Dear VCC Community, I’ve been struggling trying to make sense of the state of the human condition today and how good people were captured by the COVID narrative to the degree that they were complicit in the closure of businesses, faith communities, schools, the ending of livelihoods, the condemning of people to death by withholding treatments, and the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms. To that end I’m reading two books that are relevant – Unvaccinated – How Canada Turned to Hatred and Division by Rejean Venne, and Columbus and Other Cannibals – The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation, Imperialism, and Terrorism by Jack D. Forbes. In the forward to Columbus and Other Cannibals Derrick Jensen writes: “Why is the dominant culture so excruciatingly, relentlessly, insanely, genocidally, ecocidally, suicidally destructive?” And this was before the COVID debacle. Venne writes: “What
transpired over the last year was not a new phenomenon affecting Western society. Many great nations have succumbed to incredible hatred based on an ideology grounded in fear. Everyone likes to look back at unjust moments and assume they would have been one of the good guys.” But the reality is most participated in hatred and division. He adds – “We need to truly reflect on what went wrong . . . because we will be faced with more catastrophes or emergencies, which will invoke fear and test our desires to succumb to blame and hatred.” If we are strong enough and courageous enough, we have an opportunity to better
understand the human potential for evil and learn how to resist its force. But to do so we need to honesty acknowledge that we’ve entered a period of darkness that has the potential to destroy human civilization if we don’t learn from our mistakes. And, we need to recognize and learn from those who, in the face of abuse and adversity, stayed loving, honest and graceful. These role models include Drs. Hoffe, Trozzi, Phillips, Malthouse, Sean Taylor, Shawn Buckley and others, and of course, the truckers in the Freedom Convoy. They refused to succumb to anger and hate, and stayed in the light. The only way forward is to stay loving, light and have the courage to tell the truth. Ted
Memory says, "I did that." Pride replies, "I couldn't have done that." Eventually, memory yields. - Friedrich Nietzsche
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