Patience and Tolerance

Courtesy of the Mayor/Council - District of 100 Mile House:

No one could have predicted that 2020 would be a year where most of the world’s
population stayed home for weeks, confronted with a global coronavirus threat.

Since February, we have seen so many things change in our lives - and change
rapidly. It’s little wonder that we may be feeling uncertainty and worry. With that,
our patience is easily tested right now.

Homeschooling our children; meeting the demands of working from home; being
pulled in different directions; all the while being cooped up. It’s challenging and
unsettling. We are all making sacrifices and our patience may be wearing a bit thin.

Let’s face it, some of us are becoming downright grouchy. From 8 to 80 we’re all
being tested – it’s not an ideal situation for any of us.

But let’s focus on keeping everything in perspective. Many things are outside our
control and we simply have no choice but to stay the course. As we get our lives
back to ‘somewhat normal’, we will need to practice all the patience and tolerance
possible. Keeping our cool is more important now than ever.

Our social-economic re-start will be safe, and it will be gradual, maybe not as quick
a return to normal as we all had hoped for. It will mean lineups, waiting outside
until there’s room to enter a store, longer wait times for services or food, waiting
for the phone call to be re-hired, waiting for the yeast and toilet paper to be
restocked, and a whole range of other delays. Please be patient.

We may see people in town we don’t recognize, or vehicles with non-local plates,
or people traveling in RVs, or new neighbours moving in next door. Please be
tolerant.

Everyone has a story. And it may well be perfectly legitimate and even reasonable.

Let’s try not to judge others too harshly. Let’s be kind to others, even to strangers.

They have a story too. Patience and tolerance will help us get through today,
tomorrow and the coming weeks and months. As Premier Horgan’s opening
address in BC’s re-start says, “we can’t allow division and intolerance to take the
place of our unity and determination.”

As British Columbians we are collectively doing an amazing job – we must continue
doing our part - being a part of the solution.

We Are Stronger Together!