It is our core values that will get us through 2021 - do we know what those values are?

opinionred 100x100By Pepper Parr

January 1st, 2021

BURLINGTON, ON

 

graphic 2021

It is going to be a tough year.

It will be a long haul.

There is of course much hope but there is also a lot to think about.

The way we have failed to take care of those seniors who live in long term care facilities is shameful. The lady in my life said this morning that it must be terrible for an older person who “has all their marbles” to sit in their room realizing that there aren’t enough people to really take care of them.

Lurking behind this is the fact that demographically there is a huge wave of people who will find themselves in long term care facilities who should be asking if they are going to be taken care of.

The look of their “sunset years” has been painted out for them – it is not a pretty picture.

The vaccines are now being produced and people are being vaccinated – why there isn’t more assurance as to when the needle will be put in their arm is disturbing.

The eve of the New Year has traditionally been a time to celebrate and look forward to great things ahead.

This year our thoughts may well be asking how we are going to get through what we are experiencing and perhaps looking more closely at our core values.

Reading that the Ontario Minister of Finance slipped out of the country to enjoy a vacation and basically lied to the public about where he was, and the Premier seems to have covered for him, points out just how big the divide is between the haves and the have-nots.

Rod Phillips is the Minister who is responsible for the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee – the one that is going to get the provincial economy back on track; his ‘follows his own rules’ attitude doesn’t leave us with a surge of confidence.

There are more questions than answers at this point. The challenge for us is to find the core values that make us the people we are and then to ensure that they prevail.

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5 comments to It is our core values that will get us through 2021 – do we know what those values are?

  • Steve

    Oops, vulnerable.

  • Steve

    Not having plants that produce the proper vaccine leaves Canadians venerable. Canada should work hard on bringing home, not just pharmaceutical plants, but other manufacturing plants as well. One good start would be to build lots of “reliable” nuclear power plants so that our energy costs don’t skyrocket. That would be a good start for the future.

  • Hans Jacobs

    Clearly Phillips and Ford are hypocrites and belong to an elite group that thinks rules are meant only for the peasants.

  • perryb

    I think we have already discovered our core values, and it is not pretty. More and more people seem to have given up and decided their personal risk is low, so further sacrifice is useless. You only had to look around the neighborhoods this week and see the number of cars parked at certain homes to get the message. Fatherly BS from our Premier no longer provides any sense of leadership and it’s every man for himself. I really hope I am wrong. Time will tell.

    • Phillip Wooster

      I totally agree with your observations, Perry. One major problem seems to be that the heavy-handed lockdowns have little credibility–not much statistical evidence that small retailers (pubs excepted) are the source of spread but we’ve locked them down. I’m sure that this “feels good” to people who don’t own a business but if your livelihood and financial resources are being destroyed, it’s another! Meanwhile, the big box stores, grocery stores, the LCBO, the Beer Store are open–where’s the equity in this? And I’ve totally lost respect for ALL politicians and most “health ex-spurt spokespeople”–great at telling us what to do but at ZERO financial cost to themselves; I wonder what their solutions would be if they were forced to accept a 50% cut in pay when they announce these lockdowns. One thing is certain–their favourite buzz phrase, “We’re all in this together” has been proven to be a blatant lie.

      And people don’t take the reasonable precautions seriously. How many times have you been in a store and seen people unable/unwilling to follow the one-way signs—it’s all about what is convenient for me!!!! And stores that advertise that their first hour of operations is for seniors and people with pre-existing conditions–totally ignored by many customers; on Christmas Eve, I went to Marilu’s at 8 am–huge line-up to get in with half the people being millenials and gen-Xers (I suppose their pre-existing condition was terminal entitlement). And it’s not just Marilu’s, it’s everywhere–this sign has becoming little more than feel-good advertising by the store. The only store I’ve seen with the integrity to enforce this rule is Costco in Grimsby who have regularly turned away non-seniors. “We’re all in this together”????? Not if it ‘s inconvenient.