“Singing the Change”–Podcast

Ref:NB Seniors Letter sent to media on May 13

There is a rather curious story that I have to tell about someone who contacted me after I sent my letter* out to the news media.

The man is a senior who lives in the Miramichi, a region in Northeastern section of New Brunswick.

When I began to read his letters I thought he might be raving a bit. I think that his voice is not a voice of peace but a scream for justice. Then I realized something. His communication style might have something to do with his understanding of the English-language.

Also, he is originally from Poland and his cultural background must be quite different from someone born and raised in Canada. Actually I have found this true of most Europeans I have met.

At first the whole thing might sound a bit fantastic to the average laid-back beer chugging Maritime Canadian. We sometimes take our good life for granted. We hardly think beyond the week-end and barring the occasional bit of nasty gossip we generally mind our own business, behave ourselves and expect others to do likewise.

I don’t know how much truth there is to this man’s documents. Is there a deliberate plot as he suggests or is this another tale of incompetence due to carelessness or miscommunication? Not having a medical background I really am in no position to judge what part of this might be true.

Whichever the case may be, whether the man’s life is indeed in danger or whether his fear is unfounded, one fact remains. He appears to be living in fear. Why has no institution been willing to investigate the cause of this fear?

Fear is what bullies use to prey upon their victims. I can imagine that when this man first came to Canada he might have been reluctant to stand up to the bullies he claims were in positions of authority. How many of us ever dare to stand up for justice and speak back to authority? How many of us have been locked up for doing so?

It must be especially difficult for a new immigrant. Does that initial fear ever really subside, I wonder. This man lost his livilihood. Might that have been a legitimate fear?

One thing I do know is that time and circumstance can bring drastic change both to communities and individual people who live there. After a hundred years of prosperity our mines and mills and factories are no longer providing the jobs needed to keep our communities together. People all across Northern New Brunswick have become nervous and depressed at the loss of jobs and the social safety-nets they once relied upon. Fear has set in. This fear is very real.

If this man continues to live in fear then he is a victim of bullying. It is up to some institution or some department or some ministry to inquire into the source of the bullying even if they need to go back forty years to find the truth.

No person should live in fear for over forty years.

Whether or not we want to believe it, the institutions our parents built have failed to help or protect them or us. We cannot expect things to improve unless we are willing to stand up and speak, both for ourselves and those who have no voice. At the very least we should not be bullied into supporting institutions that are harmful to our health and welfare.

*Letter sent to media:NB Seniors

Much thanks is due the women who organized the Seniors issue meeting in Bathurst last Friday and who travelled here to help us understand what the Government has in store for seniors in New Brunswick.

Although I am glad I went and was touched deeply by what was said, especially the words of Veronica Ratchford who drove here from Halifax.

Still, I am left with some questions,
“Now what?”
“Do we really understand what is going on?”
“What do we do about this?”

There is not much that government can do to me that they have not already done. And notice please that I said “to me” and not “for me”
As a senior who falls into a very low income category, I anticipate having few resources left that they can steal when my time comes.

So should I care that they are planning to steal from the wealthy? Should I be wary of government?
Yes, I think I should.

All of us should be wary of government
We should be wary that they can vote into existence whatever perks they want for themselves.
We should be wary that they decide which businesses and organizations will succeed or fail through contracts and forgivable loans to some and inflated taxes for others.
We should be wary that they allow a media monopoly as long as it serves their purposes.
We should be wary of the many other subtle controls they have over our lives.

Seniors should be especially wary that we can be drugged up and locked up in under-staffed and under-funded warehouses when society considers us no longer useful and compliant. Stripping seniors of their financial resources makes them especially vulnerable and this is terrifying to most of us.

I was struck in particular by one statement I read in the letter to MLAs that followed the meeting
“There is a shortage of meaningful information regarding the new Nursing Home Policies.”

Yes, you are right. But when was the last time you received any meaningful information from any branch of government? What we get is carefully crafted hype that is guaranteed to lull and numb us into compliance with whatever it is that government has decided we should want.

I recall from long ago an ethics class that taught me we had a term for that sort of manipulation of information. It was called mental reservation and I was raised to belive that mental reservation is another way of telling lies, only more devious.

So, what can we do? We can hold government accountable. By accounability I mean more than demanding they declare individual contracts over $10,000. That’s the tip of the iceburg.

We have power in numbers and we can demand that seniors be the ones who will make any decisions that are going to affect us as seniors. We can demand that no one will unduly profit from the up-coming senior-care industry they well might be contemplating.

Seniors should not be targeted as some potentially lucrative industrial product. We are people. We need to be at that table where the decisions are being made. Those of us with the ability to effect change need to come out of retirement and demand our seat there.