Editor’s note: A young man,on his way home from B.C. to Saskatchewan during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, was helped by the Gardner dealership when his vehicle refused to work. We published a letter from his mother Sherry last week. She forwarded us her son’s writing, as he was trying to get to sleep in his vehicle at 3 a.m. Here are those thoughts.
Editor:
I don’t want things to go back to normal…Where it was normal to put the economy over humanity. Where we collectively became apathetic about buying products of slave labour. Where we ignore human rights abuses for good trade deals. Where the gentrification of cities replaced culture and community with condos. Where a growing homeless population is buried underneath the empty highrises of foreign capital. Where housing is a speculative asset and not a human right. Where bylaws too often prevent individuals from living sustainably with the environment.
Where the corruption of big banks is rewarded with bailouts and the hardworking people are given foreclosure notices. Where in exchange for an education we offer our youth debt. Where one third of our food supply is thrown away. Where drug companies prefer repeat customers over true healing. Where our correctional institutions offer punishment over rehabilitation. Where lobbyists have more influence than voters. Where the cost of living continually increases amongst stagnant wages. Where anxiety and depression consume the silent majority. Where government and corporations are more concerned about the next quarter than the next generation.
No, I will not fight to save the parasitic system I was born into. Instead, I am grateful to be alive to help create new local symbiotic systems. The paradigm is quickly shifting and there will be birthing pains. I’m an eternal optimist and know that when the dust settles, humanity will step up.
Tyler Kleppe