A few weeks ago, a massive telecommunications outage brought Canada to its knees. At the time, I happened to already be offline on a canoe trip in Killarney Provincial Park with my kids and a canoe on my head, oblivious to this nationwide internet meltdown.

It made me think. The Rogers’ outage severed people’s access to 911 and ATMs, brought businesses and government services to a standstill, and wreaked havoc on the resources that we, as a society, have become completely reliant on. Not dissimilar to our experience of the pandemic, or my own experience of being out in the wild on a canoe trip, I realized this: We humans are really so vulnerable.

At any moment, something can happen, outside of our control, that can shake the very foundation of our world. The parallel to the people we serve at Ve’ahavta seems obvious.

The reality is, stuff happens. It happens to everyone. It’s one of the reasons that I am so grateful to lead an organization dedicated to helping people get back on their feet after so much has happened to them. While we can’t prevent a Rogers crisis, or a pandemic, or a leak in a canoe for that matter, in recognizing our collective vulnerability, we can have greater empathy and rachmunes (compassion) for people who have been affected by tough times and difficult circumstances.

At one time or another, we are ALL vulnerable.

Cari Kozierok,
Executive Director, Ve’ahavta