Letters to the Editor: Friday, November 27, 2020 | Opinion – pentictonherald.ca

Bad cyclists found on paths everywhere

Dear editor:

I believe Walter Tymofievichs understanding and experience of "Channel Parkway" and mine are different (Herald, Letters, Nov. 26).

I have cycled both the Penticton dyke area and the side of the roadway where I have endured inconsiderate trucks and cars who speed past.

The roadway is where I have encountered dangerous and inconsiderate cyclists who pass without warning but some of those cyclists who use the dyke are inconsiderate of others whether pedestrian or cyclist.

Some pedestrians are inconsiderate on both sides of the channel, the smaller path and the wider one.

An example of a cyclist's lack of consideration was when I met one on opposing sides of a bridge underpass.

There was no courtesy on their part and I risked injury trying to avoid them due to low-hanging bridge parts.

They seemed to have an attitude of entitlement about cycling where they wanted without regard to others.

So, Walter, my experiences are not unfounded, as you arrogantly proclaim.

Patrick Longworth

Penticton

You dont have right

to make others sick

Dear editor:

There seems to be a macho faction that says, "No way I'm going to wear a mask. I'll go where I like without one. You're infringing on my rights and freedom."

Ever try that line in a restaurant when you come in with no shirt or shoes?

Ever try that line with a policeman when he writes you a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt?

Ever tell a business owner that you can smoke in his establishment if you sure do feel like lighting up?

Rights and freedoms only apply when they are in no way harmful to others.

If you have bothered to read this far, please take the time to talk to your doctor about why we all should be wearing masks.

Mike Bugyi

Penticton

Theres an easy way to protect your health

Dear editor:

Do you really want to beat the virus and resume a happy, normal life?

Stay home and keep your mouth shut. Duct tape is cheap. So is common sense but it has to be activated!

Joe Schwarz

Penticton

Piecemeal restrictions dont make sense

Dear editor:

I may not be an Oxford scholar but Im certainly no dimwit.

And in my humble opinion, the COVID-19 information we receive with our corn flakes every morning is a bit confusing, just to say the least

Dr.Bonnie Henry should step out of the limelight, take a break and re- think some of what she is advising the public.

The latest from Dr.Henry suggests something that is low on the baloney scale ?

Athletes and dancers 18 years old and younger can still practice in groups of eight, if they wear a mask and are at least three metres apart.

A group of eight could include a carrier of COVID just as likely as a group of 20 50 or !00, could it not ?

What about eight seniors dancing the Charleston while wearing an oxygen mask and hospital gown?Would that be OK?

Dance and all exercise can include heavy breathing, so please, Dr. Henry, give less of the baloney.

Tom Isherwood

Olalla

As religion declines, so too does society

Dear editor:

At one time, I was pastor in a church where over 2,500 attended Christmas masses. Progressively this kind of Christmas has entered into decline.

Certainly there was something odd in this assembly. Many of these people were living a nostalgia; pretending to be connected with a place of lost meaning. Now we meet them at funerals and they are people with lives empty of faith. They can no longer communicate with believers and religious services. They want to create their own.

In a Cannes (1960) prize-winning Italian movie, called LAvventura, the director, Antonini, is dealing with the impossibility of relationships in a culture that has lost the importance and dignity of being human. It is a drama on the loneliness of human beings. He links this loss of meaning and inner emptiness to an abandoned church, in a country where faith was so essential to the culture.

Today people are no longer pretending that this faith exists or that religion, in one way or another, could give an illuminated soul to the world again. Finding meaning in communal prayer has been washed away in an epidemic of self-affirmation. The truth is simple; we now don't give a hoot, it really doesnt interest us and it is not of the slightest importance if Christians lost faith reappears or not.

In the film, this drama is being played out in the solitude of two individuals; in a brand new couple. The path followed by both of them is used to show that they are characters seeking something that escapes them.

How is it resolved in the movie? The man disappears to a party one night and flirts with a stranger who isnt close to him. The woman discovers him and is shocked, betrayed by the man she loved and there is a moment of fright and flight. Then there is the awareness that it does not matter and there is a sort of acceptance between them which goes further than this dramatic turning point of his cheating on her.

They are saved by a desperate mutual exchange of pity. The woman has become a mother. She is the strong one now. It is the only way they can stay together. They are not equals.

One night is all it takes to shatter their illusions. The movie was kind, hesitant and ended there.

At any rate, the season of Advent begins once more and offers us a pathway to the real meaning of Christmas.

Fr. Harry Clarke

Penticton

Worshippers unfairly targeted by orders

Dear Editor:

There seems to be a missing consideration in the recent actions of our esteemed Provincial Health Officer and Minister of Health. Freedom of religion is, in fact, protected under the Canadian Charter.

This means discriminatory actions by the government to close houses of worship under the false flag of public health guidelines must be seen to be of sufficient and imminent necessity to justify abrogating our Charter rights.

I have not seen any compelling data to suggest the need to single out religious institutions, especially those which have indeed exceeded previous public health guidelines, for closure.

Yet our restaurants, cheerleaders, martial arts studios, schools can continue to function within present guidelines.

So says Dr. Bonnie Henry, and she is an honorable person. Perhaps she has some information which she has not shared about specific sites which have been the source of outbreaks.

We certainly have seen such information for specific schools and places of business but this did not result in a blanket closure for all similar institutions. We have not seen any such information for places of worship, but perhaps this has been withheld in the interests of not showing sectarian bias. I point out these inconsistencies not to condemn Dr. Henry, but in an attempt to develop her sensitivity to the importance of religious observance for many of us.

If the present pandemic represents such a clear and present danger to justify suspending our Charter right to practice our religion, then should not all social intercourse, whether economic, educational or participatory, be similarly governed.

I foresee a tsunami of appeals to the Human Rights Commission in the very near future unless this situation is rectified.

Dr. R.W. Wilson

West Kelowna

No harm in checking out MAID process

Dear Editor:

What do you know about MAID? MAID or Medical Assistance In Dying, is a legal, voluntary form of euthanasia. It was introduced in Canada in June 2016 to help end the suffering of terminally ill adults.

By the end of 2019 nearly 8,000 gravely ill Canadian adults had received a doctors help to legally end their lives. Assisted deaths took place most often at home, but also occurred in acute care, in hospice, and in residential care homes for seniors.

When it was first legalized, there were never fewer than two cases per week in 2016, and the impression among doctors, based on the frequency of consultations, is that demand is rising steadily.

Doctors (frequently called prescribers) who are experienced in this field suggest that demand is not being met, and that if more physicians were prescribers, more patients would seek and be able to access this service.

Who is eligible?Citizens who satisfy the criteria laid out in Bill C-14 have a right to MAID, regardless of the beliefs of their physicians or hospital bylaws.

Our medical system has an obligation to make medically assisted death available. The number of adults opting for the end-of-life procedure is accelerating as patients with terminal illnesses grow to accept the idea.Patients seeking assisted death may

suffer from tumours (57%), organ failure (25%), neuro-degenerative disease (AlzheimersandParkinsons diseases) (11%), and other conditions (7%).

In 96%, death occurred with intravenous administration of medication. In 4%, oral administration was used.

Patients who opted for MAID, had a

10-day period of reflection required by federal law to change their minds.

I would like to think when the time comes for me that I would have the fortitude to make the decision that is right for me as well as how my family feels.

Talk to your physician.Ask them for the simple form required. Talk to your family. You can always change your mind.

Frank Martens

Summerland

Just calm down a bit, follow natural laws

Dear Editor:

Calmness seems to be sadly missing from this worldwide pandemic.

Medical science has proven that a state of stillness has a powerful healing effect on the body. We should try to follow these natural laws.

Farlie Paynter,

West Kelowna

Write: letters@pentictonherald.ca, Letters may not exceed 400 words.

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Letters to the Editor: Friday, November 27, 2020 | Opinion - pentictonherald.ca