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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2018-5-24, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018. PAGE 5. Other Views Sometimes wisdom isn't wanted There are times when people seem to value wisdom and times when they don't. We seem to be living through one of the latter periods right now. Look around at the leaders of many of the major countries these days and one word you won't use to describe them is "wise". From Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin to Benjamin Netanyahu, so many leaders stand for the short-term or symbolic victories over what's best in the long-term. Often, their citizens seem to want it that way. Take for an example, U.S. President Trump's decision to move his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, against the advice of much of the international community but to the delight of Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and his hard-line supporters. For this group, there was powerful symbolism in the move to the city they see as Israel's true capital, coming on the 70th anniversary of Israel's 1948 war against its Arab neighbours. But to Palestinians, Jerusalem is also their capital, occupied since 1968 by the Israelis. For them, this move is also symbolic because it comes on the 70th anniversary of many Palestinians fleeing from their homes to refugee camps in nearby Jordon. Many generations since have waited for the time they can return to the homes they left in Palestine. When the U.S. moved its embassy to the city Palestinians regard as capital of their homeland, they felt humiliated and frustrated and many people lashed out. The resulting clashes along the Israeli border left more than 100 dead, shot by Israeli defense forces. Each side blames the other for the deaths and violence. What do both the Palestinians and the Israeli people want? They want a lasting peace. Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk Both sides, however, have leaders who are standing up for principle and symbolism and can't forget grievances of the past. Only compromise will bring peace — but compromise is a dirty word. Recently the Globe and Mail ran a major article about what makes people wise. Researchers have come to realize that wisdom combines many different traits. For instance, you can be intelligent or an expert in some subject without being wise. Intelligent people don't necessarily have the ability to contemplate and reflect which is needed to be wise. Wise people may not have the latest knowledge about any given subject but what they know particularly well is how to understand people and relate to them. They also seem to be able to look clearly at themselves as if from the outside, which reduces ego-centredness. The researchers noted that from both their research and accumulated knowledge, one of the most important components of wisdom "is the promotion of common good and rising above self -interests." As the author of the article, Jonathan Rauch wrote, "I believe the single most fundamental trait of wisdom it this: You cannot be truly wise on a desert island by yourself ... As long as you are a society of one, you are only potentially wise. Wisdom is oriented toward social harmony and the good of the people around us, not just ourselves." And yet researchers have documented the benefits of wisdom to us as individuals. Wisdom is associated with better physical and mental health, happiness, life satisfaction, resilience, less addiction and impulsivity. Still, we get into times like these when people seem to live by the famous line from the movie Network: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" People seem to want to lash out. So in the U.S. and places in Europe, people blame immigrants, particularly Muslims, for the general feeling of dissatisfaction they feel. In Britain, many saw a break with the European Union as the answer to the problems they felt were bringing their country down. People want to make America, (or Britain or Russia or whatever country) great again. People are in no mood for wise people who tell them things aren't really all that bad. Don't confuse them with facts! (Donald Trump makes it seem Mexicans are stealing American's jobs while at the same he takes credit for the lowest unemployment rate this century.) In times like these, the very traits valued in wise leaders, such as balance, moderation and compromise, become faults of leaders seen as not willing to stand up for principle. People admire leaders who "tell it like it is", even if they're not really telling it like it is. They forgive these people even if they're caught in a lie because what the liars said "feels" to them like it should be the truth. This attack on wisdom seems like a fever which periodically hits a society and makes people react against their own group self- interest. Much of the world seems gripped by that fever at the moment. Here's hoping the fever breaks before we self-destruct through something as stupid as a war. Previously, on Denny's Den (the recap) Last week I was reminded by a friendly social media notification that I was marking 10 years as a journalist. It's been 10 years since I first put pen to paper (or cursor to computer) and claimed that, through some virtue of education and experience, I had a right to be writing words for thousands of people to read. Looking back on that, I realized, while I've shared the fact that I'm originally from Goderich (and Seaforth, and Egmondville and St. Joseph's and Clinton and... all over) and while I've shared the fact that I'm always happy with the work that I have the opportunity to do here in Blyth, a lot of folks may not know exactly how I ended up here. A little over a decade ago I graduated and, thanks to a friend from over Varna way, had a job in Waterloo at a start-up tech firm. If asked to recall what my few days there were like, like the dinosaurs said in The Flintstones, I would say, "Eh, it's a living." I was there for less than a week when I got word of an internship at The Goderich Signal - Star (and, at that point, there was a dash in the name). I applied and got the job. I was shown to my office and given a lot of free rein as to what to cover. There were four of us in the editorial department, five if you counted Publisher Dave Sykes (which you really should). It didn't take long, however, for those numbers to begin to shrink — our editor relocated and left the paper soon after I started and, as a result, I found a full-time, permanent position that lasted just over a year. In 10 years, that office has gone from four editorial members to one, last time I checked. It's a pretty well-known story throughout the province: newspapers owned by media conglomerates are shrinking their newsroom, their physical offices and everything except their advertising departments. It was February, 2010 when I was told that The Signal -Star couldn't keep me any longer. It wasn't a performance-based thing (or so I was told), it was just that the higher-ups felt that a three-person newsroom was an unnecessary luxury despite the fact that we produced both a weekly and a bi-weekly newspaper. I was pretty lost — I had always figured that my future would be tied to a community newspaper — so for a couple days I really had no idea what to do with myself. It was a pretty low time for me. Fortunately, it was also a brief one. Fate (and a couple of local publishers) had plans for me. Dave contacted The Citizen's publisher Keith Roulston, who was looking to fill a hole in his editorial staff with the departure of Bonnie Gropp, who is now retired after moving to Vital Imagery in Brussels. I took a long lunch during the two weeks I had left at The Signal -Star and came to Blyth to interview for the position with The Citizen. It was different, to say the least. Our current office is a pretty big departure from the office I originally interviewed in. When I walked in I was greeted by Jill Roulston working the front desk and I immediately noted the advertising sales representatives didn't have computers. The old office, with the exception of the editorial offices, was a pretty tightly -populated space with people (Joan Caldwell and Dianne Josling) sharing cubicles and literally bumping into each other if they leaned too far back. Suffice to say, our current office was a step in the right direction. Anyway, back to the story. I met my editor Shawn eventually and he seemed like a nice guy, though I doubt either one of us had an inkling we would become the friends we have. I chatted with Keith. I showed him my portfolio of photography, talked camera makes and models with him and talked about my experiences in Goderich. I got the job. I guess that's the problem with a retrospective like this, while the story may be interesting, the conclusion is definitely a foregone one. When the dust settled, I had about 16 hours between leaving The Signal -Star and starting at The Citizen. The day I started I was handed a special section to work on. With a phone, a note pad and The Citizen's phone book I started making calls and setting it all up. The idea that I did this without the aid of a computer, just over eight years ago, seems like I must be misremembering it but really, it happened. I called up farmers, Community Supported Agriculture companies and various other sources and started writing. I must've done a few things write (hardy har har) during those early days because I'm still here, still doing what I love. The office has moved, I've moved (actually a few times, even though I'm almost back where I started) and some of the faces have changed, but in all honesty, what we do is pretty similar: telling your stories. Anyway, that's the story of how The Citizen has had me for the last eight years and journalism in general for the last 10. Now you're up to date. Shawn Loughlin limb Shawn's Sense Robocop McPoliceface This week's Letter to the Editor from North Huron Councillor Brock Vodden asks a simple question that's very hard to answer in regards to political representation. In his letter, Vodden says — and I'm paraphrasing — that Wingham ratepayers want the Wingham Police Service, so that's what they're being given and now they have to pay. What he's saying is really the heart and soul of a democracy. It's why there are referendums that decide important issues in a particular country or community. It's the best we've got. If retaining and expanding the Wingham Police is what those residents want, then so be it. The costs associated with that expansion have been laid out simply and plainly and, if residents are fine with paying those costs, who is council to stand in their way? Except... what if council is exactly who needs to stand in their way? This is the other side of representation and democracy. When decisions are left to the general public, sometimes some strange results are achieved and "adults" need to step in. That's why Detroit is getting a statue of Robocop, Greenpeace named a whale Mr. Splashy Pants and a British Royal Research Ship was this close to being called RRS Boaty McBoatface. Councillors and representatives of all kinds are in a unique position to have more information that the average man on the street. They are privy to budget documents, staffing decisions and all kinds of expert opinions that those at the coffee shop wish they had. So, at what point does council make a decision that's right for the community, but flies in the face of what the community is saying it wants? Like Vodden says in his letter, the Wingham Police Service may be something that will ultimately prove unaffordable. With a full complement of officers and salaries and equipment costs that will never decrease, how long will a town of just a few thousand people be able to afford its own police service? When you're a parent, you have to make decisions for your children because they simply don't know any better. It's just like a boss or CEO making decisions for a company. That's why they make the big bucks. Children like candy. When it's put in front of them, they eat it. However, if left to their own devices, they're not likely to stop and they'll make themselves sick. As a parent in that situation, you make that decision for your child. Just like a CEO may have to make an unpopular decision that he/she knows to be right. Unpopular doesn't always equal wrong. Now, I'm definitely not calling ratepayers children or suggesting the police will bankrupt the town, but in general terms, no doubt there have been political decisions that have had to be made that have proven unpopular, but ultimately saved people from themselves. Huron East Deputy -Mayor Joe Steffler made this case when Huron County Council was embroiled in their paramedic mess. Members of the public liked the sounds of an advanced -care paramedic, but council insisted that primary-care paramedics could do the job. Steffler and other councillors couldn't be specific due to privacy laws, but they insisted they were making the right decision. If policing in Wingham is destined to bankrupt the town (again, I'm not saying it is), are we to trust that council would do the right thing and make an unpopular decision for the good of the community? Or, will council be yes-men to voters, giving them what they want, passing the costs on to taxpayers until the entire system reaches a breaking point? Only time will tell.