Having faith

By Leela Sharon Aheer Chestermere-Strathmore MLA

Why do you get up every day? This is a philosophical question and an honest question. The answers will be as unique as your fingerprint and will change from day to day. I have been so blessed for so many reasons, but I wanted to share a bit of my personal journey with you in this article.

I love faith. I love that we have beliefs in things that are bigger than ourselves. I want to thank our faith leaders who have done an amazing job attending to their congregants under the province’s protocols and helping those of us who celebrate faith to have the ability to attend churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras safely. I love celebrating achievements and celebrating things like Swiss Cheese Day on Jan. 2, National Spaghetti Day on Jan. 7 or National Tempura Day on Jan. 4. Celebrating culture, diversity, food and educating ourselves about our wonderful celebrations builds communities and builds understanding.

Did you know that the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was Aretha Franklin, and not until 1987. Women rock! The day is now celebrated on Jan 3. We celebrate Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year. We honour International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, Pink Shirt Day and Family Day. We honour and celebrate Black History Month, International Women’s Day (which should be every day), the Francophonie Month and, my personal favourite, International day of Happiness, on March 20. We honour World Down Syndrome Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility, and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade History. We are heading towards Passover and Easter celebrations, and in the Hindu faith, we just celebrated Maha Shiv Raatri.

Shiv Raatri is the celebration of the cosmic alignment of the universe.  This alignment creates an upsurge of pranic energy in the cosmos which, if channeled correctly, will enlighten every being on this planet.  This celebration is for every being, and the Hindus, especially the yogis and yoginis, take advantage of this the most by meditation and prayers.

So, I ask the question: How are you? For real. I know that for me when I spoke to my friend, who is also a spiritual adviser, he said that we are grateful every day for being alive. I know that for those of us who are struggling, dealing with constant adaptations and learning new things every day, this is not always easy, and I acknowledge that the COVID crisis, the loss of our loved ones and the stress has been overwhelming. We also found clarity, resilience and at least for me, this crisis has shown me my priorities. Priorities like the need to mobilize against racism, build community and bring as much hope to people as we can muster. The impact this crisis has had on your family, your business and the balance of the health and well-being of our society with protocols of mask wearing, social distancing and keeping each other safe have been felt in every corner of the globe, and we are all just done with COVID. Every day is a gift, and I intend to live each day that way.

I want to thank my friend Satish Lal of Chestermere and his beautiful family. They are very involved in the community as volunteers for giving so much into our community through family, love and spiritual advice. The most important thing we can do is take care of each other. There is a light at the end of this tunnel, and l am, like you, excited to see you in the light on the other side. Canada marked the one-year anniversary Thursday (March 11) of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic, and Canada designated March 11 as a national day of observance to commemorate those who have died, and our health care and other essential workers who have been on the front lines. Since the pandemic began, 2.5 million people worldwide have died due to COVID-19, with more than 22,000 of them in Canada.

Your government has expanded its COVID-19 vaccine rollout starting Monday (March 15). Albertans born from 1957 to 1961, and all First Nations, Métis and Inuit people born from 1972 to 1976 are eligible to schedule an appointment. Alberta is also preparing to open bookings for phase 2A, including 437,000 people aged 65 to 74.

I want to end this article by thanking the staff in my constituency office. Thank you to Joyce, Tracy (who is onto bigger and better things and leaves us at the end of the month), Vicki and Natalie. You may have seen that we have been posting about amazing women in our constituency. I want to give a shout-out to these amazing ladies who serve this community every day with grace, compassion and commitment. At the beginning of this article, I asked you what is your reason for getting up every day? Mine is all of you. You, my family, and this amazing province full of people who know how to take care of each other. 

As always, we love to hear from you.

(Leela Sharon Aheer is the MLA Elect for Chestermere-Strathmore, Minister of Status of Women and Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism)