Dear Government:
If you want us to follow guidelines, don’t make them guidelines. Make them rules.
Asking people to consider maybe staying inside and perhaps ponder the possibility of not seeing other people is akin to a parent asking a teenager to maybe not go to the party tonight. B.C. can advise against in-person meetings. My parents can also leave me $50 on the counter for “groceries,” but if the Snickers bar is half off, I’m going to get it.
The problem with leaving room for interpretation is that it leaves room for interpretation.
Heralding back to the 2015 internet sensation: Is the dress blue and black or white and gold? I don't know. Either way. Jessica wants to do the seawall on Saturday. Are you going? I'm gonna go.
Our dancing around rules like a collie cavorting cones at dog shows isn’t because we are bad people. It is because, like a teenager, the ability of citizens to suspend short-term interest to make long-term good is limited. That’s why we elect professionals to do the important long-term decision-making for us: so we can focus on other essential tasks, like Netflix, raising our kids, and how to avoid giving money to important long-term decision-makers.
Now is the time to take that trust and run with it. Tell us what to do. Don’t be afraid to treat it like a crisis.
This is not about public approval. It’s about saving lives.
Emily Kelsall
West Vancouver
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