Hugging Grandma.

 

Hugging Grandma.

So many people now lament that they can’t hug their grandparents. Stories surface about old folks dying alone and care workers stretched to the limits unable to take care of them or even hold their hand while they die.  

I have a few older friends who need regular medical help to stay alive. They have done their share of work and were looking forward to the “golden years” when they would use their lifelong savings and enjoy life without a need to work. What they saved for is not what they have. A group of political “representatives” who use them for their advantage governs the worker’s savings and investments.

Most of my life I worked, studied and volunteered on top of it. My understanding was that we had a social contract. Wake up in the morning, make yourself useful, and look for ways to make yourself even more useful. People were ashamed if someone discovered that they were not contributing their share to the best of their ability. Work was honoured and laziness abhorred.

The problem we all faced was that most of us ended up doing things we didn’t feel very fulfilling. Our work was contributing to someone else’s wealth and doing more didn’t advance our personal well-being. A few did, but most didn’t. People became clock watchers and most looked forward to the weekend or the next holiday. Why are so many of us doing what we don’t like?

My group, which we can name the middle class, lived by a simple rule. You survive, save for retirement, build a good health care system, and provide education and work for those that will come after you. Our loyalty was to family, community, and country. The rest of the world only mattered as competition.

We are born helpless and start growing, learning about life by playing. School is considered “education” and after school comes “working.” We call God “father” indicating that we are children. Let’s assume that we are children and this whole life we are playing. The world is enormous and provides us with all that we need. The only way for some to not have enough is if others take more than their share.

Humans are social beings and soon after birth indoctrination to groups begins. Catholics baptize, Jews circumcise, and the child is initiated before it knows it. You learn your religious beliefs, your language that sets you in a nationality, your gender practices, and prejudices, and so on. Later you will join the class you belong to, intellectual, noble, or peasant as well as your race. The child learns to distinguish physical characteristics that set it apart from others. These are all learned behaviours.

When children are educated about their assigned groupings, they learn about traditions and other cultural aspects that set them apart from others. We all do this without ever realizing what we do. Soon we are willing to fight others and dominate them, viewing it as winning the competition.

The choice that we make is which game we are spending life playing, and is one game better than another. We all know what would happen if we left a group of pre-schoolers unsupervised in a nice new show home and came back in an hour. Play is great but must be regulated and safe. We supervise kids but neglect adults who are just larger kids.

We all know the feeling of joy that comes from winning. Here in Canada, most people have their favourite hockey team. People spend many hours of their lives being emotional about “their team.” The team has nothing to do with them aside from residing in their city. Most players are not local, the owners and shareholders could be from anywhere and wins or losses are mostly related to the amount of money spent on buying contracts of the best players of the time.

Loyalty to a group or a team is admired, and people see nothing wrong with competition. After all, competition is a driving force that advances humanity in all directions. We made some of the best discoveries during hard times like wars or lately even pandemics. However, it always leads us to rejoice at someone else’s loss and even deprive them of life’s necessities without feeling shame or remorse.

Since we are material beings, we must have some land from which we draw the resources needed for life directly or indirectly. As we go, we learn how to sustain more of us on less land, but competition leaves many without the necessary minimum. Even knowledge is rationed, hoping the less fortunate groups will contribute more to the leading few. This will lead us to disaster.

In my lifetime, I observed wars and analyzed the results. Mighty armies and powerful nations can destroy countries, cities, and infrastructure but not the human spirit. People will find ways to get other people back.

This leaves us with two options. Destroy the enemy and ourselves or abandon teams and other groups and figure out how to hug grandma and all humans. It is not hard.

There is enough “stuff” in the world to sustain all of us. In short, learn what the Daycare teacher told us when we were small. Play all the games but take turns and share. Remember that we are just big kids playing a game called life. We can easily make it a great game. Instead of a teacher, we can set ourselves a list of rules and follow them, adjusting when needed. The rest God, or whatever you call him, takes care of.

Just as we have laws setting the top speed limit, we can regulate how much each individual or group can hoard and share the rest. We can ensure that all people have what they need and let the top performers compete for what they want without keeping life’s necessities out of reach for the needy, and they will not need to fight.

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

Let’s make a bet.

 

Let’s make a bet.

I bet that in ten years this world will hardly be recognizable. If I would have slept since 1950 and woke up today, I wouldn’t know that it is the same world. Now things change a lot faster. All things have changed, but a bigger change is coming. Technology will grow by leaps and bounds and science will not be what it is. The tools that we use will allow us to have what a short time ago was considered a miracle. However, the real change will be humans themselves. We will either change into corpses or into a society involved in constructing its future. We worked ourselves into a corner and there is no way to go on without changing.

The world is getting smaller as the internet gets bigger. There are attempts to control the information flow, but they fail rapidly. No longer can only one group of people keep information locked up. Every person can obtain the knowledge of their choice and every person must make up their own mind.

Numerous groups are fighting to spread their messages and all claim that truth is on their side. Often people choose sides by supporting what will give them a material advantage but there is a new kind of people entering the fray. I see it clearly by just watching the news from around the world. In the age when religious affiliations are on a decline, young people are drawn towards universal morality that didn’t exist a short time ago. I see Black Lives Matter marches where white people are the majority, and campaigns against misuse of fossil energy dominated by western looking youths. Christian folks object to discrimination against Muslims. Young healthy folks are upset with the far-right forces panicking over their “right” to spread a pandemic that is destroying people and the economy. People make their own choices even without leadership. I wonder why.

We conducted a social experiment upon ourselves in the last quarter of the century and now the results are in.

After the second world war, people came back, and countries like ours absorbed them. In Canada, we even took in many people from other nationalities, some of who fought against us like Germans, Italians, Japanese, and many more. The country just finished a war and was deep in debt, but we prevailed. From 1945 to the early seventies, we had the best period in memory. All that count was growing. Better health care, education, unionized jobs, and productivity was rising while being tied into wages.

Around 1980 things changed, and it wasn’t because of immigration. People developed a new belief that some folks who do well should do even better and will share the results with the rest. Trickle-down economics. The belief translated into a major change in taxation, trade deals and contracts. Myriads of young folks tried to get ahead by working harder, getting educated, taking unreasonable risks and failed. Success was mostly not tied to personal merit but simply to the luck of the draw. It’s not what you know, but who you know.

In 2020 the world advanced, productivity improved, but most regular working people found themselves worst off than we were in the 1960s. Older folks like me can see that the earth itself is in danger, our kids can’t expect the social mobility that we had, and everyone is in debt. Poor folks both at home and abroad are merely trying to stay alive. It is at a critical level creating a dangerous situation. I feel that we have taken a wrong turn.

The memory of Peter Lougheed campaigning and winning our confidence is fresh in my mind. To be fiscally Conservative meant to use money responsibly and do as much as possible for the province with it.

Now I see politicians making impossible promises and lying under the same party name. The provincial tax didn’t go up but local taxes do. Why? Since the province cut most grants.

The few who prospered are trying hard to retain their entitlement and using shady methods to gain public support. There was the drive to blame Canadians of minority groups for our problems and lately a new campaign. This time it is seeding fears that our freedoms are threatened by attempts to save people from viral infection.

In 1940 London England came under heavy bombardments. Some wanted to capitulate as France did. One bomb fell on Buckingham Palace and the Brits changed on mass. Canadians, Australians, and Indians in turbans came to help and after great suffering that touched everyone, Great Britain won. This was no longer a good time to speak about surrendering.

As we see maps of Canada where it seems that Conservative provinces are leading in infection rates, people are waking up ready to fight and win the war against the virus. I keep a close eye on world news and read comments on the net. While some folks wish to give in, protect imaginary freedoms, and let the Coronavirus do what it will, others are resolved to fight and win.

In Toronto, the police had to protect the anti-maskers from enraged citizens. In the Western provinces, people are reporting businesses that don’t follow safety measures and BC set up roadblocks at the Alberta border. Canadians, like the Londoners eighty years ago, are fighting back and everyone can see who is winning. Those who lost confidence seeing their leaders vacationing abroad during shutdowns, now cheer when those who spread the disease are being fined and arrested. Even the excuse that Christ told them to disobey health regulations no longer works. He didn’t tell the same to other denominations.

Presently the majority is learning that no one is entitled to take advantage of them, use them and risk their lives. It’s happening on a small scale at home and internationally with entire countries. The internet information lines are humming. In ten years, we will see a world of awakened people who know how to secure their share of everything.

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

Freedom of speech test.

 

Freedom of speech test.

One thing I can say about myself with little doubt. I speak my mind openly. In Israel most people do and in Canada, there is more British influence. Perhaps we can summarize by saying people expect more diplomacy. The culture is more refined.

The cultural rules that guide communication should not be designed to make opinions vague, but perhaps soften the blow. Truth should be true, and the rest is a method of delivery. We don’t say to a person; you are a liar; we say what you told me is a bit disingenuous. However, all of us seem to be confused about freedom of speech and Human Rights.

At university, one professor used to tell a story. Apparently, a guest speaker that people didn’t like came to give a talk. Students locked up the exit doors where he was speaking and pulled the fire alarm. The prank ended up with ambulances delivering the injured and the police arresting the pranksters. The story was meant to teach us that there are limits to freedom of speech.

I have been getting messages from acquaintances for about a year now, trying to convince me that there is no threat from the COVID pandemic. Some even have a video with a fake archbishop and others show teams of white-gowned “doctors” awkwardly using medical terms saying that we are being fooled by a conspiracy theory about a virus. One person mixed up old statistics claiming that all the deaths in America are now being portrayed as COVID-related.

In the last couple of weeks, the campaign intensified. I am receiving a barrage of “evidence” from an old friend. A big factor in those is the hoax that they make the vaccines from aborted babies. I researched and followed up on some sources. Needless to say, it comes from old and proven Far Right organizations. The Americans have a few Far-Right outlets and we have our own far-right News that even the Tories don’t use. They are all complaining that their freedom of speech is being censored by Internet organizations. I am surprised that no one is suing them for the deaths resulting from their activity.

Why are the Far-Right or Alt-Right organizations making an effort and spending a lot of money to lead people to act dangerously? It’s easy to understand. The people who are now on top of the world are scared of the virus. Not because it kills, they got their shots, but because it is threatening their domination over other people.

COVID revealed to people that our economy could function differently than the way it does. Mainly it shows that our countries can survive without everyone working all of their free time or being constantly terrified of not having a job. The “bug” revealed that people will tell you to believe their stories instead of fighting for your life. Now we know that the economy can go on with a lot less make busy work. Mostly we need the essential workers. We can borrow money from our bank and payback with our work as long as nobody skims the profits. We can supply all that we need with a little trading on the side. The world would be better off. In the seventies, we planned to do it, but greed got in the way.

A year ago there was no vaccine and predictions floated that it will take 5 years to get one. The only defence was social isolation or we would end up like India is now. The President was telling people not to worry, and the USA topped the world in COVID deaths. Now we have vaccines and the people are being influenced not to use them. Noone is considering who and why is advocating the voluntary destruction of our society.

I don’t consider it Free Speech or a human rights issue. I have a copy of the Bill of Rights on my wall. It is all about improving our lives and protecting us. Nothing about disobeying the government’s health rules and risking lives.

I find it difficult to listen politely to my “friends” who in this case are trying to risk my life by telling me to listen to them instead of to my doctor. Will they pay for my funeral? We have a lot of funerals. Did they buy shares in the funeral industry?

All humans know that life as we know it ends with death. We try to stay alive as long as life is pleasant. Should I take the word of a “friend” and die or the other way. Should I be careful, use a vaccine and let nature or God deal with the virus as it always does.

My guess is, do what I can, trust our best minds, follow our government’s skimpy advice, and remain alive. I don’t need to sacrifice my life to keep the existing social order intact.

Consider the other option. If the pandemic is left unchecked, the hospitals will overflow with COVID cases. Our Canadian doctors will have to decide like the “selection” doctors did in the German concentration camps and treat only those who have the best chance to live for a year. People like me will not pass the test, and my doctor may have to let me go for lack of ICU beds. It may happen very soon. We have executed all the “selection” doctors after the war in 1945. Do we want to honour the wishes of the “freedom” fighters and not follow government directions for public safety?

I respect my friends, who circulate propaganda against what all the governments say is a serious threat. I don’t want to remove their RIGHT for free speech or their “RIGHT” not to wear a mask away. Yet, my right to live will be denied if their assumed constitutional freedom is allowed to win. If we end up like India, they and all those who support them will be responsible.

Remember. The numbers you see on your devices' screens and in News Papers are real people.

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

Power of stories.

 

Power of stories.

Why do we say, lest we forget? Is there nothing more important than remembering? Memories, as flighty as they are, make me who I am. Memories make me not repeat mistakes and be the kind of person I believe I should be.

Our planet exists in space far from other worlds, and it behaves in a predetermined way. Does it remember how? Is it following some law or instructions? What it does sustains the lives of humans and nurtures our growth. I would hesitate to force it to change. We are made from it and all we have comes from it, just the way it is.

Earth is set up perfectly to grow us, it gives life, takes it away, and it always seeks to level things. Look at how water behaves. Write a new story for humans and watch what they will do with it.

Humans existed for a relatively long time. Look at the evidence, not at what some low-educated politicians tell you. Human society needs leadership in order to act together for everyone’s benefit, yet there is a question regarding what leadership should lead people to do. Leaders can unite or divide people, make us co-operate, or go to war.

Travel around the world and marvel at the beautiful buildings humans created. Each nation prides itself on its culture visible with what they built. Look at people who built palaces and cathedrals. Don’t expect to meet them but admire the projects they created. They are the elite. A few are on top and it’s branching down, spreading right to the billions of poor people working hard to survive another day. The two don’t mix.

The elites are a small group that owns most of the world. Some are very nice, while others are acting as if they are entitled or more qualified than others. Some made a fortune mostly by being at the right place at the right time, while many others inherited riches. In both cases, it is difficult to get close to them. They are accustomed to Gold-diggers. A few use their wealth for the benefit of humanity, while others focus on building more wealth and competing with their kind. To do that, they need power and they purchase it. How do you purchase power? You invest in marketing.

Most of the gullible 99% of humans find it hard to think or learn, so they look for easy ways to reach them by advertisements. People look for what is popular and prestigious. Most folks don’t make any effort to figure out what is the truth versus what someone is selling them. Those who work hard to build a fortune and join the elite capitalize on the phenomenon. Marketing professionals can sell anything to anyone using a well-developed science of advertising.

I remember the worldwide American campaign to start a war against Iraq. Nothing has been done before on that scale. Most of the world was against it, including Canada and so many people in the US and Great Britain. Enough money and expertise were poured into the campaign and the war took off. It killed millions and the results are still felt today.

A good example reoccurs in every election campaign. Emotions are stirred up and often the promises being sold are impossible to provide, but the party that spends most ends up winning. Regular people who don’t have even the slightest chance to join the elites vote against their self-interest and later defend their actions with anger, abuse, and ignoring any form of logic, just to save face.

A good recent example is a well-organized and lavishly financed campaign to convince people that the raging Corona Pandemic is a hoax of some sort. The campaign invents statistics, employs actors, and convinces people they must join if they belong to a certain political persuasion. I assume it originated in China or Russia who could benefit from destabilizing our society.

Marketing is a necessary tool for getting rich nowadays. People use it expertly and destroy countless lives. Most people are convinced to buy, mostly on credit, which can never be repaid. The instinct to keep up with others and outdo them is used to promote consumerism to a level previously unheard of. The marketers profit.

The entire world is involved in converting the resources needed for all of humanity to survive, into consumer goods for one generation. Politics is used to speed up the process and ignore the stress points that develop into irreparable fractures. We mine, manufacture, sell and throw away, hardly able to enjoy the products. People work longer and harder and avoid morality. The few on top are hardly aware of the pain and suffering caused to the many by their actions.

In my lifetime, the world flipped upside down. Homes tripled in size and house fewer people. Travel became a necessity that young people can’t do without for no other reason but prestige. Households and countries are in debt that a few years ago was unimaginable. Folks are ignoring the fact that there will be no way to care for the old when they can no longer work. Record numbers of people are homeless. Millions of people are migrating with no place to go. Half of our production and taxes are devoted to producing tools for killing.

Yet our ability to build a paradise on earth for all has also advanced. With current technology, we could have heaven on earth and engineer a human society free of suffering and soon perhaps even death. All we need is to float the idea and let humans run with it.

Remove the competition for superiority over each other and replace it. Watch the efforts of health care workers and others risking their personal safety for the sake of human wellness and maintain and reward it. Let the young people see that society admires self-sacrifice for the common good above the ability to accumulate wealth for personal gratification. Now is our chance.

Conspiracy, death, and hope?

 

Conspiracy, death, and hope?

There is a war going on that cost humanity more lives than all modern wars did. The war against the virus is being fought by health care workers, poor essential workers, and scientists developing vaccines. To win it, people must act together and make personal sacrifices. Those not yet affected face a choice if to help others or risk spreading the virus. Doctors say they will resign sooner than decide who will live or die.

Now the war is being fought locally. Some say that the danger is a hoax designed to infringe on their freedom, while others feel they must fight for their lives. I am severely compromised so I am demanding consideration even if it may hurt the economy. We have help available for most people who are hurt by this war.

At times like now, when death is lurking around the corner, people are driven to consider what death is. Existing as we are in temporary bodies, we have been trying to figure it out since prehistorical times. I find the subject fascinating and devoted much time trying to figure it out.

Many modern people feel we should not waste our lives on thinking about death, and many others invest effort and money to improve what will happen to them after this life. Opinions vary depending on people’s religions and recently on the latest scientific theories. I try to learn both.

My Abrahamic religious roots indicate that my soul will depart my body and be judged based on what I have done or haven't done in this life. The central figure in my bible taught helping the poor, not being concerned with material possessions, and being kind. Those teaching the faith have another set of rules. This is similar in all three major Abrahamic faiths and unanimously agrees that women are inferior to men. I have unanswered questions.

On the other side of the world, half of humanity supports another opinion. I am less familiar with it, but I can simplify my understanding involving reincarnation. The soul separates from the body and will be reborn as another creature. After some or many lifetimes, it will achieve unification with the creator in which it will lose its individuality.

There are also many “primitive” religions and cults that are not taken seriously. The most noticeable change happening now is that large numbers of people are abandoning religions altogether and are looking to science to give answers about life. More and more I hear the term, “pie in the sky”. Judging by the behaviour of the more affluent humans, there is a trend to ignore other people and use them for making and hoarding wealth. There are some who use little bits of the hoarded wealth to do some good (philanthropy) without giving it up.

As religions are evolving, the resources of the earth are depleting. We use all that is available much faster than the natural process can replenish it, and the whole idea behind Sabbath comes to focus. I watch the conflict about what should be done regarding the raging virus, and the race to use up all the world’s resources fast and it becomes clear to me. The actual war that my kind is fighting is between selfishness and generosity or love.

I lean back in my chair and contemplate. What would I consider the best of all feasible solutions for life after death? If I am asked which will be my choice, I consider what I learned from religions and also from science. In my life, we came from Einstein to the quantum theories and the God particle. From using horses to carrying little computers called cell phones. My life depends on a medical implant that keeps me alive.

At this point, I deduct that there is one theory that appeals to me most, but is subject to change. I am always open to learning new things. When I heard it, it sounded like a conspiracy theory, but now it makes more sense. I realize that the particles I am made of can appear across the universe while reacting to other paired particles. I understand that mass and energy are the same and that physical things can be other than physical until observed by a conscious being.

The idea is that what I call “myself” is a nonphysical force named soul. It can live in many forms and changes. The body can be killed, but the soul may go on and take a new form. It will, just like in this life, remember some things but forget the less pleasant. It can grow a body or perhaps has other options at its disposal.

I grew from a tiny thing into what I am today, mostly out of water, which is abundant on this earth. Done it once, I can do it again, even if I don’t remember how I did it. The joys and sadness that I experience each day, probably go on for eternity.

I think that what a person believes a person creates, and it influences others as well. We measure thoughts with brain waves, which the soul can change.

If I will discover the day after I die that life is going on and I never even noticed a difference, I will not be surprised. If I will be younger or even look different than I did before death, I will just say thank you, Lord. If I will be in the company of others who died and those still living, all my loved ones, I will be happy and go on. A world without end, my bible states, and I believe it.

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

Danger in lies.

 

Danger in lies.

My older friends used to say in troublesome times, pray for me or, I will pray for you. It has changed. Now people say our thoughts with you. People don’t want those who openly deny God to feel bad. I guess they have feelings too, even if they don’t believe in the Gods of religions. One has to adjust the language to please others.

Yet if you go to a church, you hear people praying for peace on earth, unity amongst believers, wishes for help for disadvantaged or suffering people, and petitions to God to help those who lead us. There is a strong wish for God to produce miracles and help us, presumably His people. I ask myself, why are we asking the creator to change the laws of physics when all we need to do is use what we already have and get the results we wish for. I guess we are praying for luck, which is the greatest reason for our success. It stumps me. I wonder what God makes of it.

People have been predicting the end of the world for a very long time. The Sumerians prior to the Babylonians told the story of Noah long before the Old Testament. The stories always talk about humans disobeying God and a judgment causing an end to civilization, possibly leaving some survivors. Underwater archeological signs indicate a base for those stories.

As history advanced, the stories became complicated, but the basics remain. What does God want in exchange for letting us go on? One obvious instruction is not to lie. We are told that God always finds the truth, but since we lie, we don’t believe it. Well, perhaps we should.

Words make a difference. We know that. Some believe that Jesus is the word. Others believe that God created all there is with words and others yet that humans using words have the power to create. You can create good things or even the end of the world. Creating is making something physical out of something that is not.

Words tell stories and stories can be believed or not. A human is facing a constant inner conflict if to believe or not and confirms beliefs with physical evidence. That is science. Science these days is the replacement for religions, but there is a lot of cheating in that as well. We came to a point where people almost can’t believe anything they are told.

Take for example our economy. People at all levels are contributing efforts and work in exchange for happiness, or more often the right and ability to live. In the past, we needed the work and inventions of all living humans to stay alive. Now it changed. The work of many humans became just a contributing factor to keeping humans alive. Our knowledge surpassed the need for our sweat.

A few working humans can produce all that we need, and the rest of the work is just serving each other in many ways. Most muscle-related work that is performed on earth now is not needed for human survival.

If we just gave up on make-busy work, replacing good things with new, producing items with planned obsolescence, or hindering the ability to repair, most jobs will be gone. If we share technology, educate the poor, do away with ever-changing fashions or trends, give up on using energy that isn’t renewable, producing war machines, and building things to show off and pretend we are better than others, there would hardly be any work needed.

There is a planet made perfect for incubating a human civilization, spinning through space at a speed that no human-made machine can match. On its surface, in a thin atmosphere, there are seven and a half billion bipedal creatures all possessing imagination connected by a net of vocal languages. The words can fire the imagination and create new realities. Instead of learning the truth, we are hard at work creating lies.

I come from a tiny country that took an old book language and built around it a new modern language, right as I was growing up. We received a reputation for being “blunt” or often “rude”. It comes from a different view of what truth is.

The cultures surrounding us developed ways to circumvent truths. Every modern country has common everyday people, the workers of the hive, and a high-class culture that sees nothing wrong with lying. Telling lies became synonymous with having good manners. I was told many years ago that “if I have nothing nice to say, I should say nothing at all”. I had to assimilate, so I learned what not to talk about. The “elite” teach their young to use platitudes. My young grandson explained to me that “telling white lies is a good thing.”

Lately the world (or God), through a raging pandemic, began to teach us why there is a commandment against lying. While people are dying at a rate faster than at war, our lies have been exposed. Our success in using Capitalism depends on some level of trust, but our behaviour killed our ability to trust each other.

People have been bombarded with conspiracy theories and are dying needlessly. Nations cheated on each other about lifesaving vaccines. Rich corporations capitalized on the mass suffering to quadruple their revenues, often using bought politicians to avoid paying taxes on the windfall. Patent laws backed by a threat of sanctions prevent the manufacturing of vaccines for people in poor countries. The internet is wild with stories that not even the news media can figure out if they are true or not. Pretentious religious leaders are spewing lies and giant internet organizations are attempting to filter what is the news and which is not.

We need urgent worldwide action to avert a humanitarian disaster, and we are back to the story of Cain and Abel. God is accusing people of lying, and people are so used to it they don’t even realize that they do.

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

Easter, Sickness, and Resurrection.

 

Easter, Sickness, and Resurrection.

It is Easter again, and I am thinking about resurrection. We humans have been doing that for thousands of years. The major religions all have stories of rebirth repeated when nature makes things bud in the spring. This year the need for a spring promise is greater than every other year in my long life. It has been a long, scary winter. Like many millions of the vulnerable immuno-compromised people living in a worldwide pandemic, I thank the Lord. Resurrection sounds promising.

Around me, family and friends are groaning about how they suffer from isolation, lack of shopping, and missing vacations. Others are bitterly mourning the loss of older family members who were expected to live on. We had it pretty good for a long time, and everyone wishes for the good times to return. Little do they know we were borrowing from the future and it’s time to pay up. Our economy based on extracting limited resources combined with using cheap labour of others is ready for bankruptcy.  Our politicians who held power by selling lies run out of masks and their true faces are showing. More of us realize that just wanting a carefree life doesn’t provide it for us.

Taking the rosy glasses off, I look at the reality in front of me and wonder what will bring resurrection in our case. My religious teachings emphasize a need for change. Repentance the Bible calls it. I look around and see many people assessing the situation soberly and advocating a mature attitude, while so many others wish to be careless and apologize with crocodile tears for the damage they cause.

My choice of solution is to buckle down, do what’s necessary, and rebuild. It will be an interesting project and we can do it. I am met with the distant gaze of those who wish to dream away our problems, hoping that someone else will take their suffering away and be crucified while they will party on. Included in that group is my current Provincial leader. A quick scan of the newspaper confirms my feelings.

The editor brings to life a past premier who predicted our present situation and told us to save and build. My emotions rise to joy and I put the paper down thinking, there is hope. A sentence from the editorial said, “I voted for Jason Kenney, I door knocked on his behalf and I can’t tell you how disappointed I am in him and the decisions he’s made as our political leader.” I assumed we are winning.

People who have been voting because their parents voted a certain way realize that the Conservative party today is not at all what it used to be when it began. It is a political organization created and financed by corporations as an investment that will pay back dividends. The politicians look forward to personal gain from politics, and I see Jason Kenny’s cabinet do that.

He made impossible promises before elections and counted on money from mysterious donors to buy votes using professional marketing. He gave away large amounts of tax money and bragged about cutting the price set on pollution. Soon the Alberta health care and education was in turmoil. Physically Conservative efficiencies translated into cutting jobs and reducing pay for my kind of people. Money went into pipelines that were almost guaranteed to fail, and the bailed-out oil companies were leaving us fast. Speaking as a layperson, I see nothing good.

Next came the pandemic, and it was not handled well. The understaffed seniors care facilities didn’t improve performance, and doctors were looking to leave the province. The premier didn’t use his power to make the right decisions and tried not to upset the people who believe in Covid denying conspiracy theories. It costs the lives of people like me. I saw my daughter and other health workers get ill with mental stress, and old Conservatives like the editor I was reading changed sides.

To be honest, I look at what already happened and what is happening and I feel like we have no government. In comes the coal controversy. There were good reasons why Peter Lougheed’s very pro-Alberta government decided not to dig up the eastern slopes. They knew the benefits and studied the risks. I knew some of the people who did it. Now Mr. Kenny with little public debate changed a Conservative decision and made promises to foreign investors that he can’t keep. I talked to miners and to farmers and ranchers. I am sure that he cannot keep his promises. Money is significant, a new golf course is great, but water is the lifeblood of the province. Destroy the water and you may not only lose the next election.

Well, back to the resurrection. The Feds most likely will get us the vaccines even without the medical expertise and factories that previous governments sold and chased out. The real resurrection should come from the proper education of our young people. Here we stumble again and may suffer damage that hardly can be healed.

While the world is moving forward with education, we are not studying success stories like Finland; we are going back to the failed methods from days gone by. Not only new schools were cut, universities and colleges underfunded, but the curriculum itself is being set back. We did not train our teachers in teaching using historical outdated systems.

I sit here waiting for the end of the dark times and the joy of the resurrection, and there is a lump in my throat. Winter may be over, but all I have to go by for hope are the words of people who proved that they don’t speak the truth. While I am suffering, they probably are enjoying themselves thinking about how to fool us again and blame someone else. Let someone else be crucified for our sins.

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