Let us pause in life's pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
-Stephen Foster
When I was in 8th grade, there was a social studies unit that begins with an audio drama depicting how you and your classmates are on a field trip visiting a military base when the signs begin blaring because war - presumably nuclear - has broken out. The students are quickly put onto a transport plane to be evacuated, but crash land on an island with flora, fauna and climate more akin to the South Pacific than anywhere in Canadian territory. With no supervision you must organize, gather resources and creat your own small scale society until rescue comes, if it ever does.
Other than the discovery of breadfruit as a potential food source, I remember very little of that unit, but that opening will stick with me. The wail of the alarm did not sound all the different from the repurposed civil defense siren at Alexandra Arena that sounded the ten pm curfew every night. Even as children, we were constantly reminded of the threat of WWIII: the notion that the DEW line might be our only warning that Soviet ICBMs were enroute over the North Pole, Audrey being directed to hide under a playground slide during a drill, countless "what if" scenarios played out on screens big and small as well as pages far and wide.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union though, there was much less worry about such global conflict. Sure, the Peoples Republic of China emerged as a new "near peer adversary" and then Russia re-asserted itself as a global and malign actor, but there have always been other pressing things to worry about. Global conflict has never been as significant a concern to my adult self as it seemed to be in my adolescence, and I never, never took that air of peace in my own backyard for granted.
I mean, up until recently.
- In 2022, Russia invaded the eastern border of Ukraine in a "Special Military Operation" (e.g. war) that somehow persists to this very day (Slava Ukraini!)
- European nations, while not committing troops to the fight, are only two willing to help supply Ukraine where it can with jet fighters, ammunition and armoured vehicles, and Finland and Sweden have even joined NATO subsequently.
- China also weaponized its extended coastline that it built up into the South China Sea in 2022, effectively narrowing the aperture through which international ships may pass without entering coastal waters
- The current U.S. administration, disregarding treaties and internationl laws that inconvenience it in any way, have launched attacks with no congressional approval on the leadership of Venezuela, and as of two days ago, joined Israel in launching long range atacks on Iran (again, without a declaration of war or congressional approval).
- Iran, having sustained not only the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini but possible mass civilian casualties due to a school strike, is now lashing out with attacks across the Middle East (Israel, Bahrain, U.A.E., Qatar, Kuwait, Iraw and Jordan).
So, geopolitically at least, I think it is fair to say things have destabilized significantly over the past decade or so.
Meanwhile in my home province of Alberta, health care and education are failing due to mismanagement by the UCP government (e.g. 11,000 acute care beds in the '90s compared to 8,800 now, despite the population going from <3 million to over 5 million in that period); whether this is due to incompetence, callousness, active cruelty or ruthless pursuit of privatization is up for debate, but not to me.
This same government has taken no stance against the separatist movement in Alberta, a movement whose senior figures which has also claimed to have met with senior U.S. officials to discuss loans, trade treaties and even potential military support.
With that same UCP government now trying to blame immigrants for the 9.4B dollar deficit they have wrought with a really problematic set of referendum questions this fall and taking steps to transition our Sherrifs into a police force that the majority of citizens and municipalities have made clear they don't want, many outraged Albertans calling for an election, which seems unlikely to happen.
So, yeah, all in all, between the stuff happening at home and ICE killing and beating up Americans in Democratic cities like Minneapolis, and armed conflicts increasing in multiple theatres across the globe, it is all looking a little too 1930s around here for my tastes.
Bad actors (despots, wanna-be dictators, monarchs-in-waiting and billionaire oligarchs) all seem intent on making things tough for ordinary people worldwide and it feels like things might get worse before they get better.
Even now, however, it is critical that we not give up hope.
Continue to pay attention, to speak up, to call out unjust and illegal behaviour when you see it.
Remember that despite their power, some of these individuals are objectively stupid, like whoever decided to host a strategic military session in a curtained off area of a resort.
And times may indeed get tough, but humanity has shown an amazing ability to weather hard times - hell, look at Ukraine! Do what you can to prepare before hardships arrive.When they do, help your nieghbour where you can, so they will help you and others in turn. Community will always endure.
I don't like the felling in the pit of my stomach, and if I hear a civil defense siren outside, even as a drill, even in jest, I will die inside just a little.
But regardless of your belief, have faith in the wisdom of these words: "This too, shall pass."
'Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more.
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh! Hard times come again no more.
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