His reply: "The baby boom generation don't care about us. They'll never do anything about it."
Then, this evening I saw a very articulate young man speaking for the younger generation. He spoke very caringly about the elders whom we all love, but he said the total benefits to be distributed are being loaded toward the elderly and the situation of young people is so hard and so discouraging. They are feeling they have no chance for a good job and a chance to raise a family. Longer years in school. Bigger debts. Poorer quality lower paying short term jobs instead of hopes of a career. Incredibly expensive housing whether to rent or to own.
For those who are lucky enough to have a real job, the TFSA's and tax credits will help. For those who don't make enough to pay taxes, there is nothing. Just higher costs and precariously low incomes. Maybe we in the baby boom had better consider how much we are asking for ourselves and think about how we are supporting the next generation to succeed. Perhaps we should look at Free University Education to the Bachelor's Degree. Maybe we should start building the renewable energy future so that they will have a sustainable economy in good relations with the earth and jobs that support a family.
Maybe there should be serious consultation with young people to see what they perceive would be the most helpful to them instead of prescribing solutions ourselves.
This is a time when we really have to step up, and deal with the misguided perceptions of reality in this society. We have to look reality directly in the eye and face up to our responsibilities. We cannot let this conversation devolve into who got the most and who got screwed. We have a lot of changes to make and we won't get there if we don't work together. Don't let "THE MAN" divide us into young and old, weak and strong, different ethnicities or interest groups. The political alignments -- Liberal, NDP, Conservative, Wild Rose, Bloc, Green, Tea Party -- even these must not be allowed to divide us. All of us are needed in the new world. All of our creativity. All of our knowledge. All of our skills. All of our vulnerabilities.
I fasted on Parliament Hill on Earth Day for ClimateFast. We were HUNGRY FOR CLIMATE LEADERSHIP AND JUSTICE.
Doreen Stevens, an amazing Algonquin singer and artist sung to the energies of the universe and brought them into our circle. Here she is presenting ClimateFast with a beautiful butterfly mosaic. The butterfly is one of the sacred symbols of transformation -- in almost all traditions. We are amazed at the ability of nature to create these on-going life-long transforming organisms. They are symbols of our own potential transformation. Doreen has done our Annual Fast and Vigil great honour in giving us this mosaic. All the members of ClimateFast express their deepest gratitude to her for this honour.
We do this work, fasting on parliament hill, holding events, and speaking with Senators and MP's because we want our leaders to know that we don't want to be the generation that sucked their children dry. We want them to succeed and flourish. But we also want them to work with us to adjust our ways of doing things, especially in relation to First Nations, the vulnerable people, and the environment. We must live sustainably and share the wealth. Our young must have what they need to thrive. And our elders must have dignity and security and compassion as they learn to let go of this one precious life time each of us has. To find out more about this, check out ClimateFast
