Friday 24 August 2018

Midsummer to do (write) list.


Midsummer to do (write) list.

We Canadians appreciate our summers more than the majority of world’s population sharing this feeling mostly with the North Europeans and Russians who live in this latitude. The snowbirds come back, both the feathered kind and the Saskatchewan farmers kind, plus some people here who convinced themselves that our winters are a bad thing. I remember living in a tropical environment where everyone feared the summer heat (pre-Aircondition era) and narrated stories about snow to kids like myself who never seen it.

Now when traveling is affordable for most middle-class people it became a status symbol. If you wish to impress people you talk about where you were last winter. If they wish to keep their honor, they try and outdo your story with their own. The people south of us caught on and say, I hate shoveling snow, and you buy a trailer in some southern state and spend your winter months in it instead of in your nice home in Canada, golfing instead of skiing and swimming in an outdoor pool that is no match to our wonderful indoor facilities. Hurray.

Since I started writing the Simple Raven’s Post in mid-Canadian winter, which I happened to enjoy in many ways, I received hundreds of compliments from folks like you who really enjoy the articles. To my surprise, many people read my somewhat controversial opinions and tell me that those are exactly their thoughts. Often they suggest that I should write about other items which they believe should be aired in public. The pages are simply not long enough to cover all the material which could and should be talked about. Here are some of the main items on people’s minds.

The smoke is bothering people all over Alberta. Worst than smoke, many of us live in areas that could be damaged severely by fires and the fires can affect our food supply. Is there a solution? Yes, there is, but it's not an easy task. We have to change our economic system and begin to use much less energy that is based on burning fuels. The technology is known and improving by the day but we are held back by the owners of existing old fuels stock.

There is a huge problem with sexual abuse which is wreaking havoc in our society. Before my time and when I was young, male humans took advantage of their female counterparts by force or often by using positions that granted them power. When the sixties came, it was discovered that women are actually full-fledged humans, and over a short period, a change took place. It became socially unacceptable to use power, force, and money, to extract sexual pleasures from those physically weaker such as women and children. The world of the rich self-proclaimed superior people turned upside down. This week’s scandal is about the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania, at times it is about the entertainment industry, the political profession, educational institutions, medical profession, smaller religious sects or simply powerful public figures.

I like to cover more economy-related issues and perhaps help save our fast failing capitalist system. We built a system where corporations are viewed as people but without them having to follow laws that govern people. For a while, it helped corporate owners to become rich quickly, but now opposite momentum is threatening to defeat the whole system. If we don’t take some timely steps, we will be facing rebellion and even conflict that can destroy countries.

I always like to write some material about my favorite subject, spirituality, and morality. I receive most comments about this topic, and there is great interest in it. Spirituality in the West is exploring untraditional and far East knowledge that took a long time to travel around the world. Stil there are misconceptions such as that Yoga is only an exercise or that the body possesses a soul instead of the other way around. Morality is changing with new scientific discoveries just as religious teachings changed with the discovery of the telescope.

I would like to discuss more elaborately the problem associated with the Trump attacks on the free press. I do not wish to live in a dictatorship. I already see signs of a move towards authoritarianism when the new Premier of Ontario is getting rid of elected representatives at the civic level, and it scares me. We are facing some repressive political forces and if we don’t have free media this country and the big neighbor in the South can become like, let's say, today’s Turkey. There will be a small group that will control the masses and keeps them in line by force. Again, I see flashing warning danger signs.

I must write sometime about fear. Fear doesn’t prevent death it prevents life. Those who build walls to protect themselves are building the walls of their jail. A great man that I once met used to say at the end of all his speeches, and he often spoke, “be not afraid.”

I sometimes get requests to mention local items in the Simple Raven’s Post. The latest is the proposed formation of a men’s choir modeled after the Men Of the Deep from the Maritimes. I don’t have much information yet, but I like very much the sound of the original miner's group especially singing with Rita McNeil. If we were to have such a choir, I would definitely consider joining even while knowing that I can’t read music or start a song on a specific note. If you are interested, you can contact Carmelia Saretzky or leave a question on my blog.

Overall, I will not be able to cover all the good subjects proposed, in my short commentary, but I will try. The smoke will give way to the frozen fresh air, and some problems will take care of themselves. As long as people ask me to write about their concerns, I feel empowered and go on, one word at the time.

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