I, I, I, I …
I have no idea what resentments Sharon Ross is holding onto so firmly that she is so agitated over the plaque placed in Penny’s memory. I do however know that the plaque was arranged and paid for by those who knew Penny. The plaque is not about whether there was honour in Penny’s life, but about the fact that people who knew Penny felt the need to honour their memories of Penny as a person, flaws and all.
Ergo, if Ms. Ross truly seeks an answer as to why there is a plaque for Penny and not to herself, she must seek the answer to that ‘why’ in her mirror, in herself.
Penny was not a saint and never claimed to be. Hence the questions: What was it about Penny that people who knew her for who and what she was thought enough of her to place a plaque in her memory? What is it about Ms Ross that that people who know her for who she is didn’t think enough of her to place a plaque?
Ms Ross might want to consider what it reflects that she is upset and complains about having to clean out the alcove rather than about the fact that a human being, a flawed and troubled human being, had to spend the nights in that alcove.
Or the pettiness and meanness contained in her comments on Penny’s son struggling with the scourge of addiction. While only a parent in similar circumstances can understand the pain of a child’s addiction, any human with empathy can understand just why “she wanted to keep young people off the street.”
Perhaps if Ms Ross would stop being judgmental and seek understanding, she would know that complaints about large amounts of taxpayer dollars being spent ineffectually trying to address a health issue through the legal system rather than the health system, should be directed to provincial and federal politicians.
Penny may not have been a saint but she never begrudged someone else what they had or got; accepting personal responsibility, not whining about, what havoc and pain her choices reaped upon her life.
A good look in the mirror and contemplation may enlighten Ms Ross to the fact that the plaque was not about honouring working on a corner downtown but honouring the effect Penny had upon those who knew her and honouring their memories of Penny.
Original Letter: http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/opinion/letters/82640222.html
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Actually Mr. Scheirer it is your letter and your words that exemplify certain facets of what is wrong with our community.
Not everything that is wrong since ‘everything that is wrong’ covers a wide variety of human weaknesses, behaviours and sins.
The legacy of despair and destruction, of the way your neighbourhood is, does not belong to Penny Jodway. It belongs to you, your neighbours and the many other citizens of Abbotsford, British Columbia and Canada who, in order to protect their ideology and beliefs, see what they want to see.
Unfortunately REALITY does not give a damn about ideology or beliefs, it just is.
It is the chaos that arises from within the differences between the factual reality that IS and the delusional reality our ideology and beliefs bring forth that IS NOT that brings about the issues and problems we are challenged by as Canadians.
It is understandable why those employed as the agency that enforced prohibition would wish to protect their livelihoods by finding a new ‘demon’ to pursue when prohibition ended in 1933. It is also understandable why, given lack of knowledge and experience, the public would buy into this demonization of other drugs as ‘demon rum’ was demonized to bring about prohibition.
Given our 80 years of experience with the futility of trying to address the issue of mind altering substances by waging war upon those who fall under the influence of mind altering substances; our knowledge and understanding of addiction as a health and mental health issue; we have only ourselves to blame for pursuing a course of action that attempts to solve a medical issue with the legal system instead of the health system.
It is choosing to ignore the reality that addiction is a health care issue in favour of pursuing the illusions many want to be, that effective actions do not get taken and ineffective actions are repeated over and over well past the point of insanity.
It is in our stubborn refusal to learn from the lessons in Penny’s life (and far too many other lives) that what is wrong with our community not only lies but thrives in. It is this stubborn refusal to learn from a reality we simply don’t like because it challenges or contradicts ideologies and/or beliefs that condemns us to repeat mistakes and have problems such as poverty, homelessness and addiction grow.
It is our own choices that prevent us addressing and dealing with these problems.
Penny Jodway was merely an evidentiary symptom, not a cause.
Original Letter: