聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Well鈥� Donald Trump has officially been named the President of the United States.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I must say I was quite surprised by the decision, but at the same time I tried to put myself into the minds of Americans. For them, illegal aliens and immigration is a huge issue, so I suppose they were fired up by Trump. But, I don鈥檛 understand just exactly how you could vote for him.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He ran on what looked like fear mongering and xenophobia 鈥� fear of 鈥渢he other鈥� 鈥� so how does a nation move forward, when there is a rich diversity in the country?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I know many of you reading this in fact detest Justin Trudeau, but in his first address to the United Nations he spoke of the division fear mongering and xenophobia creates:聽 鈥淲hen faced with citizens鈥� anxiety, we have a choice to make. Do we exploit that anxiety? Or do we allay it? Fear has never created a single job or fed a single family. And those who exploit it will never solve the problems that have created such anxiety.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e believe we should confront anxiety with a clear plan to deal with its root causes. Because what is the alternative? To exploit anxiety? To turn it into fear and blame? To reject others because they look or speak or pray differently than we do?鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淵ou see, in Canada we got a very important thing right. Not perfect, but right.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚n Canada, we see diversity as a source of strength, not weakness. Our country is strong not in spite of our differences, but because of them.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淓very single day we need to choose hope over fear, diversity over division.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淧eople want their problems solved, not exploited.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Some will chalk this up to good speech writers, which yes I鈥檓 sure the Prime Minister has鈥� I鈥檓 sure every Prime Minister has had. But, is what he said not the truth?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 If we live in fear of our neighbour, in constant paranoia, how can we move forward as a nation? How do we solve our issues at home, if we decide to target an entire people living in our country? Islam is a religion, not all Muslims look the same, so how do you identify someone as Muslim? Maybe your neighbour is Muslim? To cast fear and doubt on each other is powerful, but it鈥檚 a negative use of power.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Division is powerful enough to entice a nation. We can look back in history and find numerous times this has repeated itself. But, if division can be powerful, then how powerful can we be unified?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 People have their different beliefs. Personally I am rather liberal and I believe you see that in my column quite often. Transgender people are people and should be able to identify in whatever capacity they feel is who they are.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Are you going to change my mind by telling me it鈥檚 wrong? No. Just like I won鈥檛 be able to change your mind if you do think it鈥檚 wrong? But, does that mean because we have different opinions on a topic that we are really that different? At the end of the day do we not all want what鈥檚 best for people and should it not be their choice as to what that is? After all, if you take a religious look at it, one of God鈥檚 overriding laws is to love thy neighbour. And if you just think it isn鈥檛 right, fine, you are welcome to think it鈥檚 not right, but you have no right to condemn others for being who they are.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The way I look at the world makes my thoughts on gender, sexual orientation, euthanasia, etc鈥� all pretty easy. It鈥檚 up to them. And I鈥檝e heard the arguments, 鈥淲ell murder is a choice.鈥� And yes, it is, but it鈥檚 a choice that is impeding someone else鈥檚 rights and freedoms.
