Breaking News - Sidney Poitier Dead at 94

 

The Breaking News this morning was the death of Sidney Poitier.  I happen to be a news junkie, however, I have not been watching the news as much lately.  It is not so much that it is all bad, it is just the tone of society right now.  Somehow we need to turn the heat down slightly.  It feels a little bit ironic for me to say that while living in Winnipeg.  This morning the windchill was -44. It is going to be like that all day, but the sun will come out tomorrow, apparently.  

But, let's face it, we need to turn the heat down on society.  Yesterday was the anniversary of the insurrection on Capital Hill.  If you watched coverage on the news, you see that there has been little reflection there has been on the fact that democracy in the USA is under siege. Partisanship makes the country so divided. Of course, much of this has to do with the orange menace factor.  (I don't like typing his name, I feel he already drains too much of my energy.)  Yet, instead of a day of reflection, it was a day of extreme divide.  As someone said so eloquently yesterday, "who would have thought Dick Cheney would be the hero of the left?"  Well, yesterday he was.  Go figure.  

If it is not a great political divide on display, it is a mass shooting.  So many mass shootings in the USA that this stopped making the headlines.  Violence targeted at specific races, specific religions, or specific minority groups seems at a very high level.  Some law in Texas raised the temperature of the nation when it comes to a woman's right to control her own boy.  

The difference between now and a decade ago was that we can no longer agree to disagree.  Society seems to be very black and white now.  You are either with us or against us.  If you don't believe me, check out your facebook feed.  It used to be facebook was reserved for what you were eating for dinner, pictures to make others feel jealous of how well your life is, and lots and lots of cat pictures.  Now, this has changed.  Friends against friends.  I don't like cats, but earlier this year, I was begging my friends to post more cat pictures.  

Here in Winnipeg, we are in a state of emergency even if it is hasn't fully been acknowledged.  The police service has declared that they are in a state of emergency due to so many members being off on Covid19 related leave.  The City itself is very near declaring the same state of emergency for lack of staffing resources, particularly in transit drivers.  Rising case counts and the amount of active cases should have the Province declaring a state of emergency and issuing code red, but it seems the Province has no will to act anymore on Covid.  They are not even asking those who test positive to rapid tests to report the results.  It seems the actual case count is significantly higher.  If ever there was a time to be of one mind and work together, it would be this time.  But, it is not.  Again, if you follow the news, you will see we are seriously divided and, I feel like a broken record, the heat of society is really high.  

This doesn't even count the tragic news of what we have confirmed happened at Residential Schools.  We can't decide if this news makes us profoundly sad or profoundly angry.  

So, although it was incredibly sad to hear the news that a true icon has passed, it was also a chance to celebrate on a life very well lived.  I am not going to into this trailblazer's incredible life and the positive mark he left on society but I encourage to look him up.  His life was remarkable.  He used his platform for advancing black lives matter and that was before that phrase existed.  Not to mention his movie star good looks which only got better as he aged.  

Yes, his passing is incredibly sad.  But, it was a nice change to have the top story of the day to be a celebration of a life well lived rather than something else.  

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