t fight. There was no mean spirited name-calling or vile innuendos flung at each other. We listened, we discussed, we bantered and then we shook hands and moved on.

Elections used to be exciting times. Everyone wanted what was best for the country, the city, the province. We were in this together, including the politicians. The candidates were people we knew and respected even if we didn’t agree with their policies. And if your party lost, then you’d shrug your shoulders and move on. There was always next time. Now people cry ‘foul’ and scream even louder that the winning party did something wrong, sabotage!

I am tired of the bashing that has become so systemic in politics.  This reeks of desperate posturing.  I want to hear the truth about motives.  Have you lied?  What benefits and promises have you kept and if not, why?  What do you want to do realistically? Politicians have become a joke or a meme.  Change that.  Make us proud of you again.  Stop fear mongering and political bashing.

I am not the only one that wants change . . . the right change!

The Anatomy of the Truth

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People say that the truth is not black or white and that it means something different to different people.  I agree with those sentiments.  Police will tell you that if four different people see the same accident you will have four different eyewitness accounts.  They may all have seen the same accident but they interpret what they have seen differently.  How we process information is directly related to our past experiences.

 When individuals deal with crisis situations they deal with it individually.  If you are dealing with a disease, there are others in similar circumstances.  We may have the same disease but it manifests itself differently in each case and we process and deal with that manifestation as individuals. People ask me how I deal with the pain associated with MS.  I don’t have any pain.  People ask how I deal with the lack of sensation associated with MS.  My sensation is just fine.  It is difficult for people to understand just how different this disease can be from the next person’s.  And you can’t blame them.  People can only understand what they are told and it is difficult to fully explain a disease that is so idiosyncratic.

 It is not my job to teach people about MS.  It is not my job to raise the consciousness of strangers to the problems associated with disabilities.  It is only my job to explain to people honestly what I am facing and what can help me and others, in similar circumstances, if they want to know.  In truth, I can’t force people to care.   The average person is concerned with paying their rent or completing a project for work.  I must respect that and I do.  What I must also do is insure that I am not forgotten or dismissed just because I am different.  People do not have to join my cause but they must respect my fight.  After all, I do respect them, mostly.

The Bumblebees Fly Still

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In a hundred years will anyone remember us?  Will our difficulties, our challenges be issues of the distant past or will people still be fighting the good fight?  What people everywhere want is respect.  I want respect. I want people to see the individual I am and judge me according to the same standards as those without a disability.  But really, in a hundred years will anybody care?  If we are lucky our world will still exist, we won’t have killed ourselves off.  And maybe there won’t be any more disabilities in the world.  Maybe cures will have been found and people healed. I don’t know.  What I do know is that a humble bumblebee doesn’t care if I walk or not.  He doesn’t care that I am banned from some places because I have the temerity to be sitting in a wheelchair.  He cares about his nectar, about rain and the predators that may find him tasty.  My problems, my issues are mine, not his.  Hopefully his kind will continue to fly long after I am dust and a distant memory, because I plan on being remembered.  With luck people will remember that I tried to help.

 

Someone once said that the future will take care of itself, perhaps.  But we need to lay the foundation that the future can grow from.  Just because in a hundred years no one may care about the issues of today, does not mean that they won’t and that we shouldn’t.  We should.  We need to correct the problems of today so that tomorrow won’t have to.  The problems of today are, in part, because no one came forward yesterday to deal with it.  “Do not put off until tomorrow what should be done today”.  I don’t know who said that, but it is dead on.  Politicians thought that if they ignored the issue of those with disabilities then maybe they would go away.  I am here to say that the issues have not gone away in a hundred years and unless we fix the problems now they are going to be here in another hundred years.  So pay attention, the feisty wee bitch is back.