Bees are truly amazing creatures. Leaving aside the fact they create a tiny vortex to fly, the bee population is responsible for the cross-pollination of 30 per cent of crops and 90 per cent of wild plants. As a group, the bee population is infinitely more essential to the continuation of life on earth than humans.
In contrast, a swarm of locusts can consume 423 million pounds of plant matter in a day, leaving biblical devastation in their wake.
No single bee is responsible for maintaining the plant life on earth any more than a single locust is able to leave a field barren. This is called emergence, the tendency for simple rules to create complex outcomes.
This Saturday we can see this phenomenon play out in humans as we head to the polls for the municipal election. Though we cannot always see it, each vote either tosses a bee into the situation or a locust, and Delta will either thrive in its conservation or see itself stripped bare, paved and plundered through the decades.
Issues like the golden handshake, Enviro-Smart and high rises are reflections of the decision that we as citizens make at the voting station. From this simple act arises a government entrusted with far more power than any individual, enforceable by law. A mandate to govern emerges from our participation in the system.
This is the responsibility of democracy: to choose the principles of our government by electing candidates with those principles to that government.
Do not be swayed by honeyed words spoken from both sides of the mouth. Do not allow the countless signs and promises and rhetoric of the moment to make you waver. Look at each of the candidates and decide whether they are a person who will nourish our community or enrich themselves at our expense. For, at the end of the day, it is the character of the individual more than their platform or policies that will determine the outcome of the next four years.
When I first became interested in politics at 18, I searched for a candidate of conscience and vision to support, but became discouraged to find the party politics at the provincial and federal levels lacking either quality. As a result, I sought to become the person I had been seeking as an independent candidate. Today, I sit on the sidelines and deliberate, looking through the candidates for a leader worth following.
Life is hard and living a life of truth, integrity, respect and foresight is even harder. But these are the values we ought to expect from those we elevate to positions of power. They do not come from age, or youth, or race, or wealth, or poverty, or experience, or naivety, or affiliations, or any other external factor you can think of. They come from innate strength of character, goodwill and a kind heart.
Are you a bee or a locust? Will the government you support nourish Delta or devour it?
Most importantly, go vote.
Community advocate Nicholas Wong ran as an independent candidate in Delta South in last year’s provincial election. He finished second with more than 6,400 votes. He can be reached at mrnicholaswong@gmail.com.
