I've been helping a friend, who also happens to study my work, deal with the City of Windsor over the last few months. He made some planter boxes and turned his whole front yard into a garden. It looks beautiful and he is growing lots of food. He experiences people stopping by constantly to check it out and complement him on the initiative. It has turned into a great awareness campaign and the support from the community is overwhelmingly positive.
But one individual felt differently and decided to use the coercive power of the state to try and shut him down. They reported him to the city and a bylaw enforcement officer stopped in to check it out. My friend governed himself admirably and his interaction with this 'officer' was peaceful while he asked all the right questions and established and maintained the boundaries of the relationship and the property. He had the officer perplexed to the point where he did not even know which provincial statute or city bylaw he was acting under. Suffice to say, that officer left and my friend followed up proactively with a letter to the city asking the city to prove their claims against him while not making any claims himself.
The city responded with an engineering visit to take pictures and then followed by an order to comply. The order stipulated that they had to move the boxes one foot away from the front side walk. With some digging we discovered that the order was using engineering documents that had no statutory or regulatory authority. The city cannot just make shit up and then use their judicial powers to enforce it. So another round of letters went out confronting the city on this issue.
Now a surveyor is out to make a legal determination on where the property line is located, presumably for legal action in court. However, the surveyor discovered that the sidewalk is actually on their property as a result of a recent million dollar (or more) project to replace all the side walks and curbs in the area. Now the city could potentially be facing lawsuits from neighbours and a whole list of other head aches that may not have been an issue if the city was not being so aggressive and violent in their desire to prosecute.
This whole scenario has embarrassed numerous people within the city and rather than apologize, they choose to exercise their authority and might to make sure they are right and my friend is wrong. Authority creates over inflated false ego and that is compounded further when statutes grant an administrative branch of the government, executive and judicial powers.
Governments were designed to separate the three branches of government to ensure checks and balances exist. That is designed to prevent corruption within the government structure. However, slowly over time, most cities within Canada, which already have administrative authority, have also been granted executive (police powers) and judicial powers. One single body that can make the rules, enforce the rules and pass judgement over those who break the rules violates the separation of powers principle and leads to tyranny. This corrupts the organization and when people who love peace are confronted with knowledge of these issues, it is our duty to confront those who participate in this corruption, violence and abuse of power.
The Pacem Arts demands that we do this confrontation in a peaceful way. The Martial Arts would find people going to war to right the wrong. But the Pacem Arts takes a different approach. We peacefully stand and testify to what we observe, to bring awareness to the wrong so that we can help those who engage in the wrongs heal and self correct themselves.
If these individuals continue to resist, they may find themselves in court facing charges of fraud, criminal breach of trust and / or intimidation. That will most likely manifest from others as my friend continues to take a peaceful, non-violent approach to resolving this issue. However, he now faces the burden of informing all his neighbours that the city is trespassing on their property and many of them may sue the city.
What started out as a minor issue that could have been resolved with a civil, peaceful discussion with the intent to negotiate a solution, has now turned into a major nightmare for the city. What could have been resolved with an hour of time by a peaceful city worker talking to my friend to find a peaceful resolution, could now potentially cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city, perhaps even a million. That would depend on how far neighbours are willing to take it and if city workers lose their jobs and face charges themselves.
This is an example of tough love and in my view. I think my friend has governed himself very well, with Christ like peaceful qualities, despite the anxiety and panic he felt with each encounter. The courage he showed to stand up against something that seems so trivial is inspiring and critically important. Boundaries are mandatory and if we give up an inch, they will take a mile. While it may seem crazy to spend so much time and energy to confront the city on this one issue, it demonstrates just how corrupt and unforgiving the city and its workers are.
Many people advised him just to move the boxes. But that is not the point. Moving the boxes would take 30 minutes, where standing as a witness to the violence and abusive behaviour of the city has taken dozens of hours over several months. It has also cost untold stress and anxiety in his life and with his family. But if nobody confronts the violence and abuse, then it will continue to escalate which is exactly what we see manifesting in our lives today. All those people who told him to just move the boxes ... shame on you for being cowards and for not standing up for what is right and instead bowing down to your feudal master. I rebuke your cowardice as your participation also paints your hands read with the blood spilled by those you turn a blind eye or support!
My sister is a police officer and she once told me that she felt that people have too many rights. It is very frustrating for police officers as they feel they cannot do their jobs with all the limitations that are placed on them. When people consent to being governed by others, those limits are designed to ensure that power is not abused. The hand cuffs should be on the administrative, executive (police) and judicial branches of government, not on the people. If you want to be a servant, then you get the cuffs, not the people.
Who puts those hand cuffs on them? The people! If the people are not able or willing to put firm boundaries and limits on acceptable behaviour from the government servants, then they will experience tyranny. Voting is NOT the way to do that. Standing up and confronting the violence and abuse directly is the way. We shine a light on the tyranny and testify to what we have witnessed and experienced. We do so peacefully but with firm resolve. It is our duty to do this, or else we consent to the destruction of our families and communities as the psychopaths and narcissists gain free reign over the institutions that people freely consented to participate with and be governed by.
The City of Windsor is not the only one that behaves in this way. Every other city and municipality works in very much the same way. Time to step up and embrace our duty to confront!
My friend, I am very proud to be a witness to your journey and all the work that you have done. I know first hand how stressful it is, but you are doing a great job and service to your family and neighbours. The journey is not over yet. I pray this resolves peacefully and the city leaves you alone and learns an important lesson in this. Hopefully they will find other ways to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence. You are a leader by example!
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