On a bright, sunny, peaceful Sunday afternoon, three large white SUV’s, bylaw enforcement printed in large bold black letters on both sides, pulled into a quiet suburban crescent.
Three young male bylaw officers, physically fit, dressed in all black para military style clothing jumped from their vehicles and surveyed their surroundings.
They were met with stares from the numerous senior citizens, practicing safe physical/social distancing from their doorsteps and driveways. ensuring they were the required six feet apart.
The neighbors started to congregate in the street discussing the meaning behind this intrusion.
The bylaw enforcement officers walked around in a manner determined to fulfill some divine purpose before disappearing into the walking trails at the back of the crescent.
The crescents residents, 70% seniors, turned to each other in bewilderment and whispers of Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Russia echoed through the street as the gulf between government and its citizens became wider in an increasingly legalistic society.
lensdiary.ca 
ah! the gift of perspective … Life’s last curse on its more successful subjects.
To remember, and to therefore know that things do not always improve and change-for-the-best is chrono-subjectively relative.
Santayana is surely rolling over in his grave.
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You have just scored a bullseye, Clark, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
It was just yesterday that neighbourhood bylaw enforcement consisted of small, energy-efficient cars with the city’s logo, accompanied by smaller bylaw enforcement letters printed underneath. The cars were manned by slight overweight, older, apologetic officers. Today it’s reminiscent of a SWAT team descending on the neighbourhood.
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I wonder if law enforcement is going to arrest a dangerous family out for a sping walk. Ah well. We have laws because some people have little common sense. We all end up having to pay the price. Case in point, just look across the water at the US. 😀
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That’s it exactly Diana. Some city administrator looked outside and saw it was a beautiful day and decided to call in the SWAT team to ensure neighbours were social distancing. It actually had the opposite effect because curious neighbours began gathering in groups, whereas before they were more isolated.
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Great point. I noticed that in your story. It’s such a strange time, Len. I feel endlessly disoriented.
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A world gone mad. Good six. There is quite a gulf when it comes to reality these days.
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Very true UP. What irritates me is the legalism attached to it all and an apparent lack of empathy or sympathy for vulnerable citizens.
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Wow, what a strange visit. My brother joked to me recently that I’d better be careful for I might get arrested for feeding the seaguls. Maybe he was on to something. 😀 These are very strange times.
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Thanks Suzanne. It’s been a while since we last conversed. I thought you were seeking new directions in your blogging life. Your brother is wise, that is not so far fetched.
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Nice to connect up with you again Len. I did stop blogging last year but the January bushfires over here in Australia led me back to expressing myself. I started up a new blog then and thought it would be about climate change. Covid-19 came along shortlty afterwards and I have been mostly blogging about that since.
– and, yes, I think my brother has a point. 🙂
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So weird, thought it was another fiction piece of yours.
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Hi Marie, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.
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I’m with you all the way on that one Len!! Either way, keep putting those thoughts on paper!
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Surely, history has taught us sufficient lessons. The question is, how shall we respond? Excellent Six.
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The response is usually through the local councillor Denise. Just letting my views known and asking for answers and reasoning behind certain actions.
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Those who are old enough to remember the past see the signs and some of those who didn’t experience it or study it unfortunately refuse to believe it could happen again. You have wrapped up the gulf securely within six sentences. I wish it was that easy.
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Thanks for your comment, Pat. I understand these are troubling times. How much freedom we are willing to give up to obtain a certain result.
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Thought provoking six and super appropriate for these, the days of our lives.
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Thanks, Lisa. This was such a topical and recent experience that I had to write about it.
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Draconia, do we really have to live there? But there’s protesting to send a message that we should open everything again. That the masks are a democratic constraint. Please. Democracies have rough edges, which shouldn’t mean that common sense should be torn up. That said, we should not be so constrained that we are afraid to live. I’m fine wearing a mask and taking special care with everything. But I would not have appreciated such a “bylaw” presence in my neighborhood. Sense and freedom. Can we have both? Sigh. You’ve evoked thoughtfulness, which is terrific.–Christopher
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Sense and freedom indeed, Christopher. But that’s the nature of democracy. Some people want to keep the isolation going for another couple of months while others want it ended now. So instead of three months of isolation, we get two. No ones completely happy, but there is compromise.
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A world gone mad indeed. Freedom is hanging precipitously off a cliff. I love the quote by Jordan Peterson. Nice.
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Thanks for commenting and following Lynn. I was hooked by your comments to Kate and so went on to your blog. I liked it.
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Yeah, Kate is amazing. I love following her. I should take a cue from her and spend more time on my work! I liked your posts as well! (Just curious–what comment did you like?)
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Your extra, extra, long reply on the George Floyd killing and aftermath.
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Ah, I was curious since I comment on her work a lot! That one was a bit rambling –such a horrendous time in this country. Emotionally shattering.
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I remember days past when i was on a by-law committee.; wasn’t good at it then and am glad those days are in the past.
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I know. I lived in a condominium for 20 years and was on the condominium committee for all of those years. With all the noise and chatter about ‘ defund the police’ going on these days, I’m very surprised at the seeming militarization of by-law officers.
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