‘We are never truly alone’! This statements like other absolute statements are designed to grab our attention, to be strikingly pungent, yet their truth is debatable. Another absolute statement is that ‘history repeat itself’. Yes, generally that seems true. The statement is helpful, we can certainly learn a lot from our own personal history and of course human history provides insights as well as perspective. However, with awareness we certainly can avoid making the same poor choices and break negative cycles of limiting behaviour.
When facing obstacles, togetherness is preferable, but if we find ourselves alone, it is good to know that we are probably not confronting something that others have not dealt with historically. Our current challenges are likely ones that history has repeated. Those adversities drove us collectively to develop skills and wisdom for future survival. Just knowing that our ancestors were able to adapt and grow through devastating events provides hope. A review of our personal history indicates our ability to deal with heartache, misfortune, and a range of hardships, which provided the opportunity to develop significant inner strength.
History does not need to be tragic to be helpful. Our innovations, progressive choices and new awareness’s also inspire us to keep moving forward and upward despite the roadblocks that we often encounter. The old saying, “that life is always under construction” is another absolute that typifies more our human experience. Another absolute is that “anything worth learning or acquiring is not going to be easy”, is classically our reality as well.
Keeping this in mind, let us look at some Canadian history that evokes inspiration, hope, and understanding that we are not alone in our challenges.
A group of nurses in High River, Alberta, wearing face masks to not catch Spanish Flue, October 1919.
Influenza Outbreak - 1918
“Influenza, also known as Spanish flu, was carried by soldiers from overseas after World War One. This flu was a contagious respiratory disease, victims of this virus often also got pneumonia. Fifty thousand Canadians died during the epidemic, that's ten thousand less than the number of Canadian deaths in World War One. This is a significant event in Canadian history for many reasons. The virus led to the establishment of the Federal Department of Health in 1919. They took control of national concerns such as border quarantines, it was much more organized. The department started co-operating with provincial and federal governments to collect statistics such as birth rates and death rates. This signaled that Canadians were becoming more aware of public health concerns.”
Dr. Charles Best and Dr. Williams conducting an experiment at University of Toronto. (Photo from Bliss, 2015)
Discovery of Insulin - 1921
“In the spring of 1922, medical student, Charles Best and Dr. Frederick Banting of University of Toronto announced the discovery of insulin. Insulin would be the cure to preventing diabetes and controlling normal metabolism They received the Nobel Prize for one of the most important discoveries in modern medical history (Bliss, 2015).”
These are a few historical events that Canadians have suffered and celebrated that impact our resiliency and adaptability. Consider our ancestors’ durability and creativity as well as our own history of innovation or simply bouncing back from adversity, we realize that seldom are we truly alone.
