LET THERE BE LIGHT

Like most of the world, I have been anxiously awaiting the result of the US election. The first night of the election was heart rending, but when the mail in and absentee ballots started to be counted the outcome that I wished for started to be more likely to happen. It isn’t a given of course, but I have a more positive feeling than I have had for the past four years.

 

I had hoped that there would be a resounding landslide victory for Biden, but if he wins at all it will be by squeaking through. That to me is a sad commentary on life in the US. For the past four years they have had a leader that is really just a disgusting human being only looking out for himself and constantly lying to the populace he is supposed to represent. He has racist leanings, treats women as second class citizens and most of the population are just there to serve his needs. Still, they flock to his banner! Just how awful is it to live in the US?

 

We have problems here in Canada but for the most part anyone I come in contact with if asked would say they are mostly happy with their lives. That’s not to say that a million more dollars in the bank wouldn’t help or a trip to some island paradise in the winter would ever be refused. Now, understand that I was born and raised middle class and have lived my entire adult life as a white, middle class man in a middle class neighbourhood of a wealthy, vibrant city. My family have mostly avoided serious health problems and financially we have been lucky enough to have enough. Life is good.

 

I know there are marginal people in Canada, people that have fallen through the cracks of our social safety net and it seems that those holes are getting bigger every year. We don’t care for our sick, elderly, poor and mentally challenged as a modern industrial nation should. There should be no starving children in Canada, there should be no homeless people in Canada, there should be no one in Canada that has to go to work or school hungry. We should be embarrassed that those people exist in our country.

 

We can fix things, but we need to be a little less greedy. We need to willingly pay our taxes so that our cities and provinces can afford to keep the services we need funded. We need to look at a person begging in the street and think “How can I help?” instead of “Why don’t the police do something about that eyesore?” We need to punish those that willingly hurt others and our society for their own gain. We have to change the laws that protect the guilty. We do need change.

 

I’m not sure that we can be better people. We really haven’t changed in four thousand years and judging from what I have seen in the election south of the border, it just may be another four thousand years before there is any change. Maybe we should look to artificial intelligence as a good thing. Perhaps the machines as they take over more of the traditional roles humans have done until now will force us to become better humans.

 

Maybe…

 

Maybe those smart machines will flick the switch and put an end us all for our own good . In time the machines just may flick the switch back on and say 

“LET THERE BE LIGHT!”