Uncategorized · 31st October 2007
Linda Safford
To the editor: 07oct29 A Call to Action
Three headline stories on the front page of the Friday (Oct.26) Echo newspaper caught my eye as I was headed out for my morning walk with the dog. I scanned them and went walking with a heavy heart.
The first: "School Board okays K-8, 9-12 model"; the second: "Valley's most notorious apartment building cleaned up"; the third: "Valley Food Bank closes its doors, looks for home".
The connection between these (perhaps) seemingly unrelated situations is patently clear to me. We are in a situation where elected representatives don't listen to the people they are supposed to represent. Seems to me democracy is quite flawed when the social safety nets that are supposed to protect the most vulnerable people in our society have been eliminated. No healthy social housing exists for the people who have been displaced from the Washington Inn. No government programs exist to be sure the people have adequate nutritious food. Our drinking water is being damaged by irresponsible logging practices which the government chooses to disregard, and sold to the highest bidder. One of the most important values of our culture (i.e. public education) is being decimated.
Our elected representatives at ALL levels are failing us. The only way we can effectively protect what we value is to work together, as responsible citizens, to build the world we want. We cannot count on governments to take care of us.
I was heartened by the headline of Tuesday Oct.24: "Law suit against regional district over procedure on Union Bay development". What kind of barbaric society are we living in that citizens have to resort to legal action in order to control their governments? And what happens to people who disagree? I think we are not so far from Burma. The whole world is in a sorry state, and our Valley is the world in microcosm.
I know that the following quotation is well known to all my activist colleagues; I hope that it will move more people be active in taking responsibility for the care and tending of what is precious to us: our children and our water. I quote Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of committed, thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
PLEASE get involved. Choose your issue (2008 elections, water protection, education reform for example). Educate yourself and make the time to meet and work with other concerned people to make a difference. Indeed, you are the only thing that can.
Sincerely, Linda Safford Cumberland
Sold to the highest bidder
Comment by Eric on 8th November 2007
Absolutely, I had the same thought occur when reading the same paper. As a former resident of Washington Studios, I watched bad landlords make huge returns on allowing crack dealers to cater to tenants (most on welfare and disability) that went unchecked well before I arrived and after I left. I was evicted as a false commitment to cleaning up the apartments despite the fact that I was the only tenant (my girlfriend at the time deserves most of the credit) with a maintained garden, who had never had the police phoned on him for any reason whatsoever, unlike the fellow who complained about noice when I wasn't even home and supported the income of drug dealers. Without having inspected the building myself, I still find it difficult to believe they did anything other that kick out dead beats and kept the crack dealers that paid rent on time. This isn't an attack on the new management, as I honestly think they're trying to do right, but don't know enough about the building and the people in it. (I was evicted by a different management, some can guess which one.)
The process in which we care for, evaluate and develop our children is an absolute joke. I suffered with learning disabilities my entire childhood, being called stupid by some teachers and hyper-intelligent by others, and there was absolutely no help available to my parents. Why? Was it because I was just that difficult? No it was because I didn't have ADD. If I had ADD, I would have been perscribed drugs, been looked at by specialists and the medical profession would have made a nice dime off my condition. But because my disabilitys didn't fall into the main hyper-sensationalized problem that was being addressed, funded by a few poorly tested drugs that needed pushing, there was absolutely no interest in advancing me as a student.
In responce to Comox Valley Water Coalition, I was wondering if you know of reseach indicating the relationship between chemicals commonly found in drinking water and childrens ability to learn. Turns out feeding kids hormones changes their hormone levels, who would have thought?
Comox Valley Water Watch Coalition
Comment by Kathleen Kinasewich on 1st November 2007
Well Said Linda Safford !
Lets leave a sustainable future for our children and our grandchilren. Lets teach our children well .
Save our educational system and above all lets save our drinking water !
Be more active today and get informed ...