We aren’t strong unless we pull together

By Letter to the Editor on May 5, 2021.

Editor: We moved to Lethbridge late last year in the hope that our lives would be improved. I have lived in almost every province in this country and have visited every province and territory.
Many years ago as a senior police official I observed that if I had a choice of people to select as a contingent to take on an important public service task it would be Canadian East Coasters. I said this because I could see that in their character they had a willingness to put their shoulder to the wheel and push hard, or to hold out a hand and help others in need.
Their collective personalities to be there in spades when called upon are probably the result of family and community influences.
After many years my belief in that view has not been shaken.
In fact this pandemic only served to strengthen that belief. Sadly, the province I now live in has developed a reputation as being exactly the opposite. An unwillingness to act in the interest of many of our citizens during this crisis has branded the character of this province as that of a petulant teenager.
We aren’t strong unless we pull together, in the same direction on the rope. To those that defy public health orders or self righteously refuse to help curb this scourge in the name of “personal freedoms” don’t fool yourself. Our freedoms are secure, thanks to the spirit of good people, like East Coasters, or decent Prairie folk, who I have not given up on.
Peter Burns
Lethbridge