Remembrance, Gratitude and Commitment
11 November 2024
This is always a solemn day. Always a grey day, with rain or snow accumulating like tears. Whether we celebrate Remembrance Day in Canada or Veterans Day in the USA, it remains another annual day of reflection. A day to experience and voice our gratitude for the many military personnel who have sacrificed so very much. That common American phrase “thank you for your service” repeated so often. Their patriotism, sacrifice and love of country reflect and support the beliefs all of us hold dear in these countries who claim to honor and uphold democracy and freedom of speech.
With the overwhelming changes within the political spectrum of the USA this past week, I pray that now we can all find new pathways to bring the opposing views that have been so divisive closer to resolution or compromise. The many commentaries I have ranted and spouted in the days since the first time Mr. Trump came into the Oval Office and the following pandemic debacle have been running through my mind. As the days pass I am watching the two parties work their way through the changes and their implications. Always there is the hope that the two extremes can come closer to a centrist or more moderate view so that cooperation can bring about real progress.
The promises of peace, a return to safe and lawful community, better working conditions with commensurate pay, lower taxes, support of American (and Canadian) business, better health care and so many others reflect the goals of every citizen – and the glib promises of every politician. On this Remembrance Day gratitude remains one of our primary emotions, while our patriotism and goal of living democratically still seems fragile. For the millions who supported Mr. Trump, the overwhelming response is relief and hope. For the millions who supported Mrs. Harris the response seems to be anger, disbelief that many people do not agree with them and wonder about how they “failed”.
Already the mainstream (state-funded?) media is looking for evermore ways to discredit, demonize, bankrupt and criminalize the man who is about to be their next president. Why? For having a different opinion and vision of the future of his country? Can there be no pathway forward to a time of cooperation and freedom of speech?
But the politics are for the politicians, and the mainstream media who appear to be their mouthpieces. For those of us who are a part of alternative medicine – in any democratic country internationally – this change to “The Right” in the good old US of A, is a moment in time. Perhaps this is finally our moment of Kairos. Quite frankly, the inclusion of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. within Mr. Trump’s administration brings a new and positive pathway forward.
A Commentary by Richard Z. Cheng, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service was issued on January 6, 2024, just hours after the announcement that Mr. Trump would become the 47th President. His headline read: Congratulations to President Trump: What a Second Term with MAHA Means for Orthomolecular and Alternative Medicine. This commentary was followed the next day by an open letter to Mr. Trump. To read the full commentary, please follow this link.
That declaration connects with the legal challenges occurring now surrounding the censorship of information regarding alternative medicine that has flourished during and since the pandemic. Those challenges are being spearheaded by the Children’s Health Defense and Sayer Ji with GreenMed Info. And, so my dear friends and colleagues, now it is time. Time to stand up, time to speak up, time to pay attention and time to be involved.
Almost regardless of how all of the politics and media propaganda and divisiveness eventually settles, this is a singular moment for the industry and field of alternative medicine of which we are a part. As told with the old adage: “When the US catches a cold, Canada [and many other nations] catches pneumonia.” We are all so closely linked in these modern days of instant communication, that it becomes critical for us to support those (oh so brave) individuals and organizations who are already taking a stand and speaking out. I urge you to join with them today, as I am in my own way.
Government sponsored censorship and the monopoly of Big Pharma have been the aggressors against the natural, energy and alternative healing methods that we know are effective. This time, I think, is when we can express our gratitude to the many luminaries who have gone before us – those medical warriors of the past who championed and developed so many amazing natural methods – and support those of us who remain struggling within the system now. Again, why has this division of and the resulting control over natural medicine been allowed to continue for so many decades? Money? Corruption? Greed? Let us bring it to an end and bring natural medicine back into the power and availability that it deserves. May our prayers and faith grant Bobby Kennedy the strength and courage to take on this task.
Honestly, I admit it. I don’t agree with everything Mr. Trump says. But, then that is one of our rights in every democracy – I can have a differing opinion and I have the right to express it without fear of retribution. So, for now, let us support the work and visions of Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy, so that it can at least offer us hope for a much stronger future for alternative medicine.
With all best wishes my friends, be well and be healthy,
Carolyn