Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on October 16, 2024 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with 4 comments

It’s time for you to have your say.

This just in.

There are municipal elections this weekend across Nova Scotia.

A week ago, I was substitute teaching at our local Junior School. I was filling in for a grade 7 teacher who teaches English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies. I loved the assignment as English is my preferred subject and I enjoy teaching Social Studies. I also enjoy working with young adults.

I didn’t follow the lesson plan precisely as the teacher had laid it out and during the ELA classes, I introduced the long-forgotten spelling bee. When we were children, spelling bees were a staple especially when the boys were pitted against the girls. Of course, the girls always won!

In Social Studies, the teacher had been priming the students for a mock Municipal Election. I shared a slide presentation helping students to understand the differences between dictatorships and oligarchies, democracies and constitutional democracies. Not surprisingly, all of the students thought that democracy was the preferred model. They liked the idea of free and fair elections.

Municipalities are the creation of the provincial government. The Municipal Government Act is a piece of legislation that gives councils the authority to govern their municipalities.

I happen to know a little bit about this subject. I served on Town Council for 9 years several decades ago. I also ran unsuccessfully for mayor. Kay Chisholm was my opponent and the winner. We remain best of friends to this day. Getting elected used to be the fun part of the exercise. Once elected, the tedium of endless committee meetings sets in.

I’m not going to waste a lot of oxygen talking about the good old days. There have been challenging conversations between the Town of Antigonish and the County of Antigonish since time in memoriam. For sure, there were heated debates back in my time, but I don’t ever remember it being personal. We fought our battles. We won some and lost some but when the dust settled, friendships stayed intact.

Let’s face it. The average citizen is not terribly demanding. They want clean water coming out of their taps. They want the lights to stay on. They want their garbage picked up. They want their streets plowed when it snows. In order to receive these services, taxes must be paid. Those are the basics. Civics 101. To the uninitiated, high school civics back in the 1960s was the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and how to be an active, informed, and responsible member of society.

The current Municipal Election has challenged the notion of civics as once understood. Civility has been replaced by enmity. Decorum has been upstaged and, in some cases, replaced by impropriety, rudeness and disrespect.

It’s quite shocking and disturbing. The threats to democracy around the world have trickled down to our small town. No longer is it acceptable to agree to disagree. The recent debate about amalgamation laid bare the worst in human behaviour. In any debate, there are two sides to an argument. Points are made followed by vigorous discussion, points and counterpoints. There are winners and there are losers and then it’s time to move on.

Sometimes, there are people who just won’t let go.

The amalgamation discussions turned very nasty and personal. There were threats levelled at several municipal officials in the town and the county. There are lots of screenshots, e-mails and voice mails to corroborate these activities.

How did we get to such a place where we are unable to have a civil discussion?

I realize that things don’t happen overnight. Societies shift and change like sand on the beach. I happen to believe that part of the problem has been the demise of community newspapers. Thankfully, we still have excellent regional papers like The Guysborough Journal and The Reporter in Port Hawkesbury but in Antigonish, the loss of The Casket as a true weekly newspaper, has had a big impact. The Casket once employed thoughtful journalists and writers who kept tabs on the comings and goings of our town and county. They reported objectively on the pressing issues of the day.

These days, “news” is most often gleaned from social media, the wild west of journalism. It’s hard to know what is real or fake.

I often have a discussion with students about winning and losing. School provides one of the first opportunities for young people to experience the agony of defeat and the ecstasy of winning. I tell students that in both cases, win or lose, learning to accept the outcome with grace is the most important lesson to be learned. In a lifetime, we will pile up a lot of defeats and victories.

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster,

And treat those two impostors just the same.”

If – Rudyard Kipling

It is time to vote.

There are some candidates who seem to have an axe to grind. Maybe these folks should go out to the woodshed, sharpen their axes and do something meaningful and chop some wood.

Maybe prospective candidates should take part in a spelling bee.

Here is a list of words that they might want to spell correctly. More importantly, maybe they should also have to explain the meaning of these words:

Civility.

Enmity.

Respect.

Acrimony.

Collaboration.

Impropriety

Decorum.

Integrity.

I don’t often share my vote with others.

This time, I will make an exception.