As I sat a top the upper Shannon Falls view point, I reflected on my recent read of “The Great Gatsby, a story of torrid affairs and infidelity during the roaring twenty’s and I wondered how it applied to today’s lifestyle and standards. Not much difference I suspect, at least, that is, what the media would have us believe.

While the story revolves around a community of spoiled wealth, our narrator, Nick Carraway, an aspiring bond salesman, tells of Tom Buchanan, one of the spoiled wealthy whose opinion would have us believe that we are the dominant race and therefore must keep the other races down. Do we still think like that? I hope not.

This is a time of war for our nation, driven by numerous levels of corruption within the system. Mr. Harper would have us believe that we need to spend 65 billion on new fighter squadrons for our protection. At the same time we have young men in Ontario being arrested on terrorism charges. Doesn’t one breed the other? In either case, both aspirations seem to be to feed on hate as opposed to lust and naiveté of the Gatsby story.

This is a country with a rapidly aging population, which by 2032 could reach a stage where 48% of us are over 65. Coming back to Mr. Harper’s planned expenditure; it would seem to me that we should be spending those funds planning for an aging evolution instead of planning for more war and using up our youth in a senseless strategy of murder in a failed attempt at peace through war.

Not only is it murder of innocent civilians, but of our own young people who will be sacrificed when they are desperately needed to continue driving the economy required to support our family of elders. We need better policies based on growing opportunities for an ever changing social and economic structure.

Wars, we must come to realize are never won, making care and compassion a better investment. We must also realize people fleeing war too a safe haven are not coming here to continue the war, they are coming here, for the opportunity of a better life. Sanctuary is a most redeeming characteristic and speaks well of those who offer it. It seems if Mr. Harper were serious about peace, he might return us to a nation of peace keepers, something Canadian's took great pride in.

Let us not leave ourselves with impossible cliffs to climb, but more simple trails to follow to great heights for a better view of life.

 Peace,

David Hutchison

David Hutchison is the President of Transitions Advertising www.transitionsadvertising.com David is student of social media, more specifically, content.

David is Past Board President of Promoting a Culture of Peace for Children Society of BC www.wartoystopeaceart.com