Dear Editor,
I really appreciated your editorial on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as well as your words at the Municipal Centre on September 30. I often find myself nodding and agreeing with your well written editorials and it was a pleasure to hear you speak in such a passionate and clear way as well.
I also wanted to share a few of my reflections. I have read about comparisons being made between the death of Indigenous children at residential schools, the number of children lost to abortions, mandatory vaccinations, and the Holocaust. I understand that comparisons may help us as we try to make sense of our rapidly changing world but I feel it creates greater division through a lack of respect and understanding of the depth of suffering brought about through those circumstances. Instead, what if we were to nurture our pain or confusion about what we are learning about and witnessing in the world? Or to conduct research to better understand an issue before we unknowingly make a hurtful comparison? My wish and hope for humanity is that we use these turbulent times as a way to honour and respect ourselves and others more deeply than ever before. May our collective and individual wounds be healed with each moment of reflection and research, and may we seek to understand each other’s respective journeys and stories with the goal of helping each other to heal instead of staying divided.
Thank you as always for all you do for our community.
Bradlee Zrudlo