Vicki Gunn
Was anyone else part of the craze in the late 1960s that was called “Monkee Mania?” I was a fan from day one right through to the bitter end. Perhaps one of my favourite songs was “Shades of Grey.” The lyrics included the following: “It was easy then to know truth from lies, Selling out from compromise… But, today, there is no black or white, only shades of grey …” When I look at Canada’s political scene today, I’d say that what looked like compromise over the past many years was really selling out.
We once had a defined standard of right and wrong, but that was “yesterday.” We knew that children needed to be protected and our laws reflected that need. We knew that even though free speech sometimes hurt, it was essential for a free people to be allowed to express themselves within the confines of the law. We knew that public displays of sexuality were not appropriate and so we had laws to protect the public from lewd behaviours. We knew that women had less physical strength and so they were protected when they were at their most vulnerable … in public intimate facilities like washrooms and change rooms.
We didn’t live in a perfect world back then. I remember a classmate going to “stay with her aunt” for a while. There were young women ostracized because they became pregnant outside of marriage. I remember tittering with the other girls when rumour had it that a fellow classmate had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. I remember visiting Toronto as a teenager and being shocked by the sight of a man in a tight, white, knit skirt.
In short, all of the ills that are part of society today were present “yesterday” but they were not part of the mainstream. They shocked us.
What went wrong? Today, rather than protecting our children, we teach them about sexual alternatives. Rather than affirming the family, our courts order a father not to refer to his daughter as a girl or he will face abuse charges — all the while the court approves life-altering medical treatments without parental consent. We tell children that being a boy or a girl is not reality. We tell them that they can become the opposite sex, without telling them that they can never in reality change their DNA; they can just mask it … and the damage done cannot be reversed if they change their minds.
What went wrong? Today, we are allowed to speak freely as long as we only express “liberal” thoughts. We are allowed to speak freely as long as we don’t hurt somebody’s feelings. Come to think of it, what happened to “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me?” While we felt the sting of someone saying something mean to us, we didn’t let that define us. Years of childhood spats had toughened us to deal with insults.
What happened to move us from a society that honoured our historical Christian heritage to one that allows the arrest of a street preacher for doing what street preachers do…preach?
We didn’t get where we are today from one single decision. We got there by gradually fuzzying the edges of what was considered okay behaviour. When people quit being shocked by black or white becoming tinged with grey, then the societal architects decided that a bit more stirring up of the edges to mix the black and white would not be noticed.
Many who opposed stood firm … for a while … but in the end it was such a faint mixing of black and white that surely that little bit of grey didn’t matter.
What about those annoying people who refused to mix the black and white? People looked at them as being rigid. Today, they can face charges should they publicly express their thoughts.
Today, on the eve of another federal election, have you wondered, “Who is CHP Canada?”
CHP Canada is comprised of those who did not compromise even when those in other political parties lacked the backbone to say “no.” CHP Canada is made up of those who saw the trend of colourless and indistinct shades of grey becoming dominant over our former understanding based on black and white, right and wrong. Those who have grasped this in recent years have developed a new appreciation of the beauty of our historic Christian heritage. They’ve noticed that the political mainstream and their media partners have lost their understanding of Canada’s Christian heritage and now reflect only progressive shades of grey. These folks have joined the CHP and are putting themselves on the front-lines in the battle for our culture.
The Christian Heritage Party is made up of people like you and me. People who have looked at the great freedoms that flourished under our Christian heritage and have committed themselves to the battle for a return to the values once shared by all; they see the urgency and want to do their part — before all freedom is lost in this great country.
The Christian Heritage Party needs you We need you to join hands with us and refuse to accept “grey” as the colour of our culture. Canada has a vibrant, colourful culture that needs “all hands on deck” to preserve it.
I’m calling on you, today, to join hands with us and hold back the tide of grey that is washing over our culture. It’s time for us to stop squandering our future and protect it with all that we are.
You will face opposition, but don’t back down from doing what is right. Canada needs leaders who will stand firm and not back down from opposition. We already have some of those leaders ready to serve in the fall with a mandate from their fellow Canadians. We need more people committed to saving our way of life. We need more candidates and campaign volunteers.
Whether you think you could be a candidate or think you could do good supporting and helping another candidate; whether you are good with handling campaign funds or great at door-knocking and talking at the doorstep, Canada needs your political involvement for the next few months. Our God-given human rights depend on it.
You know what’s right. So, let’s give future generations the wonderful freedoms that we have enjoyed.
Vicki Gunn is executive director of the Christian Heritage Party. This article was originally published as a CHP commentary on July 23 and is reprinted with permission.
