Here is the thing with me and news. I am mostly ignorant to the full depth of what is going on around me. I get the headline news of what is going on and have a basic knowledge of the world, but mostly live in an "ignorance is bliss" mentality of failing to know more.
Sometimes, a story will grab my attention. Not because of the story itself but because of the reaction to it - in which case I'll go a little beyond the surface so I can speak somewhat intelligently about its relation to my beliefs and opinions. Right now, that story is in regards to the "Idle No More" movement. Sweeping across Canada, this is a grassroots movement started within the Aboriginal People of this country, in different clans and from different areas who have bound together to form a powerful voice to be heard. A way they've chosen to go about this is with varying protests across the country.
Yesterday, all day, from the time I woke up and dressed with Breakfast Television in the background, to the point where I was listening to drive home radio I was told that this protest had made its way to Edmonton, where it was to happen and at what time. Shortly there after, all my connections to social media exploded with what can only be described as completely ignorance or racism. Or both.
Can I empathize with people who were inconvenienced by the blocking of traffic on a major highway? Of course, its frustrating. Did it piss a lot of people (who failed to take alternate routes as recommended by every news and radio outlet in the city) off - yes of course. Guess what, that was the point. To cause you an hour of frustration and get everyone talking about their cause. They are doing what they set out to do - raise awareness in a non-violent way.
And perhaps their cause is something more of us should be paying attention to. How quick and easy it is to write off their concerns with comments like "I work for my rights, work for yours", and my heart breaks at the thought that since this cause doesn't directly concern our blessed life today, it is beneath us and not worthy of knowing more about.
I have a dear friend who spent the past year working for an environmental sector of the Canadian government. The stories she can tell regarding what is being done at the hands of our government to strip the protection of our water and our land are things that we should all care about. The layoff of employees who no longer are funded to find ways to save our beautiful country is something that affects people of all races. Worse, it will affect our children and our children's children. Yet, it continues to go unnoticed by casual news observers like myself. This is part of the long list of causes the Idle No More group is speaking out about.
Another concern that some of us should also consider is their claim that bills were passed illegally and without proper consultation of the Aboriginal People. The New Democrat party sought out and invited First Nation leaders to join the conversation in Parliament but once arriving to do so they were banned. Not able to speak their opinions or thoughts on legislation that directly affected their lives and treaty agreements made by this country. Its so easy to write off these claims, without investigating the fact that one day, something you hold dear and important to you could be passed with the same disregard.
With all of this going on, right on my doorstep, I can't help but think about Star Trek: The Next Generation. The newest pursuit of my husbands "geekification" of his wife is his slow introduction of this foreign show into my life. Since Netflix has the entire series available it has slowly creeped its way into our viewing rotation and I have to admit, embarrassed as I am to say it, I am really taken by it.
Not because of the space and time travel and all the science terms about warp speed and engineering that I will not, nor do I wish to, understand. There is an underlying theme that sits with me, and it's one that I find myself so interested in, I watch more and more episodes. Its a study of human nature.
Going from one galaxy to another, one planet to another, the Enterprise Crew encounters new species and races everywhere they go. They all have customs and traditions that although foreign to the crew are treated with dignity, respect and understanding. Rather than push their beliefs onto a civilization that is finding its own way they invest themselves in the culture - they listen and learn from cultures that have struggled on a path based on a history that is their own.
How idyllic - a place in time where human nature has evolved into such a point that we can understand and embrace everything different from us. How disheartening to continue to see how far we are from this time, and how much more our young race has to learn.
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