It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 

It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 There is not much snow but it will change. The mountains will be white and people will get to wear their gift winter attires and new snow boots. In the evenings, the streetlights come on, and the picture changes. I love what I see. Some people come out for a walk, while others talk in the stores and everyone is greeted with a nod or a warm hello if they know others or even if they don’t. I close my eyes and think, am I alive or is this the world that the bible calls the Kingdom? How would I improve it? I have no idea.

We do not design some things for improvement. A human cannot imagine something better than what we have, so we leave it alone for a while. Otherwise, we make very small unneeded changes.

Since I finished a set of cancer treatments recently, I will not know about next Christmas for a while. I have tremendous help on the medical side and technology, plus experience bending over to keep me alive. I also have the benefit of people praying for me. It helps those of us who believe that it does. Some do and others don’t. I do.

I see on the news hospitals in Canada buckling down under pressure and staff shortages. Doctors walk between sick people on the floor in emergency rooms, unable to help. The politicians who failed to plan and use resources properly are working hard to shift blame from themselves. Some poor immigrants with mops are wiping dark spots off the floors. Some of them are not food-secured and are unhoused people. Nurses are all talking about changing professions. Gone are the days in which we all banged pots and pans cheering our most needed yet lowest-paid workers who saved us from a pandemic.

I used to see signs on businesses saying “under new management.” Now we should have banners stating “under poor management.” Our money is going to what we don’t care about while health care, education, and infrastructure are not attended to. According to the leaders, I show more concern for transgender issues than for the well-being of grandmothers in senior homes.  The leaders are wrong.

It’s not all bad, however. I arrived at our hospital at around 8:00 pm in severe pain. In less than ten minutes, a very professional nurse took all my information, not skipping a step. I was screaming in pain, so they isolated me and in a few more minutes, an intern checked me. She was followed by a doctor who had already talked with my physician and had a plan.

On the next day, the situation repeated and a new doctor was trying other medications and in two hours I was stabilized and could go home. The lab and x-ray departments were working, and the staff was not only professional but also had the best bedside manners we can imagine. On the way home, I noticed how beautiful our municipality was at night. How do I deserve that? I chose right when I was going to retire. Sadly, I couldn’t have more choice about provincial and Federal elections. The private media interfered, I think. I don’t know how they did it. Here we have private media but it is operating as media used to work in the good old days.

I review my situation on the way home. Many friends and family are getting ready for winter vacations while others are coming here to enjoy our winter. Bless them all. Life may be ours to enjoy, but many are suffering while we don’t need to suffer. There is more than enough for all of us if we just share. People will help even those who don’t work. We always do. Trust the divine spark in humanity. It’s there. My heart cries for all the young people fighting wars. We count civilians killed and maimed but rarely mention the soldiers on either side.

I try to pray for peace. People around me are making a show of praying and it makes me feel bad. We can’t ask God for peace while maximizing our pleasure by disregarding those who suffer. God knows who is sincere and who isn’t, and I am not even sure about myself.

I don’t know how long I will live, but I wish to live where there is peace and goodwill. The Crowsnest Pass is close to it. People offer me help and pray for me. Others use their skills and hard work to keep me and my family happy.

A dark cloud is forming in front of my home. Someone threw a dog a bone and the neighbors, including me, are snarling, baring their teeth. A person is threatening to steal a view that others purchased in good faith and the council is debating. Private interest collides with the use of the commons.

Will something irreparably ruin my dream of a wonderful place to retire?

The weather is cooling, and winter is here. What will 2024 bring us if we don’t ask for too much and care about each other? God bless us all. Keep on thinking. It’s our best gift in this life. Take what you need and share the rest. I will try to do the same.

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