Experience living in a mountain story.

What is the best heaven?

Experience living in a mountain story.

As we get old, we have the tendency to complain about the way things are and talk about the good old times. I can’t avoid doing it. A whole nation can fall for a promise to make a country great again. The trick is to plan the future that we want and just do it, the best we can.

I have a friend who regularly mentions heaven and hell in conversations. It is most obvious that he is concerned a lot about life after death and where he will be. I know the person quite well and I am sure that he is not heading towards eternal damnation which we call hell. To me, hell is most likely where you may meet people like Hitler, Stalin, or Emperor Caligula. Mind you, I am not the judge. I asked him once what he perceived heaven to be, and he went into a dream-like state describing.

His heaven is most beautiful he said, probably like a beautiful garden with mountains and beaches, all like a perfect painting. In heaven, he said there were only beautiful people living in harmony and peace with each other. There are angels flying and your long-dead relatives and friends exist all in the prime of their lives. You don’t have to do anything unless you want to and you only wish for something and it is yours. The best part, he said, is the closeness to God. We can’t even imagine the joy that a human can derive from being with God. Being a Christian, my friend looks forward to meeting the Christ that he said he always loved.

I have another friend who is an Imam. That is a priest or a preacher in the Muslim faith. His paradise is not far off from the Christian or Jewish version, but he added another dimension. There are people there created simply for the pleasure of the person who spent his life being devoted and doing good things. This is where the Holy Qur’an describes virgin maidens devoted to the soul of the departed. They please and are fully devoted to it. Well, we raise animals for our uses so I guess that it’s possible. I respect all religious beliefs.

I investigated some eastern religions and was exposed to other theories. There are billions of people who believe that the souls of people are reincarnated and I can’t dispute it or any other religion. If people believe it, it may be true. 

I believe that a human soul is eternal but that it must live the best it can here and now creating heaven all around itself. You know the story, everything that belongs to the father belongs to me, and everything that belongs to me belongs to you through me. (John 16). I also believe that we are the stories we tell ourselves, so we must have the right story. I go through life living one day at the time thanking the Lord for my blessings and not fearing the future in this life or the next. It works for me.

In my quest for the best life possible, I think about stories that I would welcome and imagine what it would be like. Children do it all the time. Matt. 18:3. I will give you an example.

In my story, I would like to live in a town just like our towns here but where life would be like in “the good old days.” In my pretend place people live as they did in the fifties and there is no unemployment. The place is “self-contained” with all the amenities and most products provided by its own people. This would not render the use of modern technology useless, just enhance it. An experience unavailable in other places. A sign could greet visitors saying: Here the lowest price is NOT the law. The joy of life is.

There is a main street in the town full of little family-owned and operated businesses. There is a butcher shop, a shoemaker, a dressmaker, grocery and drug stores, movie theatre, books and newspaper store, bakery, deli, and coffee shops, the list is long. People are not all walled up in their homes but are walking, greeting each other and happily paying up a little extra to keep the town going. It could be a real place that looks and smells like Thomas Kinkade paintings which are so popular. We could even have a horse and buggy available for in-town transportation and as a tourist attraction. The buildings could all be decorated in fifties style and some folks may choose to wear our own fashion instead of modern wear. The local radio could play old tunes and families can enjoy a farmers' market in the park.

If the people of a town or towns chose to live in a modern-day Heritage park, we wouldn’t be constantly trying to make the place into a copy of the modern-day cities. We could have free wi-fi service and bank machines, but our choice would be to walk into a bank and say hello to the teller. In our tiny corner of the world, human contact would be valued more than time or money. Here we would have no crime and people could leave their homes and cars unlocked since no-one would even consider cheating their neighbours.

In a place where all possible services are provided by humans, where you don’t clean your own table at a restaurant and someone washes your windshield, all people would have employment and we wouldn’t even look at the fudged up statistics making up stories about low unemployment and government-created jobs.

This is my story of heaven and you don’t have to die to get there. If the story of the world is stressful and ugly, a community of people could rewrite it. If people like it, they are welcome to join in. If all they want is to try it out on a holiday, they could.

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

Peter MacKay, a new but old name in the news.

Peter MacKay, a new but old name in the news.

When I was a kid when news broke out the “paper boys” used to shout in the streets, “breaking news, read all about it.” People used to line up to buy papers. Now the news is dispensed much differently but not necessarily faster. When I heard that Peter McKay became the first candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party I called a friend in Calgary. He didn’t know. He had to look at Facebook on his phone. I miss the days when people were interested in who is leading the country. I miss the old newspapers and the Newspaper Boys as well.

When I was young, Conservative meant something else as well. They were the people who advocated most good things insisting that we must do it right. To them, the government was responsible to make sure that society moves forward to better Social progress, planning the move properly and executing it according to plan. Their plans usually were a bit slow but well thought of and considerate of all the people. At some point, at the end of the seventies, a new style of Conservatives appeared. We didn’t even realize that something has changed.

It was the Ronald Reagan era and the whole idea of elections changed. Potential leaders used to promise us a better life and the news reporters played a big role insuring that they did. They would ask the questions, report the answers and tell us who won at the end. In 1976 the US Supreme Court declared that unlimited amounts of money could be spent on elections and history took a turn. Corporate money could practically buy elections and the news media became enslaved to expansive marketing campaigns. A new ideology entered the political arena in a big way. As the old true journalists died, the new generation were not journalists in the old sense but paid marketing agents. Media chains could and did determine elections and democracy lost its historical mission.

The old political parties, now obligated to cater to corporate money, changed also and began to lie openly at elections. After all, it was government regulations that kept them in line and now the government was a choice of Big Money, not the electorate. Now Canada ended up with a Conservative party that is too far-right for most voters, facing a Liberal party that is moderately right but able to appeal to left-leaning citizens. Of course, the star power of the leaders also plays a role.

I am looking at the possible political scenario of the next elections wondering, what is best for the whole country. We know from recent experience that the West could be united for the Right but not have the political clout to form a government. The West needs to sell oil and invest the profits in new forms of energy and so far it's been blocked or unable to do so. It must do so without hurting the social programs and regulations dear to most Canadians. At the same time, it must compete with the greater economy to the South but that one may change soon. The world is concerned with Global Warming and no amount of expansive marketing of oil will change it. The Liberals are responding much better than the Conservatives, indicating that the far-right believers must moderate or lose, and they do.

Who is most equipped to be a real competitor to the still popular Justin Trudeau and has an undamaged reputation combined with some good salable ideas? We can’t forget that we need people who care about the world’s climate, a plan that will provide the most needed jobs, and star power. In my crystal ball, I see only two faces with some faint shadows behind them. They are Rona Ambrose and Peter MacKay.

Rona Ambrose is an accomplished western leader and I would love to see her face off with Chrystia Freeland in an election. If she led the Conservatives and Christia the Liberals, we would do well either way. For this time I would like to see Peter MacKay face Justin Trudeau. Both want to see a pipeline taking Alberta oil to market, but Peter has the better plan. He wants to refine our oil in the east and sell the finished product to some of the most environmentally conscientious markets. He also talks about using the oil for a transition period which will allow us to develop alternative solutions to the energy problem, I am convinced.

Presently my biggest political problem is with the deceiving culture that has grown in our political system, where potential leaders don’t hesitate to lie. They trust that big money will insure their reelection even if they get elected promising what is impossible to achieve. We call it the far right. Peter MacKay is the son of a true old-world Conservative who still had honour and pride. This is why he was leading the Progressive Conservatives while Harper championed the Alliance.

My kids’ generation and their kids say there is no point voting or getting involved in politics. “They are all liars,” I remember, fondly, other times. Politicians led with integrity and the journalists kept them in line. I want to see it come back. I will never give up as long as I am alive.

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

Addictions, of body and the mind.

 Addictions, of body and the mind.

Is there anyone free of addictions? Are all addictions negative? Can we be cured of addictions? Would humans be better off if we didn’t get addicted? There is no end to the questions and no one correct answer.

I was sitting in my favourite chair at home enjoying the life which I worked so hard to have. A life long of hardships, constant risk-taking, and sacrifice, many fights, lost and won; and I was looking at a pill container, thinking. If I just swallow those, I will fall to sleep and … nothing. Just a short while before that time I almost died and was revived by some brave paramedics and now I was wondering if saving my life could have been a mistake. I considered the possibility that I am a burden upon my loved ones and that I finished my contribution and became a liability. Those who pay my pension would agree.

On TV a reporter was talking about Fentanyl. A new miracle drug that is by far more addictive than Heroine and causes people to commit suicide. On my back, I had a prescribed Fentanyl patch. The pain clinic specialist told me to get off it calling it an “end-of-life medication”. I was planning to talk to my doctor about it but just about missed the mark. If I swallowed the pills in front of me, I would not have to make difficult choices.

The new opiates that included Fentanyl were marketed as a great new discovery and doctors fell for the well-planned campaign which enriched a few pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders at the expense of the rest of us. Some people lost their lives to gun violence, but many more did and still do to the legal drug crisis. Soon after, the illegal element joined in. Thanks to our good Canadian public health care system which includes mental health components, my and other’s lives have been saved after a long horrible fight. Getting off an addiction is a lot harder than getting on.

My deadly fight against Fentanyl is one example of the fight against addiction behaviour, but there are millions of us at a lethal war with addictions at all levels every day in every walk of life. It affects our families, employment, studies, and the costs are astronomical.

When we think about addictions, many of us zoom in on smoking. Fifty years ago North America identified cigarettes as a main contributor to some illnesses, lung cancer and cardiovascular included. That war has been won but still, people with limited imagination are sticking to it ignoring new and old threats that should be dealt with more seriously. I see us ignoring major new addictions while chasing seniors and hospital patients who smoke, out into cold streets to freeze, while having a cigarette. There is a perspective problem here.

I observed common addiction problems during the recent holiday, on the people around. It wasn’t hard to find. I saw the alcohol addicts telling about losing jobs, driving privileges, families and all that mattered to them. Others live with addictions to harsh substances like Heroin and crystal meth. They all show signs of depression. Somehow life is not offering them what they want or often they envy others who live better, in their opinion. 

Addiction is a behaviour that often harms people, but they can’t quit doing it. My friend who is heavily involved in Alcoholics Anonymous says that it is a disease and must be treated as such. I don’t doubt it. It is not criminal behaviour and the infected person rarely is able to quit using what harms them without the help of others. Those who become addicted ruin their lives and commonly the lives of those around them.

It is easy to go to any major city and find an area where addicts roam. They are recognizable by their erratic behaviour and the willingness to do anything for the next “fix”. Some times they are people whom we knew at better times. We look at them and pray that it will never happen to us, but we don’t know. When someone is in the clutches of dangerous well-known addiction help is very limited, since it is costly. Another related problem is the more acceptable addictions, which are not so easy to see, but ruin lives just the same.

Just a note: In the US in 2018 every 7.5 minutes someone died from an overdose.

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

Mandates from the people.

Mandates from the people.

 I didn’t turn the TV on nor did I sit to watch but it caught my attention. The United Conservative Party of Alberta meeting in Calgary was on. Mr. Scheer stood blaming the Federal Government for what low world oil prices did to our economy. Outside in -20C hundreds or thousands of Albertans were demonstrating obviously not in favour. It reminded me of the hundreds of thousands who were protesting all over Canada a month ago blaming oil for climate catastrophes. Albertans are speaking, and Canadians are speaking, but not the way the Calgary unemployed oil patch workers expect them to. Oil has been a blessing for us and there is still a little to go.

What is a mandate from the people that politicians are so adamant to follow? I listen to my own Premier loudly declaring that he has the biggest mandate of the people of Alberta ever and I wonder. With the campaign still fresh in my mind, I take into consideration that he ran a well-financed campaign spending twice as much as his main opposing party. Did he receive the money from people like me or did he have some other way of receiving donations? If he did, then the mandate could be from the donors, not the people, but it is what it is.

He says that the mandate is for getting our natural resources to market, which means building pipelines for oil. He never talks about the meteorological coal mine that is held up in the Crowsnest Pass. He also maintains that we voted for fiscal responsibility which leads to cuts to most of our services which, I remember he promised not to do. I worry about our kids who must pay their student loans after becoming nurses and teachers.

Across an invisible line west of us is another premier, in British Columbia, John Horgan, who maintains just as vehemently that he has a mandate from his people not to allow a pipeline to transport Alberta bitumen across their land. BC has a minority government which seems to be concerned about the environment even while factoring in the costs. The province is doing well economically without exporting oil.

I look east and see four pipelines leading to Quebec. I search for a speech by Francois Legault, the Premier of Quebec. He also claims to have a very strong mandate by his people. Being the leader of one of the two nations who formed Confederation, he feels a very strong mandate and responsibility to shaping what Canada is. His first concern is ensuring that Quebecers will never again be subjected to religious rule and second that we will not force them to have an oil pipeline and contribute to environmental disasters. He wants natural gas but not oil. “No social acceptability for a new oil pipeline.” I take it that they could be convinced with proper guaranties. “Forcing” them equates to rape in my opinion.

 One by one, I listen to the premiers of provinces. A few sound convincing. They are concerned about the people of their provinces and the people of Canada. They show care towards humanity as a whole. If there were women premiers, I assume that there would be more show of empathy for future generations, but there are none left.

I respect provinces wanting the best deal for their own. We build our whole social system to compete and win. It is not considered bad to take what you can and disregard those left behind with less or none. If we have power people befriend us and want us to use it for their gain. That is why we have lobbyists and expensive political fundraising dinners. If the money is used to get more power by targeted political campaigns, it is a legitimate way to gain more power and money. Just about everyone I know agrees. Even the judicial system doesn’t operate without money. Thank God we have it, but we could consider more equality for the folks who can’t afford lawyers and bail.

Mandate is a word that we assume indicates that most people voted for a plan which will make their lives better. It describes what a large group of people believe will help their cause. I follow the most recent Federal elections and see a clear mandate forming. As usual, there are differences yet Greens, NDPs, and most Liberals have voted with environmental concerns in their minds. Will the minority government follow the mandate?

I get the impression that our leaders are more interested in winning power and only use the idea of having a mandate to advance their political ambitions. It becomes more obvious after elections. All of the elected officials are walking away from their election promises and begin to work on staying in power. They mostly don’t even try to do what I care about. Yet my Dear Leader is saying “the people of Alberta want,” as if we didn’t see cheating suspected in the way he got voted the leader. I voted for Brian Jean.

I wish to have a simple life maintaining what I have achieved through hard work and long periods of saving. I care about my community, my province, the country, and the world. To my sorrow, I see that I will probably have to fight to keep it until the day I die. Now there is a real threat to my pension fund, to my health care services and the Police force which guarantees my safety. Yes, you may say I am not a happy camper.

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

Another change in a life full of changes.

Another change in a life full of changes.

Being old is not everyone’s favourite thing, but it offers some benefits. As events happen, you have experiences that serve as reference points. Things happen and you don’t get excited. I have seen it before, you say, and you know that you did. When I was a child, for example, people still used horses where I was. Horses for farming, transportation and for sports and racing. At some point, tractors arrived and cars and trucks became common. The new technology changed our lives.

The change was overwhelming and those in favour outnumbered those who wanted to hang on to the past. An easier life with more things has its allure. New developments made a great difference, especially on the farms. One person could do the work of many, more grain was produced, easily transported and prices fell.

People had to change their way of life and many were not happy about it. The changes are too many to name, but each time fear for the future had a great effect and there were significant alterations to the economy. The problem with change is that too many happen at the same time and the reaction to change can cause more problems than the change itself. I must admit that even while enjoying the fruits of change, like the computer I am typing on, I feel like having some rest.

I was here in Alberta when it became an oil province instead of a farming center. I remember the City of Calgary before the oil boom and I see it now. I thank the Lord that I existed here mostly when times were good and witnessed the growth. It was exciting. Just when it looked as if we would enjoy prosperity forever, oil prices dropped due to new technology. Regardless of the political games, our period of rest is finished. While we are playing with new ideas about how to transport our oil another reality dawned.

Some of our brightest intellectuals have been predicting major trouble that would arise from the new lifestyle but failed to realize the catastrophic effects until it became almost too late. Humanity became addicted to the use of fossil fuels faster and in increasing numbers, more rapidly than we dreamed it could. The problems of polluting the atmosphere dwarfed the pollution from overproduction. Now I am facing another major change in my lifetime.

Being in a province that uses oil as its currency, I fear a slowdown in the economy that I learned to depend on. I look at other places that sustain and even grow economies without oil and I envy their ingenuity and creativity. I recently heard a well-known author columnist say, “the hydrocarbon economy is finished.” As much as I wish him to be wrong, he is not.

The question that remains unanswered is, will we be fighting it and suffering the consequences of war, or will we find peaceful ways to solve our problem. Judging by my experience, we will fight. People don’t solve problems by negotiating and giving in to reason. First, they ignore the problem, wishing it to go away, and later they resort to violence.

Most admit that there is a problem and we all know that there will be a transition period. Those who wish to save humanity from the catastrophic disaster awaiting us from inaction are trying hard to speed the transition while those heavily invested in the hydrocarbon economy wish us to take our time. The fossils industry people want to keep growing it while saying, calm down, we are working on it. The weapons industries don’t care who will win as long as there will be conflict.

Personally, I am most concerned with the wellbeing of those who will come after my time is done. I was born right after a great war and know well what fighting causes. I lived through some wars and I thank the Lord for where I am and for the opportunity that oil provided for me and so many others. We will never go back and the new world will be a better place than it was in my youth.

I watch the news and see the pro-oil and gas people buy political elections and press for fewer regulations and I cringe. Opposite from them there are young people and always first nation folks (not the leaders) who have a real concern over the health of the planet. My mind goes over the possible solutions. I witnessed great changes and I have the benefit of knowing how things turned out. There were always winners and losers and people had to make changes.

This time is no different. The world goes in some direction and then it is overdone and corrective action takes place. Empires grow and revolutions take them down. Plagues kill and new medications are invented. What we can hope for is that the damage caused by the change will be minimized. That is the job of a good government.

From where I see it now, with the benefit of many experiences, we should embrace the change and guide it to go with the stream, while educating people about reality unobstructed by political affiliations and business interests. Our aim should be to make the transition quick and painless. Our elected representatives should set up a course and then apply themselves to the wellbeing of the people.

The biggest problem these days is employment which provides an acceptable level of living and rewarding people for extra efforts. It is not hard to do. The older folks still remember the time after the second world war when all the soldiers came home. I and my generation are the outcomes.

I have faith in people and I know that when there is a will there is a way. We need hope and we must use our best people to run the show. There is no need for a war to teach us how.

Immigrants, the most valuable commodity on Earth.

Immigrants, the most valuable commodity on Earth.

What do we value and why? I have been asking that question for a long time trying to figure it out thinking that the answer could make me rich. I am surely not the only one. The bible gives us some hints and history provides others. The one sure bet is that we value that which is limited. Why are gold and diamonds precious?

Real estate is precious since there are always more people wanting land which doesn’t grow. Humans always fought over land and we still do. In the old days, empires came and went conquering each other. The Americans came to prominence when they raised and sold cotton. Canada did well by selling beaver pelts for Top Hats and the British empire built itself upon tea merchandising. The Dutch became rich in spices, mostly pepper and some areas did very well on salt. Saltsburg and Wieliczka in Europe are good examples.

Salt has been a major player in human history for a long time. You may remember that Roman soldiers often were paid with salt. The substance was used for preserving food and for water purification. When the Mahatma Gandhi chose a way to rebel against the British domination of India, he chose salt.

 Oil was a precious commodity in the bible used for healing and even anointing new kings. Humankind needed a lubricant and a relatively clean source of energy. Streetlights of London were powered by whale oil for some time. Oil squeezed from plants, rendered from animals, eventually was mined from oil wells and lately purified from oil sands.

Over time, people discover ways to make precious commodities common and consequently there is a transfer of wealth. Old empires fall and new are born. What will be the next valuable commodity? I would place my bet on freshwater and electricity, but we are already making strides towards making it cheap. The middle east desalinates water and new technology is going to make electric energy abundant and plentiful by the looks of things. The most valuable item in the not so far future is something that no-one today dares to guess.

I like to direct your attention to a new book by two Canadian authors, Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson called The Empty Planet. The authors challenge the centuries-old theory that the Earth will be overpopulated and run out of resources. New calculations based on existing facts indicate that far from becoming overpopulated the world has already reversed its course. At the centre of the new theory is the popular belief that migration is a curse that could be avoided. It is based on a faulty outdated model and it is failing. If we use an economy based on consumerism, which we currently do, the resource that makes us rich is not salt, tea, spices, gems or precious metals, it is people. We simply need people to produce things, sell them and buy them. We are short on consumers.

The Western, affluent countries, all bar none have dropped their birthrates to below replacement rate. Canada is at 1.6 children per woman and the rest are not far behind. This phenomenon is repeating itself not only in the advanced world but also in poorer areas. Brazil, for example, is suffering a natural loss of population. Religions that used to be a main driving force behind population growth are losing ground. The real change is from urbanization and women’s education, nothing else.

Almost 40% of humanity exists in two centres at our time, that is India and China. Both have below replacement rate births. China is losing people and India barely managing to maintain its current level. The so-called affluent or advanced nations have been struggling against reduced birth rates since before the second world war and mostly exist on immigration, but it is changing. All the hype about losing our culture and being replaced by poor migrants taking our jobs is just that. A popular political talking point which in the long run will spell the death of our culture and advanced economic standing.

Modern countries do not perform well without infusion of people. The same goes for cities. There is a very good reason why most affluent countries allow immigration and also a good reason to assume that countries like Japan or some eastern European will not do so well in the future. Politicians find it easier to sing the national song and oppose immigration even when the facts indicate the opposite.

Alberta and Saskatchewan would not be what they are today if it wasn’t for the progressive vision of Clifford Sifton at the turn of the century. He predicted the value of people and thanks to his policies Canada may yet be an international powerhouse in the future. We know how to use immigration to the benefit of newcomers and the improvement of the country, regardless of what Quebeckers say.

Now I arrive at a new question. If the world’s population is decreasing, will we be lonely? If we are motivated by greed and selfishness, I assume it will be. The answer to all my questions is the same. Regardless of the economy, science, politics and natural happenings, the solution is love, sharing, and caring. You give it and it comes back.

If we don’t destroy our world intentionally or by neglecting the signs, there is still a power greater than us guiding us towards “the promised land.” It is smarter than the smartest amongst us and it has one goal. Let love triumph over selfishness. When it does, we move forward.

Strikes: Tough Love.

Strikes: Tough Love.

Somebody pushed me very hard from behind and we both fell onto the side of the road. A huge shiny blade of a grader passed inches above my face tearing my sign which said: “legal Strike, Union local #” off the stick I still held in my hand and a rough voice shouted above the diesel motor noise. You guys stay out of the way or someone will get killed. The big tire came pretty close to my foot.

I was a new employee and didn’t even fully understand why we were on strike, but we were and I just about became a victim of it. It was my first and last strike. Not long after that, I became a low-level supervisor, and we were being trained on how to treat workers as a part of the organization and our services and industries flourished. I was able to work and complete a University degree paying $100 per semester. We had a good government in Edmonton. The province was booming and saving money for later.

The first time that I have heard about “The Crowsnest Pass” was In a history lecture at U of C where they played a little film about miners' strikes. Much later I viewed a similar film at “The Interpretive Centre” and recognized that here was a place with a history of people fighting for their rights. The years went by and lately, I see a rise in strikes and demonstrations. From my knowledge, I deduct that the world is on fire for many reasons.

Anti-government demonstrations in many places are happening and people are being killed. Hong Kong, Chile, England, France, and the Middle East are only a few. Now and then the strikes and demonstrations are turning into full-blown civil wars and strikes are vicious and long. GM strike last month was seven weeks.

Not long ago we had our postal workers' strike and lately, unrest in Ontario was alarming. The provincial government did a complete turnabout and is trying to rebrand itself. Student unrest is spreading all over the place mostly around ecological issues this far. I watch around and see the potential for the unrest to spread into economic issues. There is nothing new here. We travelled this road before many times.

Here in Alberta, the young people’s rights to minimum wages were rolled back. Next, the freeze on tuition fees was taken off coupled with a reduction of learning facilities budgets and then the big crunch. A reduction through attrition of all social services, hospitals, schools, and civic services. Today’s students will graduate with high student loans debts into an economy that is being rolled back and slowed down. The graduates will have to be underemployed or move back with their parents. Combine this with a shortage of affordable housing, and the fact that a lot of students expected jobs related to the diminishing oil industry, (25% of our local economy) and you got trouble. A waitress told me, “they created thousands of jobs and I got three of them. I still can’t afford the rent.”

I predict a much-heightened level of civil unrest in the near future. We live in a land of plenty but all of our efforts are being channeled towards supporting a single industry which is doomed, not immediately but soon. Every forest fire or hundred-year flood hastens its end. While our leaders are using political pressure in an attempt to resolve the fight against the oil industry, they ignore the people who demanded the action. Already millions of people are out in the streets pressuring us to change. They are environmentalists, first nations and lately our own kids. They don’t want to be consulted, they want action.

We will find out that foreigners are financing anti-pollution movements, but the environmentalists will discover that foreigners are owning our oil and are protecting their investments. We wouldn’t care but now we are being forced to pay for the shortfall in their revenues and protests and strikes will happen. We are being conscripted to fight against our fellow Canadians but in a short while when we hurt we will discover a mystery. People take a lot of abuse before they fight but eventually resentment finds its way to the surface.

The real problem always, historically, now and in the future is that all humans, like water, strive to be equal with all others. First comes safety, we all want to live, eat, drink, reproduce, and after that we demand equality. We demand to have our space on earth and equal rights with others. We like competition but only if we have a chance to win.

In the last half a century the gap between rich and poor, be it individuals or nations, has grown wide. Modern communication exposed the fact to almost all human beings and there is a sentiment to rebel. It will not go away unless addressed by the leaders. We don’t mind rewarding hard work and detest laziness as a rule. We hate slave owners and abusers.

Governments, industry leaders, bankers and all other people in a position of power please understand. The job became more complicated. Every time you win may hasten your demise. Today its demonstrations and strikes, tomorrow it may be worst. Humans are born with a preconditioned drive to selfishly dominate and equally a need to love and be on par with each other. It is important to keep the two in balance or we will destroy all that we achieved and face extinction. That is my opinion anyway.

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