Some days one has to concede that the “inevitable arc of human progress” has more in common with a pinball machine’s back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth zig-zags, than any mathematical drawing of a curve on some chalkboard. One could take one’s pick of news stories to illustrate the point. ‘Twas ever thus, eh? Strangely enough, some people speak (and act!) as if dominance and power are the only engines of progress to move human history further along on those desired arcs. I disagree.
If the only human reality was brute force, we’d still be living in tiny hunter-gatherer bands. History is all about how to get more and more people to cooperate and trust each other, and you can not do that with brute force. At least not sustainably, not for the long term.
Cooperation and the ability to cooperate at scale and across time, is actually the fundamental driver of real progress. In my small home town, I may have known most of the folks who lived there alongside me. Here in the larger arena of the District of North Saanich, I would perhaps only know 1-2% of the people. Yet I am willing to pay my share of taxes to fund education and health care for all of them. I trust in the greater good achieved thereby.
Some of those 98-99% whom I don’t know, will learn how to be a computer expert and fix my computer for me in years to come. Others might administer health care to me or my loved ones today, or have done so in the past. Still others will fix the roads to my home, even if that “fix” is sometimes imperfect or only temporary. In turn, I am perfectly happy to go out and do something for them! I like to pull out invasive plants and try to repair and restore parks, bringing those parks closer to ecological good health.
I’m part of a fine organization, the Friends of North Saanich Park (FNSP), who willingly make sacrifices of time and energy for our neighbours, known and unknown, to go out and do the hard work of invasive plant removals. We get the big ones (ivy, blackberry, daphne, holly) and the small ones (buttercups, bluebells, shiny leafed geranium). Sometimes the progress is slow (helleborine) and very slow (morning glory), but the progress is there, is visible and tangible.
Within FNSP, the volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds, and they may have different looks, faiths, first languages. Yet we have more in common with each other than those differences would belie. One of the commonalities is the ethic of mutual respect and generosity towards our fellow citizens and the natural world around us. We are doing this invasive plant removal work for those fellow citizens, and for the betterment of our small corner of the earth. We have a fellowship of connection to each other in the doing of this work. We work well together, sharing in the labour, the tools, the snacks, the fun. Some specialize in tackling the big plants, others in the small. Some run back and forth between the two. Some make really good jokes; others, horrible puns. In older times it might have been called a fraternity. Today, legally, we are a Society. Mostly, I just refer to everyone as my Friend.
Of course, within FNSP we have differences. How human! And, being human, that will never change. What is important is how we resolve our differences, and how we live with them. In the past few years, I have come to admit that Sharon is correct about hawthorns, but, I hold firm on horsetails (Equisetums). 🙂 There are Board meetings and Annual General Meetings when issues can be addressed, discussed, debated, voted upon. We try to improve our organization. Sometimes we get things wrong, but we try to learn and self-correct.
It’s the cooperation, learning and continual self-correcting that will bring us forward; further along that “arc of human progress”. At a granular level, that arc may show more backs-and-forths than forwards (blackberry regrowths, anyone?), but forward it does end up going! Again, the parks we operate in give visual proof thereof.
We have zigs and zags within FNSP, as does our greater community and even our country. What’s important is that we continue to try to make things better, within FNSP, within parks, and within the greater whole. What’s important is that we don’t let others create divisions amongst ourselves. We’re the Friends of North Saanich Parks. We are active in North Saanich Parks. We remove invasive plants and restore ecosystems. Slowly. But we do it. We’re a small part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Canada. We’re all Vancouver Islanders, British Columbians and Canadians. And… We Pull Together! 🙂
So, if you’ve the time (and not everyone does) and energy (Uff! Tell me about it!), come on out to one of our events, and make some new friends. 🙂
Yours sincerely,
Anni, Friend.
* With apologies to the New York Times “Ezra Klein Show” podcast interview of Yuval Noah Harari, May 26, 2026.
