Here we are, in a new government here in Canada. New/old actually - our PM called an election to take apart the minority government we had...only to get a minority government, just with some worsening. More conservative seats sprinkled across the country - but worse of all in our riding right here, our incumbent Peggy Nash was ousted by the Liberal candidate.
Now - i'm not huge on big 'P' POLITICS, preferring these days the small p kind of community, neighbourhood, city, education...BUT...Peggy Nash is the only politician that i've ever believed in. She REPRESENTED me, and i felt really good about her sitting in Parliament working to shape a better country for me and our community.
And now she's been replaced, and i feel cut loose.
Not only that, but there was the lowest voter turn-out for this election on record. Which terrifies me even more. i guess i understand to a certain degree - the PM called this election when he said he wouldn't and even passed a law making it illegal and then went ahead and did it anyways. He then went on to waste people's money on an election that no-one really wanted and that got him almost basically what he had before. It wasn't a consolidation of power, it wasn't a strengthening of his government, and all it did was gain a few seats, and lose some. What does it mean though, when voters don't come out and speak their mind, the government goes on doing whatever it wants and we have less and less of a voice?
Yesterday it felt like hope was leaking slowly out of the world. That is a terrible feeling. Not at all what i want to feel, not at all the way i want to live. There is an onslaught, however, of things in the world that push me thinking that way - i think i need to spend more time in the garden to work it off.
Tuv made me a CD called Hope to bolster my spirits. I'll listen to it and do my homework to become a teacher who encourages kids to vote and make sure they are represented well and make their voices heard - who work towards preserving the green embrace and making the world a place where we can live together, not chopped up into little pieces, fighting over more...
The garden, the sunlight, wise words and work, rest and visiting and holding new babies - that's today's recipe for more hope.
