The Passing of Prince Philip – What can I do?
I was intrigued with some of the news reporting on
Prince Philip after his passing. The one thing that struck me was a speech I
believe he made in 1957 on one of his trips. He stated that as citizens let’s
not depend on government for everything, let’s do our part individually to help
the common good. His words were about three years prior to John F Kennedy
becoming President of the United States. The words were not as eloquent as John
F Kennedy’s famous phase, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what
you can do for your country”, but both hit on a point that we all should be
reflecting on now as we fight this pandemic of COVID-19. We all seem to want
the government to take care of everything and almost from a sense of, “It is
their duty.” We as citizens make up Canada and elect leaders to represent us,
not control us. We must challenge ourselves in this most difficult time of our
history and ask, “What can I do as an individual to get through this and help
my neighbour”. There are some tell tale signs that people will help. I am a
member of St Mary’s Parish in Barrie and Family Director with the Knights of
Columbus Council. Each year we do food drives for the Foodbank and have collected
close to 7,000 pounds of food in the past. Of course, in the last year, because
of COVID-19 we cannot do that. So instead of gathering actual food, on Palm
Sunday Weekend at all the masses and on Holy Thursday celebrations we collected
donations of cash, cheques and gift cards. The total contributions were $9,500
which equates to close to 20,000 pounds of food since $1 buys on average 2
pounds of food. So instead of joining the mobs attacking our governments, ask
yourself, as prompted by both Prince Philip and John F Kennedy, “What can you
do?”
COVID Control Restrictions - Confusing?
Now that we have entered a “stay at home” order and
the restriction levels keep changing, I understand the frustration of our small
retail businesses as they try to survive and cope with the impact on their
business, while large retail and big box stores profit during this crisis. When
you think about it, we have 7 levels of restriction under Ontario COVID
restriction rules. They are Green which is meant to prevent; Yellow which is
meant to protect; Orange which is meant to restrict; Red which is meant to
control; Grey which is lockdown and of course, Stay at Home. Is that not a
little confusing? There seems to be a lot of overlap. Green at a stoplight
means you can go, so as a starter that is very confusing. So normal behaviour
is not even classified except for the fact that at some point the government will
be a lifting all restrictions. Let’s simplify it. The first level should be
Yellow as we all understand that as a warning that there is danger ahead and to
be cautious. If things are getting worse then yes, Red makes sense as it is
asking us all to stop and take more control of our situations. When it becomes
out of control as it is now, then let’s have Black which signifies things are
in dire trouble and significant lives are being lost. If we attached
appropriate controls to each of these classifications, and now with over a year
of information, could we not put appropriate levels of restrictions attached to
each? If we did our controls in a less confusing manner, we can and will get
ahead of this terrible pandemic. But changing the rules and the sub-categories
constantly is obviously meeting with frustration, resistance and a loss of
confidence in our government at all levels. That will not help us overcome this
crisis. In the meantime, lets do what we can by Wearing a Mask, Keeping
Physical Distance and Sanitizing and consider seriously taking the vaccine if
you are able.
