‘Do Not Grow Old. No Matter How Long You Live:’ DOUCET

Former Capital councillor Clive Doucet raises bees in Cape Breton.

—

I don’t think bees consider why they are bees. They are just bees, but humans do consider why they are human because it has never been clear.

Is it to dominate? Like Russian wants to do with Ukraine? If it is, it is a narrow objective little different from the territorial wars of the male lion alliances who in the name of protecting their pride kill other intruders.

If it is something more, what would that something more be? I don’t think it’s getting to a gated celestial community called heaven as Saint Augustine would have us believe. Nor do I think it’s endless free choice as Sartre would have believe. Life is both intensely personal as Sartre preached and inherently social as Augustine preached. The conundrum is they were both right. We create ourselves in creating society as Augustine liked and we are fundamentally alone as Sartre liked.

Humans often feel lonely and like bees are never alone. We are social creatures. We exist not just as a singular wonder. My old profession, politics is intensely social and so are the people who are attracted to a partisan life. Unfortunately, the answer of the meaning of political life, like the meaning of social existence is too general to be partisan.

To be happy was Aristotle’s very general take on life’s meaning, and no one has ever seriously challenged that thought. Nonetheless, his answer is not entirely clear either because our large brains also like a challenge, and challenges don’t always produce joy. Aristotle’s teaching career certainly had its ups and downs. He never got to be principal of Plato’s Academy and was forced to start his own school.

During my Ottawa political life, my great political challenge was to help create a more sustainable city. It came from my conviction that the legacy we seek is to craft a life that enhances not impoverishes the earth’s existence. To me, this is the principal thing that matters because if the planet evolves into an uninhabitable form, what is the point of your money, family and prestige? Without a livable planet, these personal ambitions become as empty as the inside of the pyramids.

This is what the young climate activist Greta Thunberg has been saying since she was a high-school student. She has said it with the clarity of a child and the force of a mature adult. I hope she finds ways to keep her spirits up. To not let fears of failure drag her down which is the fate of many reformers.

The more ardent an activist is the more difficult it can be, for changing society is a larger job than any lifetime can address.

I am sympathetic to the despair of having a reach which exceeds heaven’s possibilities. In my own legacy roll, it is the failures that stick like gum to my soul, not the successes. On my failed rosary is gun control, a light-rail system for Ottawa and a green park at the city’s centre, not a shopping mall.

At the federal department of justice, my principal file was new gun-control legislation after the deaths of 14 student engineers in Montreal. I felt these murders very deeply because my own daughter was at university and about the same age as the girls killed in Montreal; and because I was utterly convinced easy access to weapons meant more innocent people would die.

The great news was the support in the media for new gun control legislation was close to 100 per cent from the St. John’s Evening Telegraph to the Victoria Times Colonist, and so was the support across the country. This is almost never seen. It was amazing. And we won. Prime Minister Kim Campbell introduced a comprehensive gun control package which was passed successfully in the House of Commons.

It was a wonderful success and gun deaths in Canada declined every year until after 10 years they has reached an all-time record low.

I was sure, no matter what, I could chalk up gun control on the success side of my life’s ledger. In this way, I had won life’s race to be useful but the twists in the road weren’t over. Ten years later, the Campbell laws were abolished and gun deaths in Canada immediately began increasing. They are now at an all-time, record high. There was more to come.

Meanwhile, our city light rail project which Mayor Bob Chiarelli and I had fought three tough elections over and had signed an international contract with Siemens to begin construction was cancelled.

It would have been the cheapest, longest urban line in North America. It was cancelled for a parkway commuter line, more congenial for developers who owned land along the river front. This riverfront transit system is now running an $8.6-billion deficit and city transit use has declined.

So too, our plans for a green park at the city centre were killed in favour of building a mall. Opposing all this, I ran against two former, developer-supported mayors.

We ran a good campaign and did well but came third. On losing, it is impossible to describe my despair.

One of the many good things about bees is that they have taught me I am very small. That life is longer and larger than I ever could have imagined. Happily, my original idea about life’s meaning has not changed but I have had to search for new ways to find content without betraying the idea that has animated my life. Meaning is made by doing what we can to help each other, and our home, the planet. This is the complex heart of the mystery to which Albert Einstein referred to: “Do not grow old. No matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

Clive Doucet is a former Ottawa city councillor for Capital ward and author. Last book was Grandfather’s House, Returning to Cape Breton.

For You:

The Toxic Mess Of The Locust Economy: DOUCET

Something New For The City. The Truth: BENN

Truth Is The First Casualty At Ottawa City Hall