As they say, we have now entered an era of the Purple Revolution. While the Purple Army rallied down city blocks of Macleod Trail, even more rallied to the voting polls to cast their ballots heralding an interesting change in City Hall. Evidently, the purple triumphed and Naheed Nenshi has become the 39th Mayor of the City of Calgary. Evidently, as the papers keep saying, Democracy is not dead in this City.
The lull of civic apathy echoes what we feel in present society. Discontent fuels even more discontent. Concerns for one another are pushed aside. People’s ambitions are often self-serving and the common good becomes “personal” good. For whatever reasons we may have – busyness, problems with time, a lack of information, or even a lack of desire to be involved – we made a stand (sometimes standing in line) to write an X on a sheet of paper and dropped it off to a cardboard box. This time though, those boxes are more than filled than usual.
I didn’t vote for the new mayor. I voted for another candidate that championed the arts a bit better and called for a different kind of change. I have no qualms against Nenshi either. He is clearly a champion of new democracy, driving many new voters to the ballots. While I was waiting in line to vote, I heard his name buzzing in many different languages. He made use of current media to engage youth and often apathetic voters. He seeks to build a transparent council while putting people first. Though we don’t admit it, we love to complain. We also often hope that we are heard.
Truth is: I am an advocate of youth culture. I definitely want more culture in this city. This city already has a giving heart, a desire for exponential growth, a sports fanbase that can rival any city. However, this city lacks a culture of people that are engaged at all times; a culture that fosters growth for youth and realize that their voices can be heard; a culture that builds current young people to build this city for the future. This democratic process has helped that happen. It’s funny, because Nenshi had my vote 6weeks ago. I had to jump the fence. Haha. I wore purple just for the occasion.
