My response to the city happiness list
It’s watercooler talk in our city right now. London ranks 100 of 100 municipalities across Canada in terms of happiness.
I’m not here to dispute the science behind the report from Point2Homes, although I take it with a grain of salt. Maybe it’s just me, getting tired of seeing real estate agents all over my social media and TV and billboards. You start to think that Coke is healthier for you than hearing the constant blare of “I SELL HOMES”. And of course, real estate agents have different priorities than the average person. I am skeptical about how most of the top 10 are GTA municipalities, which have some of the most expensive housing in the country east of Surrey.
It’s been painful to see the worst people having schädenfruede over this report. A lot of people who say “thank god I left London” and it feels like an extension of every person who has insulted me for staying here (I’m not divulging at the moment why I’m still here).
I have a friend who is a local business owner. They mentioned (privately) that they’re not laughing at the report and that it did give some corroboration as to how they were feeling about the city after several years of owning said business and building community here. They talked about lamenting how there is a contingent of people who work hard to create a better city, and this is it. Least happiest city. They went on to mention that indeed, your perspective changes when you’re one of those people and you have to deal with people in positions of power.
So yeah, let me corroborate *that*. It really does suck to try to make a difference in a city you think you love, but it won’t love you back, then you see “least happiest city” and it feels like everyone is laughing at you and the others who try to make this place a better one than when we found it. And every time you criticize something? I can’t name a single time anyone actually disagreed with me. But getting called in to watch my tone? All the time. They can’t get you on substance, so they get you on style. They tell you to sit down, smile, and remind you that [insert whatever here] is good enough for the likes of you. It’s not too different from the white moderate thing MLK warned about.
Anyway, to end this quick diatribe, shit, what can I say other than, please be mindful about feeling schädenfreude every time this city in the news like that, because there are a whole lot of people who for some reason still give a shit and it looks like the most thankless job. I would really like for you to be mindful and think before firing off a “London is literally Florida now” or “this is why I left”. Thank you for hopefully understanding.
Two things can be true. I still stand by what I said on this blog on September 2, 2022. I also still stand by the people here who try to make a difference.
