We must find a way to co-exist in a democratic society
Editor:
The United States of America is where the largest number of creative people live in the world. It is because Americans value personal freedom as the most important life principle. They have few taboos, and fewer customs and traditions to honour. That’s why Americans have won more Nobel Prizes in all categories than any other nationalities.
That also means the U.S. populous retain the spirit of “Wild West” where gun ownership is the god-given right. Hence it is one of the most violent countries in the world. Gunshot is the second largest cause of killing of humans after motor vehicle accidents. The price of liberty is paid by the victims of gun violence. “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
But I’m not Patrick Henry.
I do not want to die defending the right to refuse vaccination. In Alberta and Quebec people also value personal freedom like Americans do. However, I wonder how many Albertans and Quebeckers are ready to die defending personal freedom?
When I moved to Montreal from Toronto , I was surprised to find the culture to treasure personal freedom more than following rules. I was often surprised to see people crossing the street against the red light when there was no car. So the car turning right on the red was not allowed for the safety of pedestrians crossing against red light.
The city of Ottawa is only two hours drive from Montreal. A large number of people are civil servants there.
One sleepless night at about 3 a.m., I was watching Ottawa’s empty downtown street from a hotel window. There was no traffic.
At an intersection I saw a lone figure in a three piece suit waiting for the light to turn green: he was a civil servant for sure. Alberta and Quebec are so much not like the city of Ottawa.
People treasure personal freedom. Quebec has its own pension plan, and Alberta wants one even at the cost of creating and paying for the cost of another bureaucracy. They both value personal freedom like the golden rules. Both hate Ottawa. They both wave the flag of “sovereignty” but not wanting to pay for it.
I grew up in Japan and lived in Switzerland for several years. People in both countries value cleanliness and punctuality.
They follow rules. Crime rate is the lowest in the world.
One cold night in Geneva Switzerland, I was in a car in the parking lot of a huge apartment complex waiting for a friend. I kept the engine running to keep the car warm.
An old woman came out of an apartment building and told me to cut the engine. The city council prohibited engine idling: “the new environmental by-law,” she said.
In a subway car in Tokyo, a Canadian friend was surprised to see a middle-aged woman press a young stranger girl’s knees together who was wearing a very short skirt.
“No mask” in winter is almost like acting against motherhood outdoors in Tokyo. The public’s stare makes you feel very uncomfortable if you are not wearing one.
Oxymoron is a fact of life. We are all different occupying the same small space. In a democratic society differences must find a way to co-exist without calling names. Creativity and stability must co-exist.
They should be kept in balance without one over-powering or destroying the other. In antiquity, they were represented by priests and prophets: Today civil servants and sociologists.
Enforcers of law and defenders of institutions must coexist with artists, free thinkers, and reformers. Civilized free society requires both.
Dictators do not allow such coexistence. In my working life, I played both roles. I was in the church bureaucracy and acted like a priest defending the existence and integrity of the institution.
Many charismatic and prophetic personalities fighting for justice were headaches to the bureaucrats like me.
Prophets ignore the rules of engagement to the detriment of the good name of the institution and of the stable and ordered society.
I needed to safeguard the safety of my pension plan.
Bureaucrats thought prophets were endangering the safety of the common people.
So bishops and priests burned prophets and reformers at the stake.
Other times I was a prophet attacking the defenders of organized religion and of the government bureaucracy as the sources of injustice.
I am an oxymoron. Yet I am one person. That’s because I compromise. Can’t a society be like me without constantly fighting and calling each other names?