Social Change in Canada

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filled with dramatic and heart breaking issues that involve dead and injured refugees, but the picture of Kurdi made safe citizens stop and wonder, what if that was my child or my sibling.

The death of Kurdi opened the publics eyes to the unforgiving truths that still lie on earth. The result has been a collective resolve to do better, a bellowed demand that something be done. Much of the talk has been of governments and quotas and policy changes, including a shift by David Cameron today. He saw how the photograph had altered the public mood – so that his own position, previously deemed a shrewdly robust stance on immigration, now looked like indifference to refugees – and duly announced that Britain would take in more, perhaps thousands more. This time he did not speak of a “swarm” of people. Nor did his foreign secretary suggest three-year-old Aylan, his five-year-old brother or their mother were “marauding” into Europe. (the guardian, 2015)

This snippet of a news article is explaining how just that one image possibly saved the lives of thousands and changed the political stand point of officials. Indirectly, young Kurdi set course a new wave of life over death. Countries are now taking in more helpless families who need shelter, just like Kurdi’s family did. Citizens are getting louder and more involved with this issue and making a difference in many peoples lives. Kurdi single handedly educated nations on the reality of war and reminded us of its merciless consequences.

The response of the world to Aylan Kurdi’s death really showed the paradigm paralysis of how people refused to see the existing reality and current systems of many in need countries (Shaheen, Class Notes, 2015). Arnold Toynbee created the ‘challenge and response theory of change’ which states society is posed by internal and external forces aimed at its destruction, therefore, the response on the matter of the issue will determine the society’s outcome (Shaheen, Class Notes, 2015). This theory of change corresponds with Aylan’s impacts and his country’s disheveled state. If our society does not act fast and help fix the current carnage, the entire involved population’s existence will be soon put into question.

Terry Fox

“I remember watching it on TV all the time. You saw a kid who was hurting and kept going” Roshni Dasgupta states as she recounts Terry Fox’s long journey (the star, 2010). He was just a kid who battled an incurable disease, there were, and are, many like him. Terry Fox did something different though, he made cancer look weak when in everyone’s mind it was the monster. Terry gaited his way among supporters, fans and everything in-between. Fox was the people’s real life version of faith and hope. His success is immortalized in the momentous amount of funds for cancer research he raised, the hundreds of scholarships and awards in his name that are given to those who are deserving and most of all the ripple affect he caused on generations to come. Although he has been deceased for quite a long time, people relive his journey and celebrate his life every year. Until recently, everyone, and for good reason, imagined a cancer patient as a weak, pale, hairless and hopeless individual, but now people celebrate the strength they get from there sickness. Cancer patients make vows to never give up and promise themselves that this bad time is just a bump in their very long road. Terry changed the helpless event into a world wide celebration for health. Once Terry had stopped and his journey was done, donations and research was at an all time high creating a huge leap towards a cure (the star, 2010). With the success of research, many people have survived and many new techniques are now available to treat the different forms of cancer, that would have ultimately been able to save/ prolong Terry’s life.

Terry’s story, is the complete opposite of the concept ‘cyclical theory of change’ which states that the changes/society is similar to the human life cycle; it comes and goes, but this is definitely not the case for this individual and the out comes (Shaheen, Class Notes, 2015). Although Terry was not considered an adolescent at the time of his death and famous marathon, it should be included that Terry showed egocentric qualities during his fame (Shaheen, Class Notes, 2015). The primary example was his belief that he was unique, which can easily be argued that he was; he preformed a great triumph. Fox’s social changes has a positive and negative effect which relates to Allison Davis’ culture and identity recognition that socialization is both good and bad; Terry helped raise immense awareness of an issue and changed many lives, but in contrast his health deteriorated and he went through a great amount of pain and exhaustion (Shaheen, Class Notes,