An Excursion Down the Memory Hole

For a man with no job and not much to do but study for an exam, today was certainly an eventful day. After my morning ritual of yoga, breathing and meditation, I activated the computer and accessed the state-run news agency to discover something quite startling (which, oddly enough, has since been quashed): it seems there are over 1,700 "boil water" advisories in Canada that, to this day, remain outstanding. I could not believe my eyes! Is this true? In Canada - the true north, strong and free - where the rights of every human being are held in high regard, where water exists in abundance, there exist so many cases of contaminated drinking water not worthy of anyone's attention? In a year in which the human rights record of China has been thrust into the spotlight in advance of the summer Olympiad, what about the violation of the rights of those living in "freedom"? How can one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the supposed beacon of freedom and opportunity for many, allow so many to live with contaminated drinking water? Should I be at all surprised that most, if not all, of these advisories were issued to First Nations communities?

What a way to start a day. Well, there isn't much I can do about it, but shrug my shoulders and click the magic "x" in the corner of my screen and WHOOSH! Down the memory hole it goes! Sucks to be them, I suppose.

I resumed my web surfing, hoping to find something to keep my attention for a little while before diving into my books and notes, and, suffice to say, I did just that: I came across video footage of a couple in the United States describing the horror they experienced - terror, even? - bearing witness, via amateur video, of the savage beating of their teenage daughter at the hands of some of her schoolmates. My heart wrenched as they described the disfigurement they found upon seeing her in the hospital for the first time, and the pleas for her life they heard her cry as her counterparts collectively pummeled her, and the barrage of taunts she endured on the Internet in advance of this incident, and their outrage and utter bewilderment over how something like this was allowed to happen. Being the pinko that I am, I couldn't help but think to myself, "I wonder how they feel about war..."

Wow. I don't know if I can handle much more. Down the memory hole with you, too. Click. Over.

So yes, I have an exam on Thursday. After spending the better part of the morning studying, I gazed out my bedroom window and thought to myself, "What a beautiful, sunny day outside, and here I sit, stuck with these books. Why let this day go to waste? My exam isn't until Thursday. I think I'll take a walk!" And so, I threw on my shades and my shoes, grabbed my wallet and keys, and set forth on foot towards my parents' house. I figured I'd use this opportunity to at least see the family dog, whom I grew to love very much while under my parents' roof. As I approached the turn off the main road leading to my destination, I noticed the flashing lights of police cars ahead, as well as the traffic being diverted. I walked closer to see what was happening, and I noticed several squad cars, along with two ambulances (that I noticed, anyway) and a small car sitting on the lawn in front of an apartment building, its front having been acquainted with a tree, its driver's side door(s) wide open. Perhaps the conclusion of a police chase? I couldn't tell, from what I saw. Upon my arrival, I did bear witness to a heated argument between a fellow of African descent and whom I perceived to be a Middle Eastern shop owner from the nearby plaza. From what I was able to gather, it seemed to me the former was up in arms over the latter's generalization of "his kind", for I could hear him shouting something along the lines of "You think I walk around waving a gun at people?"

The vultures were circling the scene, in their satellite trucks and helicopters, fully cognizant of the fresh kill, ready to pick clean the juiciest morsels from its bones. I'd soon learn their accounts of the afternoon's event, but for now, I figured it's high time I make my way towards my parents' house. Along the way, I encountered my younger brother, who, learning someone had been shot, had decided to migrate towards the scene (I believe he was to visit some friends as well). When I told him I found a car on the front lawn, he wondered if it belonged to anyone he knew at school. Later, through our trusted news outlets, I would learn that two young men who occupied the aforementioned vehicle were shot - one in the chest, the other in the leg - and a third occupant, a young lady, screamed in horror after the car came to rest that someone was going to kill her, thus prompting her to flag down a passer-by, who let her in the car and drove her to safety, so I'm told.

I did get to see the dog, and we had a grand old time. First, he leaped on me, then let me rub his belly for a while.

So, that was my day. What shall I say of these events I encountered? Three random occurrences of which I am soon to forget, that have no bearing on my life? Or that, somehow, these three events are all connected by a single bloody thread? That the people whose ancestry inhabited this land before our arrival are not worthy of potable water because money needs to be spent on war and policing so-called "criminals" who try to survive in a society in which they learn that their problems can easily be rectified by violent means? that one must physically dominate the opposition or else be crushed under its uncaring, unfeeling, monstrous juggernaut? that these wrongs can only be righted by teaching their adversaries some sort of lesson?

Say what you will about U2, but they said it succinctly: "How long must we sing this song?"

It seems, by and large, we've not been singing the appropriate songs. We're bound to hear cries (again) for the outlawing of handguns, and for strict surveillance of social networking websites, or for mandatory minimum sentences for these perpetrators. Will any of these work? Has the outlawing of murder, or rape, or theft, done anything to deter these acts? Will hauling someone off to the slammer alleviate violent crime when three are waiting to take his place?

Earlier this evening, my roommate was describing the fear she feels, especially after learning of a shooting so close to her own home, and why these people feel the need to operate with no regard for the innocent bystanders around them. I responded by asking what it might be like to live in a war zone, where combatants fire round after round at one another, and bystanders like you and me are nothing more than "collateral damage".

Is it possible to draw any positives from these events? Perhaps if we saw our society for what it was - rather than try to sweep its ills under the proverbial rug, where it is allowed to fester beyond our attention - we could seek a means by which to better it. Perhaps if we opened ourselves to the truth, we could identify the problem before trying to conjure a solution. Perhaps if we weren't so quick to pass judgment on these "others", we could reach out to them and guide them on the path to the divine. Despite everything, I still have faith that we can turn things around, but how do we expect to accomplish this if we remain ignorant of how we ended up in this mess?

This analogy must be growing trite by now, but I can't find any better words to describe our situation, so I am afraid I have to use it again:

The time is fast approaching when we will no longer be able to flush the mess away, down the pipe, never to be seen by our eyes again. The time is fast approaching when we will have no choice but to stare at that pile of shit and smell its foul stench for as long as we fail to do something about it.