Making a space....

I just got back from a public reading by Yann Martel. The event was actually a fundraiser for Pen.

Martel has been sending books to Prime Minister Stephen Harper - with a letter explaining why he should read the particular book. Mattel is a very thoughtful person, a kind of public thinker besides being an author. While he has clear ideas about the things he believes in and he is very careful to insist that we must respect the right of others to think differently.

He particularly emphasized the need for respect arguing that it is the basis of a civil society. I cannot help but agree with him and it is an uncomfortable place to be because if I take that position then I have to make space for people who think differently than I do. I have to allow room in Canada for the Stephen Harpers and his supporters. And as Martel insists that is the nature of democracy which is a messy loud and difficult way to live. Yet it protects us from the erosion of our freedoms and rights.

There is at times a palpable despair amongst those who hope for more visionary leadership from our politicians. Yet the fact that we have to accommodate those whose ideas we oppose at least shields us from complacency