Happy Victoria Day to all my Canadian
friends. I celebrated this weekend by launching my little folding boat and pulling
my little outboard motor out of storage. Like so many other people struggling
to abide by the rules regarding the lockdown orders of our Provincial
government, I am confused. I went to our local marina to find out when I can
put my boat in the water, and they were unable to give me a date. They cannot legally
launch boats until at least June 2nd at the earliest, but they would
pull boats out of storage and make them available to their customers. Those customers
could then trail their boats to a local ramp and launch them if they chose. I
was under the impression that there was no pleasure boating permitted. How the
police are supposed to enforce that is beyond me, and clearly few boaters are
following that order on our lake.
Like so many of the stay-at-home
directives mandated by the powers that be, the onus is on the individual to
cooperate. On the one hand I am angry when people disregard obvious protocols
put in place to protect the general public, but I also realize that many are apprehensive,
or confused, or just plain fed up with the rules. Thanks in part to the ever-
spreading venom on social media and the fact that “the truth” in general is on
injured reserve, many of us don’t appreciate or understand the severity of this
pandemic. When the rules seem to change weekly, and leaders back track and
change course, that breeds mistrust. The fact is, there have been too many
mixed messages and when politics collides with common sense, respect for leadership
suffers.
With over 50% of Canadian residents
now having received at least their first shot, there is a light at the end of
the tunnel. That said, ICUs in Manitoba are at capacity and, in some parts of
that province, the crisis is apparent. Look at what has happened in India,
where 3000,000 have perished and they are having trouble disposing of their
dead. Understandably, people are eager
to get out and enjoy the summer. Everyone has been pent up and socially
isolated for over a year long. I admit that I judge people by their behavior, sometimes
unfairly. I hope we can ride this pandemic out, and while I don’t understand or
agree with every decision made on my behalf, I will err on the side of precaution,
simply to put less stress on the frontline workers charged with saving our lives.
If you don’t think they are overwhelmed, you’re not paying attention. Go visit
a packed ICU in Manitoba and see if the nurses and doctors there think this is
all a hoax.
As summer approaches, the cottagers
are back, as I expected they would be. I read angry posts everyday railing on
the “citiots”, with their me first attitudes and their perceived disregard for
the safety of our relatively unscathed local population. Outrage won’t fix the
problem, and that rage is generally more harmful to the person feeling it. We’re
gradually approaching herd immunity, and my unselfish wish is that everyone be
patient and tolerant just a little longer. If anything has become apparent to
me it is that many of us could use a lesson in finding the good in our fellow humans,
myself included. As for the anti-vaxers,
believe whatever you chose to believe; I wish you no harm. I chose to take the calculated
risk, to be vaccinated. From what I have read; it beats the alternative.
I launched my little folding boat,
fired up the motor and putted around by the dock for a few minutes in order to
run some good gas through the engine. There was a police boat cruising around and
I did not venture out into the lake for fear of being hassled. Within five minutes,
I had snagged a fishing line someone must have left in the water, and spent the
next fifteen minutes removing the prop and untangling the line with 2 lures
still attached. Relaxing is not so easy these days, but I am thankful to be
alive and living in a First World country.
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
