Poor People, Get Off This World!

 

 Poor People, Get Off This World!

Years ago, when the Calgary Flames came to town, we used to have tickets for very good seats. The Saddledome was built, and I calculated we were paying around $70 for the two of us for a game. Recently we asked a friend in Calgary if she went to any playoff games. She replied, the tickets range from $500 to $2400 each, it’s not for us poor people. I remember that the City of Calgary invested a lot of tax money, both federal and local, in the Saddledome that now is doomed to be replaced. Most Calgarians don’t have the money to pay admission but can enjoy visiting the building, viewing the architecture, and taking part in some free shows like dog competitions during the Stampede. God only knows why we were made to pay for the temporary extravagance.

Last week, my wife and I visited our local natural world-class point of interest, Waterton Park. Part of the reason we moved to Crowsnest Pass was the proximity of that park, and we have been visiting it for years. Every year we visit the Prince of Wales hotel. We stayed there, had lunches there, and always bought something at the gift shop. This time there is a ticket booth at the parking entrance with a guy in a kilt asking for $10.50 for parking. People who make minimum wage or seniors on government pensions can’t even enjoy the view from Windy Point by the hotel.

I wonder if Waterton was hit with paying for police as we are. Their police are playing a role in being an attraction in red uniforms. Now the town may have to reconsider if they need a regular police presence.

I heard our Premier on social media in the last two days. He was hit recently by his own party showing that he barely has the support of 50% of the members, and resigned. The next day, he became the interim leader to lead the party until a new leader is elected, which has no deadline. In his recent speech, he talked about finishing what he started securing the future of our energy sector. He is bragging about all the new drilling planned in Alberta. Not a word about doctors, nurses, teachers, farmers, hospitals, long-term care homes, or the rest of us.

I am afraid that the only aspect of Alberta that will survive the present administration will be oil and gas and things related to it. As services decline and the cost of living here increases, we may see a change in the kind of people who choose to live here. Already the north is populated by folks who live somewhere else and only come here to work on oil. Will we see what is happening in rural Alberta happen on a big scale? Will this become a mining planet from a science fiction story? I hope not, but mine is only one little voice.

Now there is a war in Europe. The Europeans already began to work hard and fast on alternatives to oil energy. It will be a pain to transition, but they can do it. As soon as they do, they will export their discoveries to other places and the oil-based economy will correspondently shrink. If Alberta will be an oil and nothing else province, we will play like the Calgary Flames just did. Every game is a “do or die” and the players are stressed to the max.

Is our world going to be a place for wealthy corporations to compete with each other for domination while the workers produce but have no other life but work? They will be raised for jobs and let go without care when their productive years are finished. The idea reminds me of the stories I read as a boy about slaves. Only now we have much better control and surveillance.

Alberta must work hard now to diversify its economy, improve living conditions and remain an energy hub. Energy is our specialty. Energy skills are transferable. I am scared that we will waste the critical time left to us on beating a dead horse.

 

Many of those who are rich today and have power over the destiny of most human beings on earth inherited their wealth. It’s easy to see that they differ from those who became wealthy through their own efforts. Their goal is to maintain and increase their power just to retain their advantage. Many despise and fear working people. Hardly any have the advantage of ever being poor themselves having to live by their own wits and work.

The game we play is who will be the boss. Millions of people suffer and die for someone to be the boss and their lives hardly improve. One enemy dies and another two show up. We never accept the simple truths that stare at us for generations. The secret is not a secret at all. We are all one. Just as one finger differs from another, yet they are both one body. This world was created for those who live in it and we are blessed with the ability to improve life here or destroy it. As long as we fight each other for power, we are heading in the wrong direction.

I remember an old song that had the line, “I owe my soul to the company store.” If all we have to offer is oil, we will survive, but not as the best province to live in. For that, we must do something soon before things change and we find ourselves behind everybody else.

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

Can aging be cured?

 

 Can aging be cured?

We live in an older community where white hair is more common than any other color. I see it as a blessing but being older is not popular in our culture. The “market” likes young people who produce, use, and throw away to do it all over again. It grows the economy, we say.

I was four years old and my parents took me to visit a family of Kurdish people. They were a prominent family in the mountain village because they had the oldest person. He was old and wrinkled and folks came with their horses and carts to seek his advice. In their culture, they respected old people for their knowledge and wisdom. I sat on his lap, noticing his bony knees and he shared wisdom with me. Pointing at his wrinkled face he said, Avner, if you don’t want to look like this, stay away from that, pointing at a jar. What is it I asked? Opium, he said. I need it for my pain. I was injured at the war and started using it, but found out that I couldn’t stop. It’s best not to start something that you can’t stop. Now I am as old as he was and I still remember. I look at Putin on TV and see that the words were true.

Years later, now in Canada, I was using an outdoor bathroom on a Native reserve. On the walls, there was a lot of writing. One “message,” said “Indians have so many kids to get more welfare.” Under it, another said, “white people don’t take care of their elders. They put them in jails called care homes and visit them once a year. We look after our grandparents.” Another with an arrow said, “white people just take things and never say thank you and cheat on paying.” Another “Whites don’t respect their mothers and wish they died.” Oh God, I thought, probably some of us do.

Years later, just a little while ago, a pandemic hit the world and a lot of media reporting came from Ontario. Seniors were dying of starvation in understaffed care homes, some in their own filth. The army was called in and verified that it wasn’t fake news. Regulations protecting seniors were removed and there were no inspections. It was a horror show in real life. It reminded me of the writings on the walls of the outhouse. The Indigenous people placed check stops on roads to protect their vulnerable populations and were first to get vaccinated.

Now some scientists are taking a fresh approach to aging. We realize that the human body is built for self-repair and that life fights to stay alive. Much of “old age” is simply humans choosing a lifestyle that brings us closer to death. Piled on body weight, slowing down on physical activity, and playing cards instead of physical activity, all send us closer to the grave.

Medical science improved tremendously in my lifetime, adding years to life. Vaccines, medical implants, and modern medications keep us alive longer, but our minds kill us. The added years are not enjoyable. God knows what’s in our hearts and accommodates.

People set up the limits for life, and the body obeys. Birth to school, six years, graduation in 12 years, working to 65, retirement for about ten years, and then care leading to death at about 80 if there is no pandemic. I remember working after my retirement age and people were waiting for me to clear the way for a few promotions. Now some people are waiting for me to sell my home. There is always pressure to move to the next stage and then the government tries to save money on senior care.

My generation took humanity from the horse and buggy age to what you see today. I refuse to go through the steps. I do what my health allows and try my best to be useful in whatever way I can. I can’t play professional sports, so I write and contribute to the discussion of how we wish to be governed. Spirituality is very important to me as well. There is much more to life than what the eyes can see. I think God keeps us alive as long as we can stay happy with our lives. We can stay happy if we live modestly and enjoy a simple life. Overindulging or wanting too much is the road to the end. Wanting life, making no effort, is the same. A human must have a way to contribute. Some are looking for more ways to entertain themselves, but life is not meant for enjoyment on credit.

The old mountain man in my youth lived on opium and shared wisdom. People drove over from other towns to hear his wisdom, which provided value to them. He ate very little and had never been to another country or on a cruise. He lived to be over a hundred years old. I met others like him.

Now we are witnessing the loss of many elders, who are victims of following the expected steps in life. God often gives us what we expect. (Not what we say we expect.) My feeling is that we must maintain faith in something greater than ourselves and know that it gives but also takes.

We will find ways to beat the disease called old age, the selfish people who are destroying the world for personal gain, and viruses spread because of malicious fake news. Humankind will be changed when humans will become concerned with the well-being of each other. All will be freed.

If you can, check the video “Island where people live longer than anyone on Earth.” You will not be sorry.

Scary.

 Scary.

When I came to Alberta, it was an agricultural province. Calgary had stockyards with a lot of cattle, Robin Hood Mills’ huge granaries dominated the skyline and people with country-western clothes were seen everywhere. The Stampede grounds, much smaller than now, were the prime tourist attraction. Driving around the countryside, I saw lots of farms and some coal mining towns, but they were on a decline. The price of coal didn’t justify the huge investment.

My friend Jack O’Gorman was a boilermaker, and he told me stories about the big steam locomotives he used to work on but, he said, all things come to an end and diesel is by far better. The coal mining towns were dwindling, horses were kept as pets or raised for meat and oil took over the local economy. Calgary buildings reached for the sky with no plan for what will happen after oil.

The new oil-based economy took off and the big event was the Energy Policy dictating that Canadian oil was a temporary boon for Canada. Sharing was not a very popular sentiment. Coal was no longer a major contributor to the economy and places existing on coal alone closed down. Technology advances always leave some people behind.

Some people who grew up in the days when tough men went underground remember the days with nostalgia. We all miss our childhood days, but we grow up and the world is forever changing. Not long ago most people made a living in manufacturing and now the jobs went to China and later many became automated.

In the last few years, China developed new industries, demand for steel grew, and with it the need for good quality coal. Australia sold coal, but extra measures to reduce the harmful environmental effects of coal forced its mining corporations to look for offshore supplies. Alberta mining towns woke up from a long slumber envisioning a renewal of their glory days, but other aspects have changed. The short-time gains will not justify large investments. The government investigation clarified that more than a little local development is not worth the effort.

Prosperity for the coal mining towns that flourished in the past will have to come from something else. Energy is a superb source of income, yet reality shows that it will have to be a modern form of energy. Although my father spent some years underground, I don’t think that local coal mining will bring my youth back. Even if there is a mine nearby, it will not change my life much.

We are getting new people in the area, and taxes are increasing before they settle down. A mine that is not on municipal lands will not directly pay taxes here. I am satisfied with the way things are. One coal mine nearby gives us the right to be called a coal mining town and another building a sustainable energy project and green hydrogen for sale is just great.

I am interested in having peace here and in the world. Sorry, all you fighters, I vote for cool heads and peace. Next, I am worried about how fast anti-democratic forces are taking over the world. The latest is the Philippines. Ukraine is fighting to keep democracy and next to us the coming election may bring a more dictatorial regime. Already they are fighting about abortions while a large majority is against reopening the debate. What we need all over the world is strong independent journalism to expose the truth or facts and let people make up their minds.

After this, I am concerned about having air, water, food, health care, education, transportation, religious freedom, care for the elderly, and ways for all people to make a living. I want us to do all that without stealing all the resources from future generations. I completely don’t have any interest in adding to someone’s accumulated wealth. If they use it for common good, I am willing to help.

In my opinion, all the world’s resources, regardless of who claims to own them at the time, should benefit all the world’s people. The resources that keep us fed, warm, mobile, healthy, educated, and more belong to all. Not to her majesty, the natives, the colonizers, churches, or others, but humans and other life forms. The material world is a circle of life and changes must be balanced properly.

Now we have pushed the world to the limits and we know it, but many refuse to see it. Force will not repair it since it cannot.

Human thoughts are formed with words and move on their own to bring equilibrium. Haste brings waste, and we have wasted all that can safely be wasted. So, if life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

The war in Europe will cause a new wave of development of cleaner energy and restrict energy waste. We won’t be able to do it using only carbon taxes. The premature move from COVID restrictions will bring more health care issues. War in Ukraine will cause starvation in places. A scary situation.

What should happen now is for mankind to realize important realities. The population will decrease if we educate girls. Even when it does, we will not need to grow each economy against others to stay alive. There will be less need for constant human labor and with proper cooperation, there will be enough to feed all of us well into the future. Our biggest enemy is the temptation to have much more than others and what we need. Remove the glorifying of the superrich and superstars and people should and will be happy.

A wise person once said, “if we don’t hang together, we will surely hang alone.” All we need is to buy into it and vote for it if we retain democracy.

Forget fighting and work for equality and human rights. Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. Amen.

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

Life or Freedom?

 

Life or Freedom?

A friend said to me, I have only one life. He believes that at some point, better later, the lights go out and there is nothing more. Could be true. Another believes that he may go to heaven, to be with God, angels, and relatives who passed away. That is good also, but I have some questions. If it is like a great Senior’s lodge, well, I don’t like playing cards or bingo. A Heaven for me must include doing something useful. My friend from the far east believes in reincarnation, which includes animals. Great, but I wouldn’t like to be a spider in my house. A cat would be preferable. There are many more ideas about eternal life, but I only have half a page a week to share my thoughts with my community.

I will wait for later and try to make the best of the life I have right now. I live in a green valley with mountains all around. My home is just big enough for my wife and me and visitors or family who rarely come. In the winter the snow forms a Christmas card scenery and, in the summer, we have lots of flowers and enjoy a beautiful slice of nature. The people around us are wonderful, and new people are showing up all the time. Some are visiting, others live here, and we don’t see all the “not-so-great” things that existed in the big city where we used to live. I pat myself on the back for choosing a great place.

Within 45 minutes from home, we have two hospitals, medical clinics, stores, shops, art all around, sports facilities, fishing, gun and pistol clubs, libraries, restaurants, hotels, markets, schools, spas, you name it. We didn’t yet talk about the outdoor sports opportunities that are growing every day. I am waiting for something with horses to develop and draw Calgarians over. With new people, we see fresh development. New houses, shops and people making little things to sell in the farmer’s market are all drawing more of the same.

We are growing, a little at a time, if we can protect our aging population from growing threats like spreading viruses.

I was watching a hand-filmed video of partisans fighting the Russian army around Kyiv. Those brave guys and girls saved towns from total destruction and lived to tell the story. Using phones, they documented the story. One little town in the suburbs of Kyiv was fought over harder than most because it had the only vaccination clinic that was well stocked by the West. Several partisans sacrificed their lives to keep it going.

I watch the news from a handful of countries that keep reporters on the ground and sometimes switch over to Canadian news. The Canadian station featured bikers driving in Ottawa. They altered the motorbikes to a point in which it was hard to determine what to call the machines. On them rode a group of old guys with wild hair, and wild beards, and behind them rode the Mamas. None seemed in good physical shape like the Ukrainian Partisans. A few old and forgotten veterans with army headgear completed the picture. The news media tried to find out what these folks seeking media attention and perhaps Go Fund Me loot were demonstrating but couldn’t. Freedom and they don’t like Trudeau and vaccines seemed to be central, but not even one could name what freedom meant to them. One short old man with uncombed white hair said he was willing to die for freedom. Wow!

Other than those, there was a crowd of partiers milling about with placards and American or Canadian flags. They got on TV and went home for supper. Ottawa lost three million dollars on related expenses and policing. This time Pierre Poilievre and other opposition attention seekers didn’t take pictures with the “protesters.” The reporter mentioned that luckily, we just had a federal election, so there was no dispute about who is the official democratically elected leader in Canada.

I compare the two groups. People whose country has been invaded with the intent of changing the government and here, folks demanding to be on TV by insisting on endangering the elderly and more vulnerable fellow citizens. Both claim to be fighting for freedom. Could it be that we became a society of spoiled children?

I feel as if I have more than one life and reached Heaven. Born with a small chance of surviving, I made it. Lived in the valley where prophets walked, moved to a biblical mountain, and tasted extreme poverty for a while. Survived wars, deadly diseases, prejudices, as well as harassment. At a critical age, I was tossed into a new society again to start from the bottom up. Each time I ended up better than I was.

As I am writing, more questions about freedom show up. The Taliban declared that women can’t leave home without a male companion and a burka. If they do, their family men will be arrested. The US Supreme Court is debating again, restricting abortions. Can every woman decide for herself if to terminate a pregnancy or do others have a say? Is she one person when another person is in her and who will look after the baby if she can’t or doesn’t want to? Can each of us decide if to stay alive or not and should society restrict suicides? If not, how much help can someone provide to kill themselves?

I believe God created life, but do I have the freedom to keep my life or not? If not, should society be responsible for keeping people alive, and to what degree? Do women have the same rights as men? How about people who lost a war or were born in poverty?

I may have one life that ends and begins again. Where and how is a question of faith. Do I have freedom? Do all people? God, please help us.

Putin a Saviour?

 

Putin a Saviour?

In 1967, I managed to have a job in the old Radium Hot Springs hotel. Spring was in the air but we ended up with a few chilly nights and needed to heat the hotel, an old brick building. I was shown how to set up a fire, add coal and switch the water circulation pump on. It didn’t take long for the building to warm up. Other buildings were more modern and had gas-fired furnaces.

There are many ways that humans can stay warm in the winter, but it takes more work to get the heat, and the pollution from coal is more damaging than what gas produces. In 1967, people were not yet much concerned about pollution. It was later that we discovered acid rain melting buildings and in the late seventies, the danger of Global Warming woke us up to reality. An invisible enemy is always the most dangerous.

When you walk the main streets in our Crowsnest Pass little towns, you may notice metal covers on the sidewalks where coal used to be delivered to buildings. If you go to the museum, look at pictures and exhibits, paying attention to what people in the past were wearing. A man at home was wearing a three-piece suit and all that went under it. The ladies wore heavy material long dresses and they themselves can tell what was under them. There were large aprons and shawls over the sweaters. There is nothing wrong with dressing up for the season instead of making the home always summery.

Life was grand, but not as easy. It took time and work to stay warm in winters and much more work to feed ourselves, wash up, clean the house and get from A to B. The work and the lesser selection available to most wasn’t exactly a negative aspect. Life was meant to take time and effort, and many folks had employment no longer available in our present age. Even knowledge was harder to obtain. There was no Google or anything like it.

Libraries were busy, people did accounting or law without computers, books and articles were handwritten, edited, and copied to be submitted for typing. People worked, got paid, and used the pay to purchase things and keep the economy going.

Over time, it all changed thanks to the use and distribution methods of energy. Now even watching TV doesn’t require standing and walking to change a channel or to reduce the sound. Take away the cheap energy and its distribution infrastructure and it sets us back to the last century. Our bodies are fatter and weaker and all we have is our technological knowledge that mostly depends on the energy. Electricity comes in wires and powers everything. Only one minor problem, garbage is created and there is no way to get rid of it. It transforms the home planet to be less desirable.

For years we knew we would have to take care of the problem but didn’t. Political will, powered by donations from energy giants, blocked most efforts. It will take time, the oligarchs and their minions said. My doctor said that I should quit smoking to improve my health. It will take time, I said, I will reduce it significantly by 2050. He said you may be waiting till it’s too late. Yet reducing CO2 emissions by mid-century makes sense to him while he and his patients are all wheezing thanks to forest fires smoke.

All of us are rightly horrified by what Putin is doing in Ukraine. It’s hard to see any good coming out of it, yet half of humanity doesn’t condemn it. One evil most publicized is Europe’s dependency on Russian energy that last week was shut off to Poland and Bulgaria. It reminded me of the first oil crisis in 1975. We didn’t warm up cars, didn’t hold the ovens or fridges open, and replaced damaged weather stripping when needed.

If we care about Ukraine, we need to bring the energy-saving measures back. The entire world must act together to conserve energy and speed up weaning ourselves off from the easy energy we so depend on. We love to hate Putin and his war, but the real fight is in changing our energy consumption and the type of energy we use. Instead of building more pipelines, human ingenuity must use new ways.

We have plenty of options to do it, regardless of what the fake news says. What we need is the will to do it seriously. For example. If we all had electric vehicles, we could use them as a power storage system. The battery in one vehicle can provide all the power that an average home uses in three days, not that it would need to. However, it can’t be done by us without planning and support from our governments.

Projects such as Montem Resources are planning here in the Pass can help, not just the world but the people in Ukraine. If we do it fast and well, show the economic benefits and motivate the politicians to do more, Europe may give Putin the finger and tell him to keep his dirty energy. Without the revenues from oil, gas, and coal, he will not be able to build tanks and missiles. We can show the world that Alberta is an energy-producing area without pollution.

Europe may need to use coal, as the old Radium hotel did in 1967, the smoke can be filtered, but not for long. Life is always about what people believe. People always must choose if it’s all about me, or if I care about other people. Seeing the raw suffering of the people from Ukraine may just tilt the balance. We exist in a balance. It’s never all the way in one direction or we are doomed.