Some would prefer life to be like a lake with a calm surface and water so clear that they can see right to the bottom at all times. Others would prefer it to be a loud, tumultuous river, so clouded as to obscure everything beneath its surface. To each his or her own way of engaging life.
On one hand, uneventful regularity allows for contemplation, freedom to organize adventures, to intervene at one’s own pace in daily occurrences. On the other, turmoil stimulates, forces the hand and imposes action. But somewhere in between the two extremes lies an ideal situation that makes life interesting and agreeable.
Some disruptions have moulded the region and new ones will transform it further. Some were voluntary and organized by citizens. Others were imposed as the result of previous actions. To illustrate some of the voluntary disruptions, think of an urbanism plan, a cultural policy, a summit that defines the borders of a region or an MRC… As for disruptions as consequence, consider climate change, the baby boom, terrorism…
Even a fleeting disruption becomes an annoyance in the present moment. Yet the disruption becomes an occasion for and an opening to a better world as long as one directs his or her actions in that sense.
For instance, the baby-boom generation has disrupted society and will continue to do so for some time. By its sheer mass, it has imposed today’s habits of consumption and important cultural transformations. The aging of the population will have other predictable long-term impacts on health care, on types of lodging, on tourism and leisure activities…
But long-term challenges appear imperceptibly, like climate change and its impact on the environment. A change in scenery is noticeable not after a single step, but after many strides.
Tourism and life in the area already sustain the impacts of a multitude of great disruptions: the massive arrival of retirees to the country, the warming of the planet, heightened security because of terrorism, the improvement in health care and its repercussion on the length of people’s active lives, the price of gas, etc. Some signs worry us and raise questions. The temporary annoyances that are generated will result not necessarily in catastrophes, but in improvements if they are treated effectively.
This issue of Le Tour invites you to dissect the phenomenon of disruption and to engage yourself happily in the positive avenues leading to the horizon.
Happy reading!
Denis Boulanger