A Jeremiad for a New Year

 jer·​e·​mi·​ad ˌjer-ə-ˈmī-əd. -ˌad. : a prolonged lamentation or complaint. also : a cautionary or angry harangue.

I am starting this year in a place where I don’t often go - but where I am finding myself more often than I would like.  It is a place where I find myself hooked i.e. have an angry reaction to what is happening in the world generally but especially in Canada.  What seems to be generating more reaction and energy is that which divides rather than what unites. 

On Saturday I listened to the CBC program The House, as I usually do on Saturdays.  It is a thoughtful and intelligent exploration of current affairs which I would recommend to anyone who might want to be engaged on current topics in Canada.  This edition focussed in the Trucker Convoy protest early this year and the hearing on the implementation of the Emergency Act by the Trudeau Government to deal with the protests primarily in Ottawa but at border crossings such as Windsor.

The program played excerpts of the testimony of some of the witnesses at the hearing.  There was much to consider from the testimony including the action and inaction of the police and the relationship between law enforcement and the government, to the less than stellar cooperation between federal, provincial and municipal leaders.  However, what did hook me and caused a strong reaction in me was the testimony of some of the convoy self-appointed or presumed leaders.  There was, what seemed to me, to be an attempt at self-justification which came down to the belief that because they were being treated unfairly by the governments, they had the right and even an almost holy ordained duty to impose their will on anyone and everyone regardless of who they were and whether or not they were involved in the decisions that they were protesting.

Let me give you a couple of examples to illustrate this.  There was one witness who was asked about the impact of the continual round the clock blaring of truck horns for weeks on the residents in the protest area.  He had laughed at this and said to the effect that what’s a few weeks inconvenience when he had to deal with the impact of the COVID mandates for two years.   When asked if he thought this was a laughing matter, he paused and back-tracked and said to my mind disingenuously that, no he was just the kind of person who laughed at everything (this is not a direct quote but my impression of his attitude).  There was also the general feeling by some of those protesting that they had the “right” to protest at the Capital regardless of what laws they were breaking or the impact on others and had at no time been told to leave despite the court orders and direction of the police to leave.  There was no apparent awareness or concern for the impact of their actions on people who had no involvement in what they were protesting including small businesses that had to shut down or people threatened for wearing masks – apparently a mask wearer was a dupe of government conspiracies intended to create fear in the public and had to be confronted.

There was also the case of the freedom loving convoy protesters swarming an Ottawa soup kitchen and demanding food.  Things like that – especially hypocrisy – truly hook me.  The protesters against vaccine and mask mandates apparently want to go back to a time before public health measures and lead a natural life without vaccines and health measure to prevent things such as diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, tetanus, whooping cough (pertussis) as well as pasteurized milk which prevents such things as listeriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria, Q fever, and brucellosis.  I guess we could go back to a time when there weren’t rules against drinking and driving and wearing seat belts, and smoking in public places and on and on.  After all they are all rules which imping on our freedom and we can live our lives regardless of how it affects others.

I do try to understand the anger and resentment of the protesters and believe that from their perspective they believe they have legitimate complaints.  Perhaps some of the rules went too far and were not well thought out and were overreactions.  Governments do sometimes use a sledgehammer to kill a mosquito.  However, my main concern is two-fold.  First how do I respond as a Christian who is called to love my neighbour as myself respond to things which hook me and arose my anger in ways that are not helpful?  Second, how can I work to support the institutions and attitudes which have made Canada the wonderful country I have lived in all my life?  It is certainly been an imperfect union and needs to be held to high standards if it is to remain that way.  There are troubling signs that the fabric of this country is becoming seriously frayed if not breaking down.  We all need to work to strengthen and improve those things which make Canada a place we all want to live in.

I hope each of you have a blessed 2023.