Loathing Fear

English: Photograph of Parliament Hill, Ottawa...On Wednesday, October 22, 2014 a lone gunman gave Ottawa a taste of fear. In the days following the tragic events in Ottawa’s downtown, the media covered the story with slow, in-depth and repetitive detail. Every aspect discussed, every perspective pursued. Even now we continue to look and ponder. We learned the anatomy of the fear experienced by everyone. Those on Parliament Hill who heard shots and then knew nothing more of what transpired for hours. We learned of the fear experienced by those in lock down in the many government buildings surrounding the Parliamentary Precinct. We heard of the fear experienced by the sergeant-at-arms who confronted and killed a man for the first time in his long career of service. We heard about the fear of the pedestrians close to the war memorial where a young soldier lost his life. The fear of the passerby who stopped and comforted the dying soldier as he drew his last breath and of course, we learned of the fear and shock he must have felt on that fall day.

No doubt if we could gage the level of stress experienced by the city of Ottawa on that day it would have spiked through the charts, but more concerning for me is the level of fear that we retain as the events of that awful day fade away. “Should we tighten security on Parliament Hill?” one poll asked and of course in the rush of fear following the shootings, the public said, “Of course.”

Well as someone who has always been proud of the fact that we give our citizens open access to our parliament it makes me angry to think that one gunman’s loathsome actions could charge us so full of fear that we create barriers between the public and those who run the country. Do we need to tighten the way we implement current security? Certainly. Are there things that could have been done better? No doubt. But as an exercise in marketing fear, I’d like the gunman’s actions to ultimately fail. Democracy, personal rights, political and religious freedom are among the things we put at risk when we let fear campaigns dictate our actions.

Today, when this post goes up, a week after that gunman terrorized MPs and citizens alike, I will be on Parliament Hill along side hundreds of other people. Like them, I will be meeting with individual MPs, telling my story. Like those others, I have a good story to share, one focused on public health, one acting in the public interest. More importantly, I’ll be reminding MPs, and perhaps myself, that they are there for very good reason and that access to the public and the publics’ access to them should never be the price we pay for security. I expect security will take a little longer, but I am pleased to know that voices like mine will work to drown out a loathsome message of fear.

Photograph of Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Taken from Ottawa/Ontario end of Alexandra Bridge. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Share

Launch

Launch Image

Launch is a word that holds so much potential in such a small innocuous package. It’s a letter away from lunch, which is often sought after and has its own appeal, but doesn’t quite capture the power. Launch is about huge ships sailing into adventure after you smash a brilliant bottle of champagne on the hull. Launch is a shuttle exploding into space to explore new worlds and launch is what we use describe the beginning of campaigns and the start of enterprises.

I launched a new website last week. A labour of love if ever there was one. It’s pretty, if I do say so myself, but its useful and that’s the bit that makes me proud and makes me think of the pleasure and privilege that comes with the idea of launch. Of course, I also launched a new brand for the organization, so that has something to do with my excitement. Branding is a tricky undertaking; it’s so easy to choose what you like versus what you are and what you need. That however, is discussion for another post. This one is about the start of big things and the beginning of real change.

Since late February I have been working on a rebranding project for my organization. The process has been cathartic, it required a lot of work, and a fair bit of reflection but it has easily been one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve worked on in years. There’s nothing like the intense research needed for a brand to get you to really understand what makes something tick. I’m nothing if not curious, so exploring, asking questions, comparing approaches and ideas and occasionally giving a poke to see what would happen are my idea of fun.

To mark the launch of the new brand we did a soft launch of the new website. Actually we launched what is effectively, 22 websites with more to follow shortly. The excitement, the worry, the late nights and early mornings, not to mention the lost weekends were worth it. As we worked, we kept talking about launch, the coming launch, the day of launch, the launch process. Although the public facing portion of the site took a fair bit of effort, it’s the portion that faces the members of my organization that really appeals to me. The focus was on useful. Could we have the functionality of digital employee engagement tools, things like, private messaging, discussion forums etc. and marry them to traditional membership offerings like a resource library, classifieds and event listings? The answer was yes. Now we see how they get used.

The idea of launch became so appealing it began to represent the aspirations of my entire team. That’s the other thing that launch meant. Orchestrated team effort towards something new and worthwhile. We were working in two different cities and multiple locations, yet we were in-synch. I’ve begun to think that I should approach all new things in my life as launch points. It would imbue them with relevance; it would inspire dedicated effort and more than anything it would speak to purpose.

If you’d like to take a look at my recent launch, you can find it here, opto.ca

What does launch mean to you?

Image courtesy of renjith krishnan at freedigitalphoto.net

Share