A chill went down my spine and across my soul listening to Vancouver\u2019s new Mayor Gregor Robertson talking about forcing people, \u201cfor their own good\u201d, to behave in a manner he judges is an appropriate and wise.<\/p>\n
Frighteningly no one on the news report disputed his statement and others echoed the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d sentiment. Hopefully this lack of a disagreeing cautionary voice was a result of editorial decisions by news staff and not from a lack of those questioning the wisdom of going down the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d path \u2013 no matter how well intentioned the steps onto that very slippery slope may be.<\/p>\n
The police officer who let her light her candles made the correct decision. Someone was appalled that I would give candles to homeless people living in tents or other makeshift shelter. I know how important they can be to providing heat to survive in frigid weather.<\/p>\n
The same day the news had reports of people killed in house fires. Does that mean that we should force people not to live in houses because fires will happen, houses will burn and people will die?<\/p>\n
Yes the death of the woman who died in the fire in her modified cart was tragic, but the tragedy was not that she refused to come inside. The tragedy is that we as a society have failed to put in place the resources that would have allowed for the building of a relationship of trust with the woman and the existence of housing\/shelter she would have found acceptable.<\/p>\n
The true tragedy will be if we heedlessly, thoughtlessly plunge down the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d path. History is full of examples of what happens when we as a society decide what is good for somebody or a group and force them \u201cfor their own good\u201d to do what we, not they, want.<\/p>\n
Just ask members of our First Nations who were forced into residential schools \u201cfor their own good\u201d while looking at the damage done to our First Nations and their cultures and society in the name of \u201ctheir own good\u201d.<\/p>\n
In this case forcing people to behave in a manner \u201cfor their own good\u201d is not about their own good but about making society feel better, salving society\u2019s conscience over the consequences of its decision to abandon these most vulnerable people and all to often avoiding having to invest the time, resources and effort to deal with the issues in a manner that would truly be of benefit to those in need.<\/p>\n
I have been one of the people who Mr. Robertson wants to \u201cforce for their own good\u201d to behave as he sees fit.<\/p>\n
While I acknowledge that appropriate housing and supports would have been helpful, what I really needed was the time and personal space to find my way to recovery. \u201cForcing me for my own good\u201d would have denied me the chance to find that path and to find recovery and myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A chill went down my spine and across my soul listening to Vancouver\u2019s new Mayor Gregor Robertson talking about forcing people, \u201cfor their own good\u201d, to behave in a manner he judges is an appropriate and wise. Frighteningly no one on the news report disputed his statement and others echoed the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d sentiment. Hopefully this lack of a disagreeing cautionary voice was a result of editorial decisions by news staff and not from a lack of those questioning the wisdom of going down the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d path \u2013 no matter how well intentioned the steps onto that very slippery slope may be. The police officer who let her light her candles made the correct decision. Someone was appalled that I would give candles to homeless people living in tents or other makeshift shelter. I know how important they can be to providing heat to survive in frigid weather. The same day the news had reports of people killed in house fires. Does that mean that we should force people not to live in houses because fires will happen, houses will burn and people will die? Yes the death of the woman who died in the fire in her modified cart was tragic, but the tragedy was not that she refused to come inside. The tragedy is that we as a society have failed to put in place the resources that would have allowed for the building of a relationship of trust with the woman and the existence of housing\/shelter she would have found acceptable. The true tragedy will be if we heedlessly, thoughtlessly plunge down the \u201cforce them for their own good\u201d path. History is full of examples of what happens when we as a society decide what is good for somebody or a group and force them \u201cfor their own good\u201d to do what we, not they, want. Just ask members of our First Nations who were forced into residential schools \u201cfor their own good\u201d while looking at the damage done to our First Nations and their cultures and society in the name of \u201ctheir own good\u201d. In this case forcing people to behave in a manner \u201cfor their own good\u201d is not about their own good but about making society feel better, salving society\u2019s conscience over the consequences of its decision to abandon these most vulnerable people and all to often avoiding having to invest the time, resources and effort to deal with the issues in a manner that would truly be of benefit to those in need. I have been one of the people who Mr. Robertson wants to \u201cforce for their own good\u201d to behave as he sees fit. While I acknowledge that appropriate housing and supports would have been helpful, what I really needed was the time and personal space to find my way to recovery. \u201cForcing me for my own good\u201d would have denied me the chance to find that path and to find recovery and myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behaviour","category-point-of-view"],"yoast_head":"\n