Editor,
Based on Mr. Hunt’s letter, your editorial on the Spring of our Discontent could not have been more timely. Thank you. I am hopeful Mr. Hunt will take it to heart based on his recent letter.
Letters to the editor are usually a good barometer of community and input on how people respond to issues of the day. In following letters in a number of papers on the convoy issue the word freedom is consistently used as a justification and rationalization for a large number of actions employed by convoy leadership and participants. The comments by Mr. Hunt were unmatched in terms of vitriol and sarcasm in presenting a point of view. Referring to his remark the “last two years of government tyranny” as part of a constitution illegally upheld is likely debatable and does not hold water given the number of charges laid against the organizers. The desire to overthrow a democratically elected government, also in line with the constitution, is not mentioned.
While dissension can often be productive, it is not usually, when it is offered as “me and my point of view being the only one” at the table.
As far as the Ukraine is concerned most people find it easy to draw a comparison with a democratic and peaceful country fighting for their rights to democracy and freedom while a genuine tyrant attempts to obliterate their country and culture. You don’t have to be a “foreign affairs expert” to come to those conclusions. A difference is that the majority of people are fighting with their lives to defend their country and stand united, while a relative minority of people with an opposing opinion attempted to do the opposite, basking in hot tubs while disrupting people’s lives.
Finally, with COVID and now another sub-variant starting to prevail, I find we all cope with a short fuse at times. It takes more and sometimes huge effort to be kind, respectful and empathetic towards one another. Sometimes we are not as successful as we might have hoped to be or would be under different circumstances.
Teressa Gibson, Meaford
