Canadian Truckers and A Passport for Europe from 1969

On my living room wall is a 20 inches by 16 glass front display box with my 1069 passport, vaccination booklet, German Driver's liscense plus a packet of postcards from several countries in Europe that I had sent my Grandmother and she saved for me, tied with a ribbon. The year I decided to put them in a display I had read an article about a passsport collector and the photos accompanying the essay were so evocative to me, the way they spoke of this enormous transitions in people's lives, people emigrating from their homelands, fleeing war and destruction, getting married and starting life in a new country and so many more stories.

It was my vaccination booklet in particular that I was thinking about when I went to bed last night after watching a news report on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's efforts to move the blockade on his border with US. I thought of all the shots I had gotten to travel as a military dependent after my marriage to a drafted soldier during the Vietnam War. After his draft, my ex had done basic training successfully and then gone Oo officer'Candidate School. The military suited him just fine. He was obsessive by nature and his outward penchant for control was a manifestation of his lack of inward control, although he could control everything about himself when he was in the army. When he was discharged, his uncontrollable rages and other destructive behaviors took over and ruined two marriages and a good deal of his life, but that is another story. Suffice to say, he was eventually diagnosed with bi-polar disorder after a suicide attempt in a state out west long after we had divorced.

But back to the innoculations booklet. When I was told that I had to ge the shots and show my booklet at the borders, I didn't demur, I got the shots. I could clearly see even at that young age of 21, why a country would want proof that I was vaccinated against deadly diseases that were once the scourge of the world like Typhus, Diptheria, Cholera and so on. Also, I was well aware that I could come across bad water, or any other conduit of a bad disease in any of those countries aw well, so I rolled up my sleeve and got my shots.

When I watched the outrageous behavior of the truck drivers at the border to Canada, blocking the bridge, I thought, "This isn't about Freedom! What it is it about?" They weren't forced to get the shots. If they didn't want to follow the border regulations, they could simply not drive over that border, tell their bosses they wouldn't get the shot and take the consequences, not shut down the border to everyone else. And there was a key - they werent' concerned with everyone else, the autoworkers whose shifts were cut, the people trying to get to work, the people who had been sick and the families of those who had died of Corona virus. They got belligerant over a puerile, toddler size idea - NO, they wouldn't do it! They were angry at having their regular lives disrupted by a pandemic. They were tired of it and they were impatient and angry. They looked like children. >p/> Sometimes I think that what saved my father and made his life work out so well was that he did so much time in various services; the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Merchant Marines, and the US Navy. He couldn't display a temper over a vaccination there, and furthermore, they taught him to be neat and tidy and organized and self-disciplined. Self-discipline is the key.

I don't know what the answer is to this whole cohort of people who are overt in their display of unexamined prejudices, and who show no shame in their immature display of temper at having to endure the restrictions of an epidemic. But, I was heartened by Trudeau's measured and patient and diplomatic handling of the situation He didn't give in to temper or impatience. He used conflict resolution attitudes and told them he heard them and understood their growing impatience with the restrictions of the epeidemic and he gave them warnings and enough time to move out of their position before he sent in the police to further move the blockage and let the life blood flow again. That was the hopeful thing I got from the situation, a good leader stepped forward and displayed mature and intelligent responses to a situation that could have gone even worse.

Conflict Resolution should be taught in school, but school is so burdened with things that need to be taught it is as though schools have to take over where mothers and fathers and churches and other institutions used to fulfill a role in raising people.

By the way, here is a short list of 6 steps to resolve Conflicts.

1. Take Time to Cool Off

2. Use "I messages" to state feelings-No blaming, no name calling, no interrupting

3 .Each person states the problem as the OTHER person sees it.

4. Each person says how they are responsible.

5. Brainstorm solutions and choose solutions that satisfy both.

6 Affirm, forgive and thank each other.

Happy Trails! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com