noelmuller.com

Dear friends, supporters and colleagues: today I am announcing that I will not be seeking a second term on Sechelt Council.

This was a very difficult decision that took many months to make, and I did not make it lightly or in passing.

I sought feedback from the community, and consulted with my family, friends and trusted advisors.

In the end it was my choice alone to make, and I have now made it.

I want to thank my supporters, the first of which was my partner Georgia, who provided the vessel with which I could do this work.  Also, to Council, staff, and the community for making this work a success.  I have immense gratitude for the collective experience over this past 4 years.

I love my community, and that is what made this decision so difficult.  I know that in the view of many in this community, I’m needed on Council.

I’ve seen it myself many times, and I do not dispute the impact I have personally had by holding public office in Sechelt.

In order to better explain my decision, we will need to go back to the beginning of how I got started in my run for public office.

I started politically engaging in 2013 as a part of the ‘U-turn generation’ movement of leaders in my generation that are seeking to address the foundational issues in our society that are eroding the basis of sustainability for future generations.

The very lives of our children, and your grandchildren, are at stake unless we get to the root of our collective dysfunctions and address them.

This isn’t a game, and there are no re-runs.

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I began as an activist, and quickly moved towards organized politics, and then on to government.

Along the way, many have tried to leverage my energy to their own ends, and I have always refused to become someone else’s adjunct.

I came of my own volition and have always spoken for my understanding of what is right and wrong.

I’m now 5 years down this path and am still moving rapidly with clear intentions.  That much will not change, although the venue may.

All the time I have been seeking to learn what the issues are, and how in the future my generation will be addressing them.

Never at any time have I been swayed from my path by trinkets, accolades or offers of influence.

I wanted to see these issues from inside government and understand what is going on.

One thing has always remained clear: it will be left to my generation to undo years of careless neglect of our environment, public institutions and society at large.

It’s our world to create and create we must.

This will require both creation and destruction to achieve.

The truth is that the next words in this poem cannot be spoken by the voice of government.

The changes that are now required of us are so fundamental that government will never be the originator.  This needs to come from the grassroots, through ground-breaking societal change.

In today’s world currently, we’re divided by politics.  That much is abundantly clear, and that’s at the heart of what’s wrong.

It’s been more than a generation since we’ve been united in common cause on anything, and that needs to change, with politics along with it.

More than anything else now, we need to move towards unity.

There’s a storm coming, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.

In the coming months, and years, you are still going to see me doing important political work in this community.

My intention is to focus on things less political, and more foundational.  I hope you will join me in that work.

Along with that, I will be focussing on synthesizing what I have learned towards producing lasting solutions that are both national and international in scale.

You will get another chance to vote for me in the future.

In closing I would like to offer these thoughts:

The political spirit of my generation has so far neither been explained nor understood.

The time has come for us to renew our commitment to a better future and join together in creating it.

We are not destined to some depleted future, unless we choose to accept that.

We’ve faced worse, and come out on top, time and time again.

We have all the tools we need to produce the world we want to leave our children; we just need to use them.

I will continue this path with the utmost dedication and commitment, and all my energy, until I perish in the pursuit of a better future.

Thank you for your continued support.

-Noel