| There are 341 reasons for me to be angry this morning, but I choose to focus on one.
I could be angry because my skull is disproportionately large and I have a pumpkin freak head – I used to think it was due to, as my parents told me, my bigger brain, but who are we kidding here? I could be angry because of the state of the world, the child soldiers in Uganda, the sex trafficking in Vietnam or the homeless shelter in Calgary turning folks away. I could be angry because I always forget to watch the re-runs of Welcome Back Kotter. Today, though, I choose to be angry at the way columnists are always angry. The way that they are always complaining – they are the film critics of our social and political world who have never seen a movie they enjoyed.
If I wanted to take the easy way out, I would join that chorus of flap-mouthed codpieces – the writers and reporters and experts – and add to their foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. I would, like them, take the newsletter called the Mayor’s Annual Report to Calgarians 2005 that arrived in my mailbox and rip it apart. I would castigate the document as nothing but rhetoric, platitudes, propaganda. If I were to approach anything less than gentlemanliness, I would forget my general lack of nobility and steal negligently from 1898 and C.P. Cavafy:
"Why did our emperors get up so early, and why are they sitting at the city’s main gate, on their thrones, in state, wearing the crowns? ...Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? ...Because the barbarians are coming today, and things like that dazzle the barbarians."
But thank the good Lord, the non-cartoon version of Allah and Wayne Gretzky himself that this barbarian is generally so much better than everyone I come into contact with. I am somewhat dazzled and pleasantly impressed, and feel lucky to live in this place. The mayor’s annual report gives us reason to be proud – but not complacent.
Today I go on the anti-complain, and perhaps you will treat my comments as a welcome diversion from the trodden path. Each time an announcement is made that affects our lives, an idea is unveiled or public policy is injected with some kind of fresh thought, every thinker and his horse have an opinion – and they generally show off their intelligence through criticism. A $400 prosperity bonus for Albertans? The worst idea we have ever heard! A curbside, citywide recycling program that will cost homeowners? How dare they! A plan for the expenditure of municipal revenues that meets our most pressing needs and allows for needs of others as well? Abominable, substandard, unacceptable. I say to you sirs and madams of complaint: Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade!
When I read about our enviable lifestyle, the safety and security of our streets and the cultural, educational and recreational advantages that we enjoy, I say bravo, we must applaud – and then we need to stop and use our hands to make sure those advantages are enjoyed by more. When I read about the city’s overall commitment to affordable housing, to providing up to 600 homes for Calgary families and the working poor over three years, I say yes, our council gets it. And then I call for that number to double next time I read about it.
When I read about Calgary’s environmental leadership, our greenhouse gas reduction strategy, our municipal energy reductions, our water conservation efforts, I am proud of our mayor. And then I remember my general distaste for him and ask him to do more, to do better.
I read about the success of Calgary Transit ridership and I remind myself to show that pride tangibly by not putting my feet on the C-train seats. I read about our leadership in parks and greenspaces and promise to stop peeing in the park.
It seems tragic to me that any small bit of social, political, economic or ecological justice is quickly followed by a chorus of boos asking why it wasn’t done sooner or better. Let me take a moment and speak to the green crusaders, social activists and conscious citizens – do not agree with me, do not give up, fight harder. But applaud those you fight against from time to time and thank them for allowing you a fight, for sharing with all of us some progress. Thank them for the small success you have achieved together and then go on to fight for the next one.
The mayor tells us that Calgary is a city of big ideas, hard workers and innovators. Those ideas, that work and that innovation apply perhaps more than equally to the things that our city still needs to do better: to fix the roads, but to fix some indignity as well; to lobby Ottawa for fairer funding formulas, but to lobby our own citizens to be more thoughtful of others. When someone tells me I’m not good enough, it makes me want to work harder. But when someone tells me they are proud of me and that they like what I have done so far, I’m a man on fire. |
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