A PART OF AGING and hopefully gaining more wisdom about the world is realizing everything has a pricetag.
Even that which we take for granted as free for everyone – at least here in North America – carries a price.
That price can often be steep.
Take, for example, clean air.
Once again this summer, we in the BC Interior are realizing clean air is not a given.
A lot of folks choose to literally suck it up and carry on with only some mild annoyance.
For those with asthma, COPD, emphysema and other lung conditions, for those who are elderly or who have chronic health issues, sucking it up is not an option.
The price of obtaining clean air, then, is hefty.
You might be forced to move to a part of the world less susceptible to wildfire smoke. You might have to give up your freedom of movement and stay inside.
Aside from those individual costs, our society may have to fork it over, as well.
We could invest billions in wildfire prevention and extinguishment technology. Or we could take meaningful action to prevent the climate change that is pushing these wildfires forward.
Regardless, the price for clean air in the BC Interior is steep.
We could say more about the prices we have to pay for access to water in a world of exploding, unchecked AI infrastructure, or the prices we have to pay for plentiful energy from non-renewable resources.
More hefty though, is the price paid for another virtue of North American life we often take for granted – our freedom.
Last week, the Royal Canadian Legion celebrated its centennial by unveiling a beautiful memorial crosswalk at the Third Avenue and Battle Street in Kamloops.
If you haven’t yet checked it out, take a moment to do that – and contemplate the price we didn’t have to pay because selfless men and women did it for us generations ago.
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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.
