Sorrow and Hope.

 

 Sorrow and Hope.

Summer is drawing to a close, and the deer are getting brave, closing in on my flowers. It happens every year at this time. Being a Canadian, I know that another cycle of death and resurrection is unavoidable. When I was living in Israel, I was waiting for winter and by choosing Canada I reversed the timing.

This world is perfect in a way by providing a balance between sadness and hope. The perfection is created by imperfection. Strange, but exactly what we need. I think about the heaven that people wait to go to after death, and I can’t imagine how it may be achieved. Our world is as good as a world could be if we didn’t make it into hell, at least some of the time.

Without making an effort, I observe my world and become depressed. When our brief summers come to a close, I always become melancholic. The flowers are looking like a prisoner facing a death sentence. I remember the big debate we had here years ago when Canada abolished the death penalty. Some people predicted chaos while others said that we have no way to be sure we don’t execute innocent people.

Well, the truth is that nothing on this earth will remain alive in its present form forever. We are born stamped with an expiry date and we wouldn’t be happy otherwise. Striving for eternal life is the quickest way to die. A person in a physical body can’t live outside of the world’s recycling program. My faith tells me that I will always exist and be aware of it, so I believe it.

I assess the world situation right at this moment and here is what I see. Countries are hostile towards each other. There is a conflict between the US and China, and Canada is hurt by it. China is aggressive with Hong Kong and Canadians are suffering. Russia is aggressive with Ukraine, and Canadians are suffering. It seems as if there is no way to live in peace without taking sides. I remember the words of the last president Bush when he organized the Iraq invasion. “You are either with us or against us,” he said.

We are Canadians and don’t want to be with or against anyone. We live in a difficult climate and need to focus on life itself, not on who will profit from who. Why can’t people just leave us alone? They don’t. Some wish to make money on our resources and others on our expertise and labour. Many always want us to fight on their side, as we did and still do. 159 Canadians were killed in Afganistan and 18 billion dollars were spent. It was Saudis who attacked the twin towers, not Afghanis or Iraqis. Canada has been a major contributor to the UN peace corps and Canadians are still playing a big role in improving people’s lives around the world.

Now we are being drawn into an internal conflict raging next door. A sickness is killing people and our neighbours politicized it. We would have been fine but our people are being affected by the right and left politics causing discontent amongst us. There is no way to keep all the fake news from crossing the borders. The same is happening with our health care and education. We have a good system that works well for us cheaper than in the neighbouring country but their discontent is crossing the border. I personally face losing my life for a shortage of doctors and carelessness about not spreading the ongoing pandemic.

I can go on and on about the problems and blame others for the suffering and turmoil. It wouldn’t be fair since all humans have skeletons in their closets, including me. I wanted to use this article to paint a picture of heaven which will give us something to strive for. The storytellers have to build hope and not spread hate and desperation. We leave that job to the politicians and other so-called leaders. Here in Canada, we have extra responsibility. The world looks at us for a good example.

Humans are on earth for about fifty to a hundred years in physical form and can choose to make the best of it. The big question is how. Do we build the most beautiful structures and impressive gardens? Should we lead in human rights? Should we lead in study and science? What is our vision of heaven on earth? The bible talks about every man under his fig tree and beating swords into plowshares. Would that do it?

I prefer to envision heaven from the Christian point of view. Not from popular religion but the teachings of a Jewish rabbi from long ago which started our new world. If there is one commandment above all, he said, its love. Laugh if you wish.

I believe that human culture has a basic flaw which we never overcame and is hounding us to this day and perhaps will destroy our civilization. It is the illusion of self. Can you imagine what would happen if any of your body parts began to compete with the rest of the body? This is what happened to us. We built humanity around selfish imagined importance of individual parts and it is destroying us.

The heaven I strive for is built as a human society where the words “I” and “self” are shunned. It’s a world where taking more than you can eat or use is considered evil and shame. I believe that we are capable of producing all of what we need, caring kindly for all people, and being polite and helpful to all living things.

I look through the window at the yellowing grass. There are two does and three now grown fawns. They eat what they can and hide from people, but not from my wife and I. We are considered as family. By the end of September, they will eat all of my flowers and in the winter they will consume the small willows and lower branches. In the spring amongst the flowers new spotty fawns will play and resurrection will happen again if human selfishness will not stop it.

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