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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

’20 for 2020’ ... instead of some attempting to build society into a model of their own choosing, there needs to be an open dialogue and sharing of beliefs and opinions


Well, we are down to the final two days in our series “20 for 2020” ... and on day number 19, comes a thought from Garret Seinen. 

As human beings, the most significant problem we face today is the same problem faced by our ancestors throughout history - how can we be certain a particular thing is true or false.  How can we know when we’re being misled?

Each of us, as individuals, must be able to see what to reject, and what to accept,  in order to get the most out of life ... to use our time to support things we won’t later regret ... and to avoid looking back at life and saying “I’d have done better if I’d realized ‘that’ was nothing but a lie”
.

When a government tells us that our country has ‘no identity’, should we believe that? In my opinion, that is a blatant distortion of the truth, and so in fact I believe we are being misled.

When we are told that humanity faces extinction in ‘X’ number of years, and government does little or nothing to dissuade that belief, should we believe it?

Should we be free to question whether or not we are seeing global warming, or to ask to what degree it is happening?

Government tells us we need to pay a ‘price on pollution’ (carbon tax) as part of its climate action plan, to protect our health and our communities.  If that is indeed reality, should it not be fair game then to ask why imported petroleum products are not similarly taxed? 

A pipeline across northern BC is okay, safe, and fine for the environment says the government -- and yet one from Alberta to the BC’s lower mainland is not.

Are the words and actions of the government misleading?  Which of these two statements is false? Which statement, if any, do we reject?

Again, from Garret comes the question, “Is it harmful to hold incorrect ideas?”.

Of course, it’s personally harmful to hold ideas as true, when those ideas turn out to be false; mistakes are never helpful to an individual. Today however, there are many who believe exposing people to ideas, which they disagree with, is dangerous to society. 

So, do we ban the ‘free speech’ of those we disagree with? The answer should be a resounding, NO!

Instead of some attempting to build society into a model of their own choosing, there needs to be an open dialogue and sharing of beliefs and opinions ... and why those beliefs and opinions are held. The reality is, the ideas of an individual or group need to be seen as better than those of another individual or group, before followers can be gained.

I know it’s too much to ask, however it really is a shame that politics has become so polarized, rather than accepting that others may have ideas which can work.

Groups, organizations, politicians, political parties, working together? We can only hope.


And with just one more day to go, here are the suggestions, to this point, on “20 for 2020” ...

#3 … there should be a full review of all license costs and fees, which the provincial government has imposed upon us, to see where and how they are being used











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