There are times when it is not always easy to decide what to write up for these submissions of mine. In a village the size of Meota there are often times when there is not all that much news to write about and thus you get the privilege of whatever subject is highest on my rambling mind. I know there are times when I totally miss an event. This is not because I am not interested, but because I am often busy with other things or have not been informed of some happening. I have often asked groups to call me, but I assume because of their busy schedules they have overlooked giving me a call. This brings up the topic of communication.
You would think that in this age of technology we would be better connected than in times past yet that does not seem to be the case. I have been involved in events here and have had numerous people tell me after the fact that they did not know the event was going on. This even after we had posted announcements around town and listed it on all available media. This has sparked many discussions as to how to better get the information out without causing some volunteers to have to trudge from house to house with the information. Even when there have been signs up at the entrances to town, I have heard folks who did not know the event was going on.
Now I know there have been times that I have also been in this position and in thinking about this I have the feeling that it has been because my mind has been elsewhere and thus preoccupied, which is a symptom of an overly busy society. I even had one person who lives here tell me they were unaware of the civic election that was imminent. Now, in that case, it seems the underlying reason was all members of the household work away from here and Meota is just the place where they come to hang their hat and they really have no involvement in the community. In cases like this there is a lack of interest in what happens here since it really does not affect them and they must be relatively happy with the services they get here.
One effect of this separation of community showed up here on election day when only 174 of the 307 eligible voters turned out at the polls. Now some may ask why this bothers me when as numbers in some other places are much lower. Yes, there are communities where the actual numbers who vote are less than 40 per cent. If I was them I would wonder what is wrong that the greatest number of their constituents don't care enough to vote. One answer to this came from a comment my stepson in North Battleford made when I got on his case for not voting there. He told me he did not have the slightest idea who any of the people running were and thus was in no position to be part of an educated decision. He had no idea whether or not there had been public forums or any other source of information that he could have used to inform himself. This brings me back to my first question of how informed our technological society is. We know all about things around the world but nothing about what is going on closer to home. Good question: how can we have a more informed society and do those who would lead us really want us to know more?
For those who do take an interest the results of the Meota election decided by those of us who did go out to vote were as follows: John MacDonald was returned as mayor with a totally different council backing him up. Bob Colliar, Betty Johnson, Maurice Gauthier and Greg Shury were the four selected by the voters to represent us for the next term and, if we are to follow good democratic principles, we should now get behind them no matter how we individually might have voted. They are the choice of the majority. Congratulations to all of you. I think we must also thank all of those who were on the previous council for having done a job that is at some times thankless.
Quote: "Loyalty to county always; loyalty to government only when it deserves it." Mark Twain.
