Last week I shared a poem. (For those who didn’t see it, I’ll share it below.) In it, the poet made a remark about how bravery came from standing upright, flower in hand, rather than leaning over a cliff to pick the flower in the first place. I interpreted this as something of a bittersweet take on holding onto beauty in society, and while I stand by that interpretation, I very much know that it was informed (as all works are informed) by the socio-historical environment in which we now find ourselves.

It’s been a crazy, f*cked up year so far, hasn’t it? You may or may not know that I write these columns sometimes well in advance, so I dread to think of what may or may not have happened in the interim period between now and the time it’s finally published! But at the time of writing—February 23, 2025—the political scene of the world can be described as chaotic, certainly where I am in Canada. We’ve got annexation threats, trade wars with (ex?) allies, the rise of authoritarian populism (I’m being very generous here) in the South, and that’s on top of all the other crap that’s gone on the last little while. If you follow the news at all, it’s quite concerning. Maybe you even feel a bit hopeless. Maybe you feel a bit cynical, like in that poem. But believe it or not, I’m actually not here to be cynical. (Quite out of character, I know!) Instead, I wanted to share a perspective that will maybe give you some hope, or put a positive spin on things.

You see, I want to share an experience I had recently because the world is so f*cked right now. Mindful of this, I decided to get more involved in the provincial election that we’re still in the middle of, and so I volunteered for the MPP candidate for my riding. At the time of writing, I’ve volunteered twice, both times doing canvassing in the community. And while at first the thought of going door-to-door and trying to spread the message and encourage others to vote was terrifying, I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience.

Let me ask you, how many people in your neighbourhood do you actually get to talk to or engage with? Probably pretty few, right? Especially in the city, we don’t know many of our neighbours too well. We might see them, exchange a few words, and might even have an extended chat once in a while, but that’s kinda it. Which might sound strange, but it also made it very refreshing to go around to meet people and talk about the concerns facing our community.

Yes, I met some people who were less-than-thrilled to be greeted by a representative of a different political party, but by and large it was positive experience. I met some people who were so keen to make a difference, very socially conscious, and that made me hopeful. Lotus flowers still bloom, even amidst the mud.

I don’t really want to go in-depth on policies and causes I believe in here, not beyond what is presumably obvious (i.e., that I’m strongly opposed to that crowd in the red hats). If you have my social media, you’d know full-well who I support. Rather, I only want to drive home this point: not everyone is as f*cked as the world is. Most people aren’t, in fact! And the only thing that holds us back from progress is ourselves. Daoist sages like to preach action through inaction, but there is a reason I’m not a fully-committed Daoist. Sometimes we need to act for the betterment of our communities and be the change we’d like to see.