Arno was born in Germany and came to Canada at a young age after the war. He found much prejudice against Germans. When his mother applied for a job, they informed her that the position had been filled, only to discover the wanted sign back up the next day. He had similar experiences, not from his classmates but from their parents. At the same time, he became aware of the mistreatment of African descendants. In class, he heard many European immigrants being made fun of. He felt that once he lost his accent, he would blend in with the rest of the white Canadians, much like many of my European friends. He knew he could fit in because of his skin colour. But what of all those of colour and the indigenous communities? Unfortunately, they will be marginalized until we grow as a nation and start questioning the validity of other people’s assertions. This caused him to be mindful of those less fortunate.

Religion was a significant influence in his household. As he got older, he started to question some things of the Catholic faith and some writings in the bible, such as, who said these were the sayings of Jesus? From having said things that someone else has totally misrepresented, he understood the flaws in communication. Besides, the bible spoke in parables, yet some people take it literally. Another thing was that this book was written over two thousand years ago. There has been a lot of discovery since then, including the evolution of humankind. We know far more now than we did two thousand years ago. With that, he slowly reevaluated religious dogma over the years.

Having belonged to a couple of political parties and voted for a third, he concluded that both major parties are interested in two things: attain power or keep it. The secondary driving force is to sell their agenda. It is the party’s agenda and not the citizens’ agenda. Because of this, he did not become disillusioned in politics but understood it for what it was. Thus, he recognized that it is not about doing everything to one’s liking; rather, what was their overarching philosophy, and what was the likelihood that some of their ideas would come to fruition.