‘Peace’ part of annual walk overshadowed by focus on the environment and social justice

SUNDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — For a while there on Saturday, it looked like the 39th annual Kamloops Walk for Peace, Social Justice and the Environment was going to be a washout. Only a few hardy souls sat in the chairs in front of the entertainment tent, umbrellas open to fend off the rain. Others took cover under display tents.

But, lo and behold, just a few minutes before the walk got underway, Mother Nature turned off the taps and a little sunshine made it through the clouds.

The annual walk is an interesting, somewhat scattered event, always seeming a little uncertain of itself. There was quite a bit of talk about Ajax. There was a speech about health care. There was good musical entertainment.  The whales were mentioned on at least one placard. So was fracking, and Venezuela.

But there was nothing about war, at least not that this correspondent heard. Even though the Canadian mission in Afghanistan officially ended March 31, no thanks was offered that our troops are home.

Neither was there discussion of what’s going on in Ukraine, Syria and other centres of conflict and intense suffering. The “peace” part of the equation seemed to be missing, overshadowed by social justice and the environment.

Nevertheless, it could be called a success. The break in the weather helped, and the general atmosphere was one of a common bond, of a mutual caring about Mother Earth and humanity and a wish to help make things better. Just how that is to be accomplished is, no doubt, a cause for differences of opinion even among the 220 people who walked through the streets of Kamloops yesterday.

But that’s OK. We won’t all ever agree on everything but if we can agree that we’ve got to care for the world and for each other — which includes being grateful to those who have fought for peace — we’re at least thinking straight.