I was born in Canada.
I grew up pretty average. Middle class family. More rural than most. But still in the city. 200k people kinda city. I got along with my parents, mostly. With my brother too. Had friends. Played sports. Did alright in school, except for english, and went to university for engineering. And now I work in tech in The Best Place in Canada™ and have made well over 6 figures most of the years I have lived here. I heard that’s an accomplishment, right?
That’s pretty much my life story. Now, you are up to speed.
I always felt like I questioned everything in my life. I was pretty certain the things I believed were right. Cause I read. And listened to podcasts. I was smart. Of course, I also wouldn’t judge anyone for any alternate beliefs. Not really because I didn’t care about my beliefs, more just because I really just didn’t care about what other people believed. I’d argue politics sometimes, but mainly wasn’t super politically engaged.
One thing that’s always felt consistent in my life was that I am “left”. Thinking back, I don’t even remember when I decided I was left. It feels like I was just assigned it. Like my skin colour, my height, my personality (well, actually, this ones complex), or my ear wax type (I have the worst kind).
I don’t know if that’s cause that’s what my friends were (how did they then decide?). I don’t know if it’s cause I just instinctively wanted to go through that rebellious teenage faze with my parents. But for whatever the reason was then, when I think about it now and why I identify left I would say my reason is because I believe every human should be treated equal. Like, I honestly believe that. To my core. I can feel it in my bones. And I was told the “left” was the group for that. That was why we fought for the rights of Women to Vote. That’s why we fought for Ending Slavery. That’s why we, more in my life time, have had the BLM movement, Stop AAPI Hate, Occupy Wall Street, Abortion Rights, Gay Marriages, Feminism, the Me Too movement, and all that stuff.
When I think about it, that’s about what it boils down to, to me. Yes, it’s fun when the economy is doing good and you are able to get jobs and stonks go up. It’s pretty nice when you can get the healthcare you need when you need it. I like it as well when you can go to school to follow your dreams.
But, at the end of the day, if humans are not treating each other fairly. If humans are not at least trying to treat each other how they would like to be treated. Then the others don’t really matter to me.
I started seeing everyone I identified with politically (I know this from their Instagram posts, we never really talked about it) starting to call the protestors racists, homophobes, nazis. etc.
I thought that was weird, because up until that point, I literally hadn’t even heard of these protestors. How did all of these people just immediately know they were the scum of the earth?
Luckily, around that time they had announced they were coming to Toronto.
I went to see the chaos. The destruction. The nazis. The racists. The flags.
And saw a totally different world than what I had been told.
Everyone was so friendly. Music that I liked was playing. Some of them believed weird spiritual shit like I did. People were playing games I liked to play. I saw people having genuine smiles, like I havn’t seen in years. People were dancing, singing, hugging. I saw people caring for people. The thing I thought this entire thing was about.
How can the people I loved because they loved everyone equally treat these people so poorly?
It wasn’t just the words they used. But the way they responded to the protesting. If you agreed with them, or even thought of checking out their protest, you were scum just like them.
Like, I am still honestly just confused. It doesn’t make sense to me.
My body cannot compute it.
These are your best friends. These are your parents. These are the people you grew up with. That you told your deepest secrets too. These are your neighbours, the people you see walking down the street. These are the people that get you around, that build the things you use, that serve you the things you eat. These are the people you trust with your life every single day. These are the people that trust you with their life.
And you don’t even want to listen? You don’t even want to hear them? I don’t care if you don’t agree with their reasons for protesting. I get that. The lockdowns and everything havn’t really affected me either. TBH I still enjoy the odd lockdown because i’m a workaholic introvert.
But these are real people that are really struggling. The people we were supposed to care for. What happened?
And why? What’s your reason for not wanting to open up? Whats your reason to not end these mandates? What’s your reason for not being ok with people choosing to get the vaccine or not?
You wrote it down?
How much are you willing to bet on that reason? Would you convict that reason in court?
I asked myself that. My reason was because I was told these were bad people. These people wanted to hurt the country. I was told these people were racists, nazis, homophobes. I thought unvaccinated people were dangerous.
And I asked myself.
Are those true?
Was I so sure those things are true that I am willing to live my life feeling like I should hate a certain group of people forever? Because that’s not a fun life. Am I that sure that everyone protesting is actually a bunch of deplorables?
I started crying. Really crying. I don’t even remember the last time I cried.
Honestly, it went on for days. It was weird. I didn’t like it.
I felt so sorry. For the way I have been looking at ‘these’ people for ever. For thinking it was wrong that they wanted to exercise a different freedom than me.
I’m sorry.
Because even in the best case if I am right it is still worse than the worst case if I am wrong.
I am not going to live that way.
I just decided it.
It was done.
That’s not the way I choose to live.
I choose love.
And, what I did know, for sure, was that people were hurting. People have lost their business. Fallen into addictions. Taken their life. Put on some weight. Missed out on the best parts of their lives. People were falling apart physically, mentally, and spiritually. I know that because I heard many of them. I was with them.
And to me, in that moment, I decided to trust the people I knew. The people I heard. The people that have been in hospitals. Worked in hospitals. The people that have been working the front line. The people that have been delivering my food. The people that have had people die on them from covid. The people that have had complications from the vaccine.
All while I chilled in my condo watching Netflix.
Why would I do that?
Because if I want to live in a world that treats people how they want to be treated I have to believe that I can trust people.
I have to.
There is no other choice.
So if millions of my fellow Canadians show up at my Capital.
I show up.
It’s my bat signal.
That something is wrong.
And I have to trust them.
I have to believe them.
But only them.
Because that’s my only option.
No matter how hard it is.
Because I never want to feel like I am truly alone.
Once we are there, the solutions will be apparent.
We have made too many people feel like they are truly alone.
I still believe vaccines help. I still believe people should get them. But I believe the situation we are in is different than when we first got in it. I believe the benefits is no longer worth the costs and we can find a solution to live with this thing that still protects the people we need to and lets people live the life they want.
I would say right now I don’t know what group I am in. Maybe I don’t need to be in a group? Maybe the group I am in should change depending on what they are fighting for?
I don’t know.
I don’t know lots of things really.
But I do know I will find love around the truckers.
And I do know I want to keep questioning things.
And being around people where it’s ok to fail.
And being able to be myself.
Because that’s what I think of when I think of freedom.
But for us to have that, we need to treat others as we would like to be treated. We need to trust each other.
It wasn’t until a few days after the protests till I realized something.
The protestors do not want to actually meet with Justin Trudeau - our brave, fearless leader.
Nope.
They want to meet with you.
This is their truce.
They are putting their hands out first.
It’s definitely not perfect.
They are doing that thing guys do when they wanna be vulnerable but they are too cool and have to protect their ego.
Want to end this?
Just shake their hand.
Like, literally.
That's all you have to do.
Say a few words.
That's it.
If you can’t be there in person, send a message to someone. Ask them why they support it? Ask them what happened to them during covid. What they saw.
They are saying sorry for any harm they have caused, but it was something they had to do. It was a right they had to fight for.
And asking: will you accept them as they are so that we can live together?
As much as you hate to admit it, you know liberals and conservatives need each other. So we may as well make this a pleasant co-existence.
Let’s figure out how to do that, together.
And maybe we will learn we are not so different after all.
But that’s why I believe that vaccines should not be mandatory. I really believe that. It’s deep in my bones now too. I’m pro choice vaccines.
That just means our solutions need to change.
We need to consider that when we come up with solutions.
Is that so hard?
I realized.
This isn’t just a protest.
It’s a fucking unification party.
Just not everyone has showed up yet.
See everyone this weekend!
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