Editor:
I get it. Everyone is anxious. And when we are scared it’s natural to think tribally and look for someone to blame. So the prospect of hordes of COVID-carrying, thoughtless mainlanders invading the Coast and spreading the pandemic to coastal families is enough to bring out the worst in everyone.
The problem is, once you unleash the “us versus them” energies, where do you draw the line? Once you attack everyone who is not a full-time resident, who’s next? The Coasters who routinely travel south for Costco runs, or medical specialist appointments, or to reprovision shut-in, high-risk relatives? Anyone with children or teenagers, because they are the most unsanitary and hard to regulate members of any community? How about smokers, who are always bringing their hands near their mouth? How about the poor, the homeless, or those with disabilities who might lack the resources to safely self-isolate? How about those people who look differently, or vote differently, or have more or less money than we do? How about my neighbour with a compromised immune system, who is responsibly sheltering in their summer cabin, or the single mom who has come up here to protect her daycare-less kids and get some help from grandparents?
Also, is it accurate to assume every one of our friends and family in the city, or anyone who maintains a summer cabin on the Coast, is an irresponsible COVID-carrying yahoo? Likewise, is it reasonable to assume everyone on the Coast is far more meticulous in their COVID-prevention behaviour than our neighbours in the city? Have we not all witnessed a good deal of mindless behaviour from residents up here? And how would we feel if Vancouver hospitals stopped receiving and treating our most sick residents, because they want to build a protective wall around their community?
Focusing on divisions takes us all down a nasty, reactionary rat hole. In reality, no place has a monopoly on ignorance or virtue. Rather than fanning the flames of tribal divisions, can we not agree our common enemy is COVID, and any careless behaviour that could lead to further illness or loss of life? Let’s focus our energies on the real threat.
Steve Mitten, Roberts Creek
