Editor:
After listening to the speaker from Occupy Vancouver on the radio, I have a lot of questions.
He referred to the privileged few in the world, and I am wondering who he is talking about. I am not rich but I feel privileged to be born in a country like Canada.
Yes, I worked hard many years of my life, and I now am retired in a home that is mortgage free.
The speaker said things about everyone being treated equal. I find it hard to understand that in a country where you get the opportunity to get a leg up in life if you are willing to work for it – and a person decides not to work and, consequently, not have the money except through welfare or other such means – that they should think they would have access to the opportunities I have.
The speaker mentioned the low percentage of voters that have decided who we should follow. Everyone has the free right in our country once they qualify to vote; if they don’t take advantage of it, we get what we ask for.
I was taught that in a democracy, the majority rules. Yet all over this country, small minorities want things their way and sometimes break the laws the majority voted for.
Finally, if the occupiers are talking about the small group of very rich people that make the decisions that can really make changes – good or bad – I agree. Too few people make decisions that can influence directions we take – many times the wrong way.
Occupying the Vancouver Art Gallery will not change that, but the original gathering sent out a message I think most of us agree with. The message you are sending out now is a bunch of squatters making a mess of our downtown, disobeying our local laws and excluding the use of that area for tourists and other groups alike.
Brian Lauder, Surrey