The letter titled “The compass was lost a long time ago” (St. Albert Gazette, Your Views, Feb. 20) by Doris Wrench Eisler, in response to my letter of Feb. 9, “Time for a compass check,” begins with the question, “True North, is it?”
Yes, Ms. Eisler, True North it is and I make this claim knowing that I am continually bombarded by the power of propaganda but give myself enough credit to know that I make every effort not to be a victim of it.
The main point of my letter is to emphasize the need to establish a sense of “trust” among ourselves as individuals, families, communities and nations.
This trust, I believe, is more likely to evolve and grow if we all understand and follow a common set of rules, which are grounded in values and principles imbedded in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), something you did not even reference in your letter.
This is the North Pole of the moral compass to which my letter refers.
And yes, I believe Canada, despite its past history and struggles in providing fair, honest and good democratic governance, does a better job in following this North Pole than China and the many other countries you mention in your letter.
Without a common set of rules and expectations, how is it possible to play the game of life without violating other players?
I believe the UNDHR is a good playbook to follow and will provide the necessary social climate for respectful engagement and trust. Seems like a motherhood statement to me. However, how come we all continue to fumble and stumble along according to our own playbooks directed and corrupted by a competitive drive for possession, privilege, position and power?
Hopefully, from lessons of the past and the applied genius of our collective mind, Homo sapiens will eventually figure it out and provide the necessary answers, which will prevent the disastrous outcome of our moral delusions to which you refer.
Thanks, Ms. Eisler, for reading my letter and responding. Thanks also to the Gazette for its part in keeping democracy alive in our community.
Wilf Borgstede, St. Albert
