Riddle me this, Batman: what do selfies, an Argentinian baby dolphin, walkers in St. Catharines and Essential Collective Theatre all have in common? Other than the fact they will all be subject matter for this week's column, they all play a part in showing the good - and the bad - of the human condition.
It's been quite a week.
It was a week when I wanted to throw up at the heartless people thinking only of themselves, yet find solace in the thousands of Canadians who came out to make a statement across this country about those less fortunate than ourselves, and a week when though-provoking and edgy theatre made us question the motives of the so-called 1% of society.
Let's begin on a beach in Argentina, where tourists were apparently caught taking selfies with a young Franciscana dolphin snatched from the water recently. At first I thought it can't be; this must be a joke. But apparently not.
For some unknown reason other than perhaps people were thinking of themselves rather than the welfare of others, these tourists couldn't figure out for themselves this was not a good idea. A dolphin is not supposed to be out of the water for any period of time, and being passed around from person to person while each took a selfie with the hapless dolphin in the blazing hot Argentinian sun ended with predictable results.
The dolphin died.
It died because these unthinking clods were too self-absorbed to notice, or to even care. Now, after the fact it has been reported by one of the participants the dolphin was dead before being removed from the water, but from the pictures I've seen that doesn't appear to be the case.
In any event, a young dolphin - part of a vulnerable species, the Franciscana, no less - died rather than receive proper care if indeed it was in distress. If it was fine while in the water, the death is even more difficult to accept.
So what do we take from this? Once again, we see the ugly side of this new digital - Me Only - age. People are more concerned with getting a great picture to post on social media than with helping those in need. It has happened before with traffic accidents as well - people take the picture first and maybe they will act...later. If at all.
When did we become as a society so self-centred and out of touch with humanity? Is it just something we can blame on the digital age or is it rooted in something deeper than that? I don't have the answer, but I do have lots of questions after this latest incident on the beach in Argentina.
I want to believe there is good in people, and I still do. But after that story, I had my doubts.
That brings us to this weekend's annual Coldest Night of the Year walk, held across the country in about 100 communities including several here in Niagara. In St. Catharines, for example, about 400 walkers took part in a 2, 5 or ten-kilometre walk through the centre of the city to raise funds for those living in poverty.
In this city alone, about $80,000 was raised for the Start Me Up Niagara Outreach Centre. Across the country since 2011, a total of $7.9 million has been raised for the homeless.
That's a lot of caring.
It didn't take a lot of effort, really, and the irony of course is that in Niagara at least, it was anything but the coldest night of the year last evening with temperatures near 10 celsius. But the intent was there no matter the temperature, and the walkers I encountered as they made their way along Welland Avenue seemed genuinely committed to the cause and happy to be so.
Isn't that a better optic than taking selfies with a helpless dolphin?
Yes, Virginia, there is still good in people all around us, and I for one am thankful for those who walk the walk as well as talk the talk. The participants in yesterday's Coldest Night of the Year walk deserve our gratitude as well as our donations.
So in this week of extremes as we saw the good and not so good in people, we also saw the opening of an edgy, though-provoking stage presentation at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. The second production by St. Catharines-based Essential Collective Theatre at the PAC's Robertson Theatre opened Thursday evening and continues until the end of the month.
The play is Poor, written by Suzanne Ristic, which was first produced at the 2014 Vancouver Fringe Festival and workshopped both in Vancouver and here at Essential Collective Theatre over the past year prior to this production opening this week.
Directed by theatre veteran Karen Wood and starring ECT's Artistic Director Monica Dufault, Poor is a one-woman show exploring the feelings of one of the so-called "one-percenters". Filthy rich Shelly Cormorant is feeling a void in her comfortable world, and she sets about doing something about it.
Cormorant decides to "play poor" in order to see how those less fortunate actually live. What she finds is enlightening to both her and I dare say, to us, too.
The play describes - in sometimes excruciating detail - the plight of the less fortunate in society today: the homeless, the women trapped in abusive relationships, the souls with mental health issues with no place to turn and so on.
It isn't a pretty picture. And it is a picture described in oftentimes crude language in the play by Dufault, who takes on several roles in the play besides the pivotal character of well-to-do Shelly.
Now I know this is supposed to be entertaining theatre rather than just a dour testament to the plight of the less-fortunate amongst us, so Poor has to strike a delicate balance here. For the most part, it hits the mark in entertaining fashion. It makes you laugh, and it makes you think, as well it should.
The conversation should not end when the house lights come up, though. We need to show we can learn from the play, as well as from the negligence of those tourists in Argentina and the dedicated walkers across the country supporting Coldest Night of the Year. We need to open the dialogue on the subject of caring for others rather than just being casual observers without actually doing anything about it.
We are a caring community, and I believe we genuinely want to take our cue from Mayor Walter Sendzik's State of the City address last month when he challenged each and every one of us to be part of just that: a caring community.
We can help achieve that by doing one small thing for the less fortunate amongst us. That's the thrust of a symposium on poverty in Niagara sponsored by the Niagara Community Foundation coming up this Tuesday, February 23rd at Silver Spire United Church in downtown St. Catharines. The free community event runs from 1:30 to 5 pm and is a perfect opportunity for the community to show they care, and not just offer lip-service regarding the plight of the less-fortunate.
Let's get the dialogue going this Tuesday afternoon, and show the dedication displayed by the walkers this weekend for the Coldest Night of the Year as well as the artistic team at ECT.
Poor, incidentally, has a short run at the PAC, running only to the end of the month from Wednesday to Sunday. You can call the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office for tickets at 905-688-0722.
Catch the show if at all possible before it closes. It will make you think. And hopefully, act on those thoughts.
Have a great week!
February 21st, 2016.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment