The Solution to most problems in the world

 You can't have your cake and eat it too !

Today is Sept 30th. Last year Canada marked this as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or orange shirt day,. This post is inspired by a speaker I heard this morning on the radio. They were talking about the difference between a 'rules follower', and a 'relationship follower'. Basically, that rather then being worried of whether or not you are 'breaking the rules' offending people, it is better instead to focus instead on how can you improve your relationship with others (eg: Indigenous people). It's much more complicated then just the 'do's and don'ts'. It is not anything the same as 'table manners'.

As a society, we pretty much suck. This is not to say we do not improve over time, but simply meant to point out that fundamentally we all are responsible for

a) Rushing to the 'quick fix' over the long term 'hard work'

b) Complaining that it is up to others (eg: the government) to solve problems)

c) Trying to reach the "top" of some invisible ladder of success, often at the expense of those below us.

What I am stating is that these 3 things above are the root cause of every problem we have on earth. They are the lessons that we never seem to learn, or perhaps we learn but simply very slowly, at least as a collective.

I am not standing upon a soapbox preaching that I am better then anyone else either. We are all guilty at engaging in the items above, some of us even quip that behaving in this manner is completely fine - indeed that it is even our right as a human being!

I believe the moral compass of our society does improve over time, it is ever growing like a living thing. Many years ago we believed it acceptable to keep a slave in our homes, or that of course we should send native children to residential schools to make them 'less savage' productive members of society.  We also believed that their would be 'enough fish to feed everyone until the end of time' and that the industrial age could not possibly have negative impacts to our environment.

Today we know better, where the majority once supported these insane ideas, now this group is in the minority. We grew our collective 'conscience' as a result of the pioneers who stood up and fought for their rights, and freedoms, fought to be treated just like anyone else, fought to save our trees, our animals, our planet for future generations.

But the problem continues....

Consider a 'simple' example - Healthcare. In the part of the province where I leave a significantly large portion of the public does not have a primary health care provider. No one and nowhere to go when they are sick, or need assistance.  So people show up on the doors of the Emergency room. Not because they have an emergency but simply because they have no other options.

Quick Fix vs Long Term Hard Work

If you complain on Facebook, Twitter, or even to the hospital. You are unlikely to solve the problem. Many people might tell you to write to your local elected official.  But that in itself is more of a 'quick solution'.  It's like believing that your plastics are being recycled when you put them in the blue bin. "Set it an Forget it" Mentality.

The hard reality, that needs to be accepted is that Health Care providers are not jumping to try and work in New Brunswick.  Think about it- You just spent $200,000+ to finish university, medical school, training - all to become a Doctor. You have your pick of options, would you not likely pick the one that helps you get those student loan's paid off? One where you can have a manageable set of patients?   What is the incentive to work in New Brunswick? Of course you might simply be looking at things the wrong way. Did you get into medicine to be rich? to drive the latest sports care and live in a $4million house with a summer cottage? or did you do it because you genuinely wanted to help people?

But let's say for arguments sake, it's not all about the money for you, not all about having more then everyone else...

Complaining that it is up to others (eg: the government) to solve problems)

Is it the governments responsibility to attract new Dr to our region? - and if so, how exactly to you propose this be done? - Do you think you have a better mousetrap?

If you want Dr to arrive, you need to show them the money ($$) but to show them the money means you have to get it from somewhere - Where does the government get money? - It takes it from YOU - the taxpayer.  So you want your elected official to raise taxes then right? - Problem solved? - 

Nope! - Once that happens, those making the big bucks get taxed even more, and they don't like that. The Dr gets a big looking salary on paper and then has 50% of it taken away in taxes, so then people complain that taxes are too high!, and the cycle continues as one political party gets replaced by another, and yet no real solution is every uncovered.

Top of the Ladder

Fundamentally people 'want' to feel superior others "Fairness" is not about everyone having what they need to survive, it is about "he who dies with the most toys wins!". At one time we did this by having slaves, by treating women like less then people, by forcing other people's children out of their homes and making them go to residential schools. And yes over time we have learned these things are very wrong, but we simply misplace that with a sense that "we deserve" more because we worked hard. We tell ourselves that yes their are people dying every day of starvation, but that's not our problem, they should simply worker harder like we did, pick themselves up by their bootstraps!

The government tries to bring up the standard of living for those who are barely scraping by by raising minimum wage, but it is a vicious cycle. The business owner can't afford to make less profit, by paying more to staff, so he has to raise prices, which means costs increase, which means the additional money the minimum wage earner received, does nothing to help because the prices have inflated yet again.  So what is the quick solution ? raise minimum wage again, so prices can go up again, and so on and so forth until the end of time. So long as those with more continue to try and hold their position of wealth, their position of superiority over those in a lower financial class, so long as they feel 'they deserve more', the cycle will continue.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

If you want a better healthcare system, you have to live with higher taxes. If you want to be a Doctor around here, you have to accept you will have an overburden of patience and not have the time to spend on your personal yacht.  If you want to heal the wounds of the past, you need to invest time, and patience with those wounded. You can't just take the 'simple out'. Declare one day a holiday and walk away patting yourself on the back.  You can't read an equitize book on the rules of how not to offend people.

The solution is not to write letters to your local politician asking them why they haven't solved the problem - it is about looking in the mirror and asking if you are willing to make the hard choices necessary for us all to work together.  We are all in this together, and we can 100% solve all of these problems, but it's not going to happen overnight, and it's going to take the combined work of everyone both working and sacrificing for our future as a people - The people of planet Earth. This is the solution to most (if not all) problems we face today.