1968

 

1968

When we are young, we believe in immortality and feel invincible. The future is ours and the world will provide, or God will. That is how I was in 1968, the year that changed the world. It was my first full year in Canada and I paid only a little attention to the news.  I never guessed that in Ontario a baby was born who will later purchase an election in Alberta, the province I helped build, and try to take away my health care, possibly gamble with my pension, and remove the protection I receive from the RCMP. 

In 1968 there was no internet and the news came from three TV stations, radio, and newspapers. Most of us were only slightly aware that there was a pandemic which was named The Hong Kong flu. It was brought over by the American conscripted soldiers returning from Viet Nam. It was not over before killing 100,000 Americans and many Canadians who were not involved in that meaningless war that the US lost. 

I was very busy learning English, finding dirty low-paying jobs available to newcomers, and assimilating into my new environment, so I missed a lot of the news. I didn’t miss the hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating in the US, the country which I left the year before. I saw the young black students being escorted into schools, other students being shot, and so much more. The entire world was watching the American Gandhi, the Noble prize winner Dr. King, and he was shot. I remember Robert Kennedy on the news telling that the great man was killed and a little while later the young Kenedy was assassinated as well. 

1968 was the year of change. I was in the US in 67 and it was a great place, the America that people dreamed of. You couldn’t tell that it had all the problems it did until violence and huge demonstrations began, but there was no internet yet. Now we are witnessing a worst situation but many people are covering their eyes and denying what is happening. 

I remember the book “1984” by Orwell. He wrote it after witnessing the rise and eventual fall of the Nazi Party in Germany, the horrible outcome of the Soviet experiment in totalitarianism under Stalin, the rise of Fascism in Spain, and the rise of Communism in China under Mao. It was a prediction about a world in which governments have full control of the people, and people have no say about their faith. President Kenedy said that people must have a peaceful way to express their concerns. In 1968 we saw what happened when they don’t. Now we are seeing it across the world.

I have hope. I have been close to death for a long time now, and it doesn’t scare me. Time after time something comes up and I wake up on a sunny morning able to enjoy life. The message I get is that I may be destined to see with my physical earthly eyes an appreciable change. 

In the summer I watched a caterpillar grow, feed, and thrive. One day the crawly friendly creature was gone and in its place was a cocoon attached to a branch. A little google search thought me that the caterpillar is completely dissolved in the cacoon and that no physical aspect of it remains visible. One nice day the cocoon was opened and empty. There was a beautiful butterfly nearby possibly emerged from the cocoon. It could fly amongst the flowers, tease the cat, and mesmerize my human eyes, creating a story in my brain. 

The brain never sees the light. It creates a reality based on the messages that the sensory organs send it. What is inside the cocoon never sees light also until it flies as a butterfly. The butterfly will breed or create other caterpillars that will end up being butterflies. That is the physical side of the wonderful creature. What about the life force that animates it, I wonder? I call it the soul and I know that it exists but is not visible to the human eye. Does it also go through a complete transformation? Since it is not visible what could it be doing? The cosmic mind's thoughts are what we perceive as matter. There is a way more to “life” than what the eyes can see or the brain recreates in pictures. 

I am an old man now, closer to the end than the beginning. I worked hard to set things up so I will enjoy old age and I do. I need the support of the medical profession. That is what I paid for over long, hard years. My ex-roommate is sick. His kids set up a Go Fund Me page to help cover his extra expenses. He is on a waiting list and surgeons will operate on him after they do the private surgeries which offer more profits. The list will be shorter since those with money will go first.

When I see some young political opportunist destroying our health care “to save money” which he didn’t earn, (I did) I get upset. He is stealing our savings and openly giving it to those who have more than enough, often not because they worked harder. I and the older generation of Alberta citizens are the real investors who formed Alberta into a great place. 

We are old-style people who have hope because we truly believe in God’s justice. If it exists or not remains to be seen but I wouldn’t fool around with it. There is a God, and he is watching. 

Dear leader: Keep our medical professionals and don’t mess around trying to get more profits from the poor essential workers. Help the poor and disadvantaged and follow the old teachings. That is the real meaning of being “pro-life.” Those who do that don’t get kicked out of Jesuit universities. 

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.