Last year, people in Prince George, Kamloops, and all points between opened their hearts and homes to help evacuees fleeing from wildfire threats.
Some of the stories are awesome. This year, experts from all over the world worked together to rescue the young Thai soccer team who got trapped in a cave.
An Australian doctor, Chinese emergency responders, and a Danish business owner are just some who helped the Thai Royal Navy team rescue team find and free the young players and their coach. One of the rescuers died during the process.
If people can work together when they have a common cause, why can’t countries find common causes so they can work together?
Why can’t politicians in the same country get along? Why do we have to have so much disagreement not only between nations but even at the community level?
In spite of our differences, we humans share the earth. Canadian provinces share a lot of woes and so do communities. Climate change could be a common cause. Even if we deny climate change we have to deal with the weird weather it’s causing. Will it take some horrendous worldwide catastrophe to make us realize we humans all have the same basic needs? That we’d all be better off if we could forget our differences and get working together? I know, dream on.
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The weather continues to hog the headlines, well, actually the consequences of weather, like wildfires, but the fall-out from the up-coming legalization of marijuana has people jumpy too. It seems we will have a lucrative marijuana industry and big money is lined up to get in on the bonanza.
Let’s hope there are plans to deal with for any negative fall -out and that municipalities have enough sense not to turn farmland into grow ops.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
