Time to Lead

I can’t believe we are still debating the best way to handle the pandemic. We’re coming up to our second year in and we just prepped the Butterdome to serve as a field hospital. The time to debate is over, we need to act.

Whether or not you agree with this government’s approach to curbing the infection rate while simultaneously keeping the economy rolling, is irrelevant. It does not matter what plan that is put into place if we do not follow it. What we know beyond any reasonable doubt is that the everyman for himself approach is not working. We need to work together.

Triaging the situation tells me that your life has greater value than my business. Therefore I am going to do whatever it takes to save as many lives as possible and hope like heck I still have a business at the end of this pandemic. It also means that I am not going to join in on all the lobbying to get martial arts schools open just because the hair salons and tattoo parlours were already able to successfully prey upon this government’s weaknesses to get themselves back in business at a time when our hospitals are overflowing and our healthcare workers are burning out.

What is more important right now, the economy or your fellow man’s life?

“Money often costs too much.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Responsibility

We live in a democracy but I do not believe all of us truly understand what that means. By its very nature, a democracy implies compromise. We go with the majority and whether or not you are in agreement with that majority, you must accept their will. Threatening violence or political separation every time you do not get what you want does not serve a democracy. 

It is not difficult to confuse democracy with politics. If we democratically elect a government, we are empowering that government to make decisions on our behalf. I do not get to vote on every decision, I only get to vote for who is going to make those decisions on my behalf. It is my expectation that the government that represents me will make their decisions based upon what is best for the majority of their citizens. I don’t think it is unreasonable for me to assume that any government that represents its people will make decisions based upon the proper triaging of priorities. Saving a life takes precedent over saving a paycheck. Seems pretty obvious. Money can be replaced, a life cannot. Death is absolute, bankruptcy is not.

When politics enter a democracy, the government does not always represent the majority of their citizens. It does not take much for a government to be influenced by vocal minorities, especially when those minorities can bring a lot of campaign money to the table.

An indisputable fact cannot be more absolutely clear - our intensive care units are overflowing. At certain points of this pandemic, up to 80% of certain hospital beds have been infected by COVID outbreaks. Whether you think this virus is dangerous or not, it is affecting our health system's ability to cope. That means cancer patients are not getting timely treatment, psychiatric patients' treatments are compromised and in some cases, not even available anymore. People needing care and therapy cannot receive it because our system is overloaded, underfunded, and unable to cope with the realities of the pandemic.

So where are we today in Alberta? Our healthcare workers, a year into this pandemic, have been working relentlessly to cope under adverse conditions while the infection rate remains at an unsustainable level. At the exact same time many of our population are refusing to adhere to a mask policy that our government is failing to enforce. The biggest tragedy is how many special interest groups are preying upon the appallingly weak leadership in this government by successfully lobbying for the relaxing of COVID restrictions, at the very time that our healthcare experts are advocating for the opposite approach.

If this government is not going to provide the leadership necessary to save lives, who are they representing?

“People cannot be free unless they are willing to sacrifice some of their interests to guarantee the freedom of others. The price of democracy is the ongoing pursuit of the common good by all of the people.” - Saul Alinsky (1909 - 1972)

Peeling an Onion

Mastery is not achieved through a single lesson. In fact, a lesson is not fully understood through a singular exchange of information. All knowledge has prerequisites. You cannot run if you do not first learn how to walk. Multiplication is not a concept you can grasp if you do not first understand addition. Concepts, no matter how simple, have multiple layers.

Layers of knowledge cannot be exposed in stasis. Concepts and ideas need to be poked and prodded. If they are not tested, understanding is very limited. A lesson can be delivered but the education only intensifies as questions are asked and answered. Questions and experiments should open minds and modify perspectives.

Every lesson I have absorbed has changed me and the way I look at the world. Change, no matter how small, has a ripple effect on everything I have learned to date. There are few things more powerful and empowering than an open mind.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” — Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)

Leadership Fills a Void

I am not someone who is known to shy away from conflict. Conflict causes stress and avoiding dealing with it does not make the stress go away. My way of dealing with conflict is head on. I say what’s on my mind and we deal with the situation from there. I am not someone who will remain silent if something is truly important.

I have not hesitated to speak out about the incompetence of our current provincial government. Some feel that makes me politically opinionated. My speaking out has nothing to do with politics. I could care less about politics. The issue with this government is leadership, or rather lack of leadership.

Leadership unites, it is not supposed to divide. Leadership fills a void, especially during a crisis. It does not hide, it emerges. Leadership is about taking responsibility, not pointing a finger and assigning blame. Above all, leadership means setting an example. Lead by example, pretty basic stuff.

“Leadership is action, not position.” - Donald H. McGannon (1920 - 1984)