There is a vile, white nationalist movement spreading through the United States that led to a woman getting murdered by a fanatic driving a car in Charlottesville, North Carolina. .
There is a group so proud of its white nationalism they wave Confederate and Third Reich flags at every turn. Our grandparents, parents and in some cases our friends died to preserve a world free from fascism and extreme white nationalism but the rise was only recently brought again into international consciousness in Charlottesville.
This world of our can be a real bummer sometimes.
I only now realize I can't do anything personally about Charlottesville. Still it consumes my thoughts – most importantly, what if it happened here? White nationalists exist in this country, They currently stick mostly to the comments section but that was the case in the era before U.S. president Donald Trump.
It's a rot that can't be allowed to continue.
How do we in Estevan avoid the trap?
The power of positive thinking is a big start. Marathons begin not with a single step but with the running you do in the months before the race is run.
We need to wake up in the morning, every morning, and realize there are positive things going on globally and in our community. To get sucked into hatred that fuels alt-right media outlets and produces clicks and ad revenue for identity-thieving clickbait sites is to get sucked into a vortex from which there's no escape.
There are wonderful things going on here, everyday. Somewhere in this province right now, a homeless man is getting a bite to eat. A single working mother is getting a huge break on her bills because someone saw that good needed to be done with the collective goodwill that exists in the world.
In the schools in this city, hundreds of kids will go back and learn basic skills like how to read and count high numbers, while others will learn skills that will help them find employment in an economy that's wobbly but still standing.
In this city right now as you read this, a couple that met by chance a short while ago are messaging each other, are in the getting-to-know-each-other-better stage of a pre-relationship, and will eventually marry.
A prisoner who has led a life of drug abuse and physical abuse is getting a second look at life behind bars, away from the pressures of society, and will hopefully get themselves a better one.
A small business owner is looking at the bottom line at their store or home-based business and is pleasantly pleased at how things are looking in the short and long term.
A cat sitting at the Estevan Humane Society will be adopted into a loving home this week.
We are programmed in some way to focus on all the negative things that happen around us, as if it's all that exists in this world. I'm guilty of this as well. What if we didn't?
The sun rises every day and sets every day to allow us to rest. It's your choice what consumes your thoughts in the hours in between. Will it be hatred of someone who doesn't share your skin colour? Or will you look at the sunrise and be thankful you get to be at the very least somewhat in charge of your actions?
The good must win out. This marathon can be run. Â
