As an Albertan and an educator, I was mortified by Suzanne Morphet's letter, "North Saanich court closure devastates pickleball community."
The writer follows the unacceptable strategy of first of all recognizing that the loss of a pickleball court and the loss of homes in Jasper is not comparable and then goes on to produce an entire note in which the two are presented as completely comparable.
The narcissism of trying in any way to equate a community tragedy that climate change aggravated by inadequate forestry management practices produced with a community dispute over the fate of a recreational facility because of tensions over noise and bullying by facility users is startling. The sense of entitlement of the letter writer reminds one of people like Donald Trump who equates the legitimate use of the courts to penalize his questionable personal and financial dealings with the persecution of Christians at various times in the history of that religion.
Similarly, the convoy participants who claimed that vaccine mandates were comparable to Nazi persecution of Jews demonstrated a sense of entitlement that would equate not being able to go to the bar with being murdered in a gas chamber. On the surface, indeed, it would seem that those whose homes are being made unlivable by the noise and bullying of the pickleball court users have the better claim to see themselves as akin to those made homeless by the fires in Jasper. But in reality, neither side has a legitimate right to take a profound tragedy like the one in Jasper and turn it into a political football for a community dispute.
My advice: stick with the real issues and stop trying to bring in extraneous circumstances that have no application to your community issues.
Alvin Finkel
Edmonton, Alta.
