For news hounds like myself and many others, recent events have brought to light a paradox or at the very least a conundrum. Society says one thing, but reality plays out another. Let me give you some examples.
Last night on the news, we saw the image of a motorcycle rider smash into a semitrailer that ran a red light. Now, we know that accidents happen, but in the light of recent like accidents which have taken many lives, you would be right to wonder why it would happen again so soon.
Witnesses of this accident say the truck driver was distracted while he was on a cellphone. Restrictions have been introduced to limit cell phone use, but no one pays attention to rules; every day we all see people on the phone while driving. To top it all off, the car companies are actually putting screens on dashes which are more than capable of playing TV programs and movies. No wonder we need self-driving cars, the distracted people are too ignorant to control the vehicle themselves. Why is there no Government control into what can go in to a vehicle? Does the Safety Minister’s or Prime Minister’s child have to die in a distracted driving accident before action is taken?
Then there is the #me too movement. Every day another person is accused of inappropriate behaviour while at the same time in relating these stories, the media will often show extremely alluring photos or video clips of sometimes unrelated women to present the story in an eye-catching manner. For someone with a misguided view of sexual behavior, this is like throwing gas on the fire.
Is there no way that cell phone manufacturers couldn’t make a phone that becomes inoperative while vehicle is in motion? Is there no way to present a story without the use of lurid photos or suggestive commercials? It is almost as if we are intentionally setting some of these people up to fail!
Then of course, there is the issue of being bombarded with pain relieving commercials for drugs as we punish people for abusing them because they can buy unlimited quantities. Are we not able to control this somehow?
Whenever I take a walk on the Mackenzie trails or Bower ponds, and especially in our beautiful park systems, I constantly see signs to not feed the animals as it makes them dependant and possibly aggressive. As well, that dependency will eventually make them unable to forage for their food on their own. Can we not learn to take an example from something like this for our brothers and sisters?
I may becoming a fossil in the way I view life around me, but so far by the Grace of God, I’m still a live and relatively sane one! On top of that, I still have twenty-twenty vision on life as it is forced on me by a society that is more concerned with self-gratification than with societal welfare. With eyes wide open, I see the number of paradoxes only growing, as well as the ever increasing numbers of people falling through the cracks because of an inability to keep up, or an unhealthy indulgence in what society is throwing in their path.
For many generations now society has conformed to a minority that rejects censorship or control of any kind. The result has definitely not been an improvement! Just walk downtown; come into the soup kitchens; check out the Detox and Rehab centres and soon to be Safe injection sites, then tell me that I am wrong.
I fully believe that society is in danger of imploding if changes are not made to this – Life and Death Paradox.