FREEDOM, NOT REALLY – A RESPONSE TO TRUCKERS IN OTTAWA

 

FREEDOM, NOT REALLY - A RESPONSE TO TRUCKERS IN OTTAWA

 

Freedom enjoys myriad associations such as independence, choice, liberty, autonomy and such, but it’s largely an illusion starting with your birth. You had far greater odds to overcome than the Buffalo Bills wining the Superbowl. You are the result of pure luck, temporal circumstance, one of millions of sperm fertilizing one of many eggs.

 

You had no choice in where to live, the neighbourhood you grew up in and the socio-economic status of your parents. If they were church-goers, they rammed that mythology down your throat too.

 

You had no choice of country of origin. You are fortunate to exist in Canada. How would you like to live in modern-day Syria, the polarized USA or in apartheid South Africa? Your skin colour is another matter of luck. Top notch black professionals such as Tom Flores and Colin Kaepernick, who have skill levels in the top ten percent, are totally dependent on old, white, rich men for their employ.

 

Measles, mumps, chickenpox, polio, whooping cough - unlike many others before you, you are exempt thanks to our public health system and the fact that scientists have invented vaccines. The fact that you choose not to get vaccinated for the latest scourge, at the expense of the rest of us, makes you selfish, stupid and dangerous.

 

You can’t handle restrictions lasting 2.5 years? Try living in China or Russia or Turkey or many other such shitholes. Try sitting in jail like Nelson Mandela for 27 years.

 

What have you done to merit your freedom?  Probably not much. Have you engaged in public service? Do you volunteer for anything? My guess is no. But you do like to complain, don’t you?

You don’t like our government? Fine. Do something positive about it. Run for office. Donate money. Help others, but if you think honking your horn or tying up traffic is going to win the hearts and minds of others, good luck.

 

Suggested reading: “Freedom,” a 2010 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It received general acclaim from book critics, was ranked one of the best books of 2010 by several publications, and called by some critics the "Great American Novel".

 

Listen to Janis Joplin and the chorus -

 

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose

Nothin', don't mean nothin', honey, if it ain't free, no no

Yeah, feelin' good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues

You know feelin' good was good enough for me

Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee