I stumbled across the following story quite by accident and thought that I would re-publish it on Wrights Lane for the edification of some old friends from my hometown of Dresden who, like me, spent many summers on nearby Walpole Island. I remember in particular one summer in about 1948, playing baseball on pasture-like grounds frequented by wild horses. Toronto Blue Jays fans may be interested too in how our favorite baseball team is reaching out to the community at large.
05 October, 2018
03 October, 2018
TARA SCHOOL TEACHER RECEIVES "WE" PROGRAM RECOGNITION
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| Tara Elementary School Teacher Paul Bolton on the WE Day stage. |
The following is the kind of story, inspired by a remarkable young man, that gives me genuine hope for the future of the next generation.
I was drawn to the story by a Saugeen Times report from the little community of Tara (Arron Elderslie) in Bruce County, 12 miles north-east of Southampton. It seems that the Tara Elementary School was a "WE" participant after filling out a year’s-end survey and a teacher was singled out for special recognition at the organization's convention in Toronto, September 20, at the Scotiabank Arena. All of which warrants further explanation.
The WE School Program is an un-paralleled comprehensive collection of curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular programs that are implemented in schools, school districts and communities that creates positive change and transforms lives.
WE Charity, formerly known as ‘Free The Children’, is a worldwide development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. ‘Free The Children’ was initiated in 1995 by Craig Kielburger of Thornhill, when he was 12 years of age. In 1999, at the age of 16, he wrote "Free the Children", a book detailing his trip to South Asia four years earlier and the founding of his charity -- and he immediately became a media celebrity.
I was instantly impressed with the boyish Craig when I first saw him on a TV newscast a good 20 years ago. "Wow, that youngster could be prime minister some day," I remember thinking.
The organization currently runs programs in approximately 10,000 schools in Canada, the U.S. and U.K. for service learning and active citizenship, with the aim of empowering youth to become socially engaged.
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| Paul Bolton with Canadian football great Pinball Clemons at WE convention. |
Now enter Tara teacher, Paul Bolton, who has become renowned for his unusual approach to education, including his unique dress in ‘beach attire shorts’ until the snow flies. He has also initiated a pancake day and flag football tournaments and, when the school office manager asked if she could share his story with the WE team, Bolton agreed.
As a result of the office manager's submission to WE, Bolton received notice in August asking if he would be the featured educator at the WE Day convention in Toronto. “I was thrilled to get asked and they wrote my script for me to practice. I did not get a rehearsal just a description of where to stand and which teleprompter to look at. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. My speech went quite well and I have received lots of compliments on it.”
Every seat in the arena was filled by someone who had earned their way there by volunteering—it’s no secret that service is the key to WE Day! When you take a hometown crowd of passionate young change-makers and add in a world-renowned roster of speakers and performers, you’ve got a recipe for inspiration and excitement. This year’s star-studded lineup included world leaders, reality stars, YouTubers, Olympians and other sports celebrities.
Similar WE Days are scheduled this Fall for New York, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Vancouver.
Whether it is helping free children, providing families with clean water, or empowering youth to change the world, Craig Kielburger is always trying to make a difference. His organization, Free the Children, went from 12 kids to over one million young people in more than 45 countries, who believe in changing the world. Craig was born December 17, 1982, to school teacher parents and only 30 years later, he is one of the most well known activists for children's rights. He has traveled all over the world to help children, and most of his work was done as a child.
He got his first taste of activism through older brother Marc, who fought for many environmental causes as a teenager. At age 7, Craig would help Marc to get petitions signed: "They always would (sign) because I was so cute," Craig said. As a small child, he suffered chronic ear infections that caused him to develop a speech impediment. Eventually, at age 10, the ear infections stopped, and he lost the speech impediment. Around that time, he also developed an interest in public speaking, and entered a local competition with his speech "What it means to be a winner." He won first place, for speaking from the heart.
As a result of the office manager's submission to WE, Bolton received notice in August asking if he would be the featured educator at the WE Day convention in Toronto. “I was thrilled to get asked and they wrote my script for me to practice. I did not get a rehearsal just a description of where to stand and which teleprompter to look at. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. My speech went quite well and I have received lots of compliments on it.”
Every seat in the arena was filled by someone who had earned their way there by volunteering—it’s no secret that service is the key to WE Day! When you take a hometown crowd of passionate young change-makers and add in a world-renowned roster of speakers and performers, you’ve got a recipe for inspiration and excitement. This year’s star-studded lineup included world leaders, reality stars, YouTubers, Olympians and other sports celebrities.
Similar WE Days are scheduled this Fall for New York, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Vancouver.
ALL ABOUT WHIZ KID CARL KIELBURGER
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| Twelve-year-old Craig and Mother Teresa. |
Whether it is helping free children, providing families with clean water, or empowering youth to change the world, Craig Kielburger is always trying to make a difference. His organization, Free the Children, went from 12 kids to over one million young people in more than 45 countries, who believe in changing the world. Craig was born December 17, 1982, to school teacher parents and only 30 years later, he is one of the most well known activists for children's rights. He has traveled all over the world to help children, and most of his work was done as a child.
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| Craig doing what he does best. |
He got his first taste of activism through older brother Marc, who fought for many environmental causes as a teenager. At age 7, Craig would help Marc to get petitions signed: "They always would (sign) because I was so cute," Craig said. As a small child, he suffered chronic ear infections that caused him to develop a speech impediment. Eventually, at age 10, the ear infections stopped, and he lost the speech impediment. Around that time, he also developed an interest in public speaking, and entered a local competition with his speech "What it means to be a winner." He won first place, for speaking from the heart.
Craig was involved in public speaking even before he created Free the Children: When the municipal council decided to close down the local library, Craig and some friends went to a meeting and spoke up about why it should stay. He was asked to speak about it in front of the council a few days later. He lost the debate, but came away feeling like kids could really make a difference.
INSPIRED BY A CHILD FACTORY WORKER
Craig was searching through the Toronto Star for the comics one morning, when he came across an article about Iqbal Masih, an Pakistani boy who had worked in a carpet factory since age four, in horrible conditions. He escaped to tell his story to the world, but was murdered at age 12.
Then 12, Craig was shocked that another boy his age could live in a completely different world. He took the article with him to school and asked his Grade 7 teacher if he could speak to the class about it. Eleven of his classmates agreed to join him in the fight for child rights. They named their organization "Free the Children", for obvious reasons. The 12-year-olds wrote many letters to political leaders, fund raised through car washes and garage sales, and spoke to schools about child labour. They even sent a letter and a petition with 20,000 names on it to the government of India to get a child rights activist out of jail!
Craig traveled to Asia to meet child labourers at age 13, and helped police in a raid to free the kids from a carpet factory and return them to their families. He co-founded Me to We and Leaders Today with his brother, both of which empower young people around the world to make a difference. He also created We Day, the aforementioned day-long educational event which inspires youth to create a change, where musicians, Nobel Prize winners, and others speak about changing this world. He has won 10 honourary degrees for his work, including the Reebok Human rights award, the top 20 under 20 award, and the 2006 World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child, also called the children's Nobel Prize. He became the second youngest recipient of the Order of Canada at age 25 and is a best-selling author who has written nine books, including Free The Children and Living Me to We: a guide for socially conscious Canadians. Craig Kielburger Secondary School was named after him and opened recently in Milton, Ontario.
A brilliant student, Craig graduated with a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, a double minor in Psychology and Politics from the University of Toronto. In 2009, he completed his Executive MBA at Schulich School of Business at York University and Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University as the program's youngest-ever graduate.
Older brother Marc Kielburger, himself a New York Times best selling author and inspirational speaker, took on a larger role with the organization after completing his law degree at the University of Oxford, and the group focused more on attracting smaller donations from youth. As well, they redoubled their efforts towards training and education, focusing especially on building new schools in developing nations. The organization also received a substantial boost from Craig’s appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1999, which included a significant donation from Oprah herself.
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| Marc Kielburger |
Older brother Marc Kielburger, himself a New York Times best selling author and inspirational speaker, took on a larger role with the organization after completing his law degree at the University of Oxford, and the group focused more on attracting smaller donations from youth. As well, they redoubled their efforts towards training and education, focusing especially on building new schools in developing nations. The organization also received a substantial boost from Craig’s appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1999, which included a significant donation from Oprah herself.
Craig still runs the WE Charity (as a volunteer), continues to give speeches (about 70 per year) and to travel around the world. He is married, lives in Toronto and organizes We Day each year, all the while co-writing "Global Voices", a weekly coloum about the issues of our time, and "Ask the Kielburgers", an advice column in the Globe and Mail.
When he first started as an activist, many people thought he was too young and should not speak of such controversial topics, but he perservered and has raised millions of dollars for kids around the world. He continues to inspire countless young people and is a true role model. "The change starts within each one of us. And ends only when children are free to be children," Craig has stated many times.
...And just think, the Kielburger brothers are Canadians! How much better could this story get?
We could not be any more proud or awe inspired.
...And just think, the Kielburger brothers are Canadians! How much better could this story get?
We could not be any more proud or awe inspired.
01 October, 2018
A SURPRISE "WELCOME HOME" GIFT FOR MATILDA
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| Matilda with "welcome home" gifts from a very nice lady. |
I was still working on the last paragraph of my most-recent "Providential Care" post this afternoon (see below) when I heard a knock at the front door. I immediately recognized a young woman who frequently walks her Great Dane pup past my house.
As I opened the door her beautiful face broke out in a wide smile. "Congratulations" she said in handing me an attractive blue gift bag. "This is from Casey," she added. Casey being her Great Dane who was amply filling the front seat of her car in the driveway.
"What's this all about," I asked? "How did you know?"
"I read the story about your adoption of Matilda and it made me cry," she responded. "I just had to do something to welcome her to the neighborhood."
Before I could express my appreciation, Matilda bounced through the open door as if on cue.
"Well, she's come to thank you in person," I said with a laugh as Matilda ran excited circles around the nice lady before jumping up on her leg to receive affectionate pats and ear rubs.
"She is so cute...You have a good home now Matilda. You're going to have a happy life!"
At times like that saying "thank you" never seems to be an adequate response and as our visitor left I wished that I had the presence of mind to at least give her a hug. Maybe I will still get a chance to hug a real-life angel the next time she is out walking Casey past our house.
Oh, yes, the pretty blue gift bag contained a plush squeaky toy, a bag of liver treats and a "Welcome Home" card signed by Casey. How nice and thoughtful -- unforgettable.
I cannot remember when I have been so deeply touched by an act of kindness. On second thought, yes I can...I have been the recipient of several other angelic acts lately. I am blessed!
Could it be that I have reaped the benefits of the "providencial care" of which I speak?
NOTE: It should be explained that Matilda's story (schroll down two more posts) was reproduced on the Saugeen Times online news site, at the invitation of another very nice lady, Editor Sandy Lindsay.
GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE IS SUSTAINING
I have written on this subject before but something moves me at this moment to have another go at it. When I sat down at the computer I had something entirely different in mind. I tend to act on impulse, or inner direction. Funny how that works.
We really do not know how God works providentially to make things come out the way they do. We know from the Old Testament, however, that He works in "providential ways" -- that is, ways in which He provides for His people. We know from Joseph’s statement in Genesis 50:20 (“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”) that God can sometimes work in ways that are well beyond our understanding and not immediately recognized as being in keeping with His "providential" care.
"God's eye" or "God's eyes" are symbolic of providential care. The supreme being we believe God to be, is a guiding spirit and gives us counsel while constantly being watchful over us. He is unquestionably aware of our daily activities, our personal circumstances, of what we set our minds to do, and in return we are compelled to include Him in our plans and to commit those plans to Him so that He can cause them to succeed and bring us breakthrough and deliverance in our times of need. It is as simple and basic as that!
Proverbs 16:3 says to, "Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed."
The word "thoughts" in the Greek speaks of our intentions, inventions, calculations of the mind and imaginations. The power of imagination includes the ability to see with insight and foresight. "Insight" is the ability to apprehend the true nature of a thing, especially through intuitive understanding or penetrating mental vision or discernment; the faculty of seeing into inner character or underlying truth. "Foresight" is the ability and power of prevision or knowledge gained through looking forward; a view of the future so to speak.
Proverbs 29:18 says, "Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he."
If our vision is blocked or distorted, we lack not only the ability to "see" and to perceive with intelligence, but we also miss out on seeing God in the ecstatic state of worship. Our very spirits were meant to live in a place of ecstasy with God forever in that heavenly place. When our minds are aligned, we see what God sees. We see clearly. We see through God's eyes and we see His providential care, and our hope is restored for the future.
That, in a nutshell it what keeps me moving forward -- and living as I do. I call it the good old-fashioned "faith of our fathers", literally. My parents raised me to trust in the love of a Heavenly Father and to obey His biblical Commandments, and there has been life-long comfort in that for me. It has sustained me in times of weakness, failure and grief. I look to God's blessings in life, and they are countless to keep me plodding along.
I look for no profound insights, although I certainly welcome them on the rare occasions they have been presented to me. I ask no special favors because I know that God's providential care will provide for me in all times and in all ways. Beauty in all things coupled with God-granted peace and tranquility sufficient to commune with the nature that surrounds all of us, is sustenance enough for my inner-self.
Indeed, my "faith" is what sustains me! I pray that my vision never fails and that I have foresight sufficient to follow Biblical examples and teachings, given my human foibles, shortcomings and failings. I have to continually work at it. I must be forever vigilant, trusting and thankful for all that I "see" and for all that has and will sustain me to the end of this worldly journey.
I hope that you and I are of the same mind-set, dear reader...Together we are sustained!
Indeed, my "faith" is what sustains me! I pray that my vision never fails and that I have foresight sufficient to follow Biblical examples and teachings, given my human foibles, shortcomings and failings. I have to continually work at it. I must be forever vigilant, trusting and thankful for all that I "see" and for all that has and will sustain me to the end of this worldly journey.
I hope that you and I are of the same mind-set, dear reader...Together we are sustained!
29 September, 2018
JUST BETWEEN US: OCTOBER IS SENIOR DOG RESCUE MONTH
I honestly believe that we are rescuer and rescuee, all rolled into one.
New lyrics for an old song:
"Do You See That Doggie in the Shelter"
"Do you see that doggie in the shelter
the one with the take me home eyes
If you give him your love and attention
he will be your best friend for life."
In each town and city across the nation,
there's so many dogs with no home
Hungry with no one to protect them
lost in this world all alone
(repeat chorus)
Collies and beagles by the roadside
puppies and dogs in the street
Once they are rescued by a shelter
they'll finally get something to eat
Doggies and kitties who are homeless
with sad eyes and tails hanging down
Let's do what we can to show them kindness
and let them know that they've been found.
(repeat chorus)
24 September, 2018
HI!...MY NAME IS MATILDA AND I'M NEW TO WRIGHTS LANE
Hello everybody. They have named me "Matilda" and it sounds good to me. Mr. Wright (I'm going to call him"Poppa" after this) adopted me today and boy, has it been some kind of a day. Poppa likes the name Matilda too, so Matilda it is going to be. For some strange reason Poppa keeps singing a song "Waltzing Matilda..." that I really do not understand, but it seems to make him happy. My doggy instinct tells me that he needs a lot of being happy and I'm just the girl to deliver big bunches of that.
I also caught him calling me "Lucy" a couple of times. I don't know what that's all about but I guess he has some adjustments to make too.
First, a little bit about me. I was rescued a few weeks ago by some kind people. They called me a "stray", whatever that means. All I know is that I was not feeling very good, lost and scared. It is a long story that I would rather forget.
The vet told Poppa that I am a Pug-Jack Russel mix, which was news to me...Up to now, I just thought that I was a dog. They also estimate that I am about five years old and 15 pounds, but I don't know much about that either. What do dogs know about "years" and "pounds" anyway!
Poppa was apparently driving passed the Southampton veterinarian hospital today when he saw a roadside sign "cats and small dog for adoption". He apparently did a sudden U-turn and the rest is history. Long story short, we took one look at each other and it was love at first site. I just knew that if I was a good girl I would be going home with this strange, jolly man, white beard an all.
Twenty minutes, papers signed and many pats and kisses later, I jumped into his truck and we headed up the highway to my new forever home.
We went for a long walk just to get familiar with the neighborhood on Grey Street North. It was fun to feel free and to sniff the telephone poles which I forgot existed. I saw a black squirrel...and barked at it, just to announce my presence...that felt good too.
I have only been inside my new house for a few hours now but I have explored every room and tested out the chairs, chesterfields and beds for my liking. It will take a while to decide which will be my favorite spot for a nap, speaking of which, I think that I am ready to grab a few winks on one of the beds with lots of fluffy pillows.
It's been a long and interesting day and I feel like a rest. I can't wait, however, to see what else is in store for me in the days and weeks ahead. I'll be sure to get back to you with updates on Wrights Lane.
It's a dog's life and that suits me just fine. I'm going to be very happy, I just know it...I can feel it in my (Milk)bones!
"Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".
22 September, 2018
MY LATEST EPISTILE: THE CONTINUITY OF LIFE
*Click the arrow to view video. Watch on full screen if you want the wide-spread benefit of my "most-wanted poster" countenance.
PLEASE NOTE: By means of explanation, the term "gate (pearly)" that I use liberally in this video presentation, is an enduring biblical metaphor. The idea of there being “pearly gates” in heaven, or leading into heaven, is based on a reference in the Book of Revelation describing the twelve gates of New Jerusalem. The imaginary, non-physical "gates" of which I speak are merely a series of points-of-entry through which a soul passes en route to life in the hereafter. Whether it is believed that these "gates" of heaven are metaphorical or literal, it helps to see the core values of Christian faith -- and some other world religions too, I might add.
14 September, 2018
WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD CHARACTER? HERE'S MINE...
My previous post on Wrights Lane dealt with the subject of attitude. I firmly believe that attitude and character are closely linked in all of our lives. One may well play chicken-or-egg here but attitude, I think, shapes character. In all things, our heart creates the appeal of our personality/character. Attitudes are a purposeful mindset...Think about this for a minute: "Every choice you make defines your true character, or self." So let's take a look at what it means to have "character."
Character is much more than just our reputation. Let's make that clear right off the top. A fellow blogger has correctly stated that "reputation" is only what others see and think about us. "Our character is who we really are, even when no one is looking."
Character Traits Determine How We Respond to the Situations and Circumstances of Life
Circumstance + Response = Result
Circumstance + Right Response = Good Result
Our overall character is made up of specific individual traits, or qualities, that are different for each individual. It is those character qualities, or traits, that determine how a person will respond in any given situation. For example, someone who has the character trait of alertness is more likely to be a better, safer, driver than a person who does not see or recognize the potential dangers around them (carelessness). A person with a strong character quality of truthfulness is much more likely to accurately report the facts in a given situation than a person who tends to be characterized by deceptiveness. A person with the character quality of tolerance will be more accepting of others – less prejudiced.
Responses Determine Results
Success or failure in any situation depends, more than anything else, on how we respond to the events and circumstances we face. Therefore, it is our character that determines our success. Of course, that doesn’t mean that “good” people will always experience more “success” than “bad” people. There are, however, some character traits that tend to lead to “success” and others that tend to produce “failure.” It is only common sense then, that if we want to have better success, we need to strengthen the “good” character qualities and get rid of the “bad” qualities.
What are the character qualities, or character traits, that make up a person’s character? How are they be built into a person's life? Can they be changed?
There could be many lists of “character qualities,” or “character traits.” If you and I each made our own list, we would probably both include words such as honesty, integrity, dependability, loyalty, enthusiasm, etc. Of course, there are many other qualities that could be added to our lists.
For example, “honesty” really consists of several more basic qualities – truthfulness, dependability, diligence, etc. Therefore, when we work on becoming more honest, we do so by becoming more truthful, more dependable, more diligent.
A good list of character traits that was developed by a Character Training Institute breaks “character” down into 49 specific qualities, or traits. Having such a list of character traits allows us to focus on specific qualities in order to build the “good character traits” into our lives.
Breaking character down into its basic elements allows us to focus on building specific qualities into our lives. For example, we may feel we are weak in the quality of “Alertness,” so we can concentrate on becoming more alert to what is going on around us.
As we work on strengthening specific good character qualities, our overall character is improved and our responses to the circumstances we face will become more positive and effective. We will have more “success.”
How Does Character Affect Our Lives?
It has been suggested that character is the foundation for all true success. A person may have money, position, or power, but unless they have good character they will not be considered to be truly successful.
At this late stage in life, I have come to understand that character is what really determines our success in any area of life. Our character qualities guide our responses to the situations and circumstances we face in our lives. They are why we do the things we do and they are why we do things the way we do them. How we respond to the various things that come up in our lives is what determines the results we get, so our success really depends on our character.
Character is much more than just our reputation. Let's make that clear right off the top. A fellow blogger has correctly stated that "reputation" is only what others see and think about us. "Our character is who we really are, even when no one is looking."
Character Traits Determine How We Respond to the Situations and Circumstances of Life
Circumstance + Response = Result
Circumstance + Right Response = Good Result
Our overall character is made up of specific individual traits, or qualities, that are different for each individual. It is those character qualities, or traits, that determine how a person will respond in any given situation. For example, someone who has the character trait of alertness is more likely to be a better, safer, driver than a person who does not see or recognize the potential dangers around them (carelessness). A person with a strong character quality of truthfulness is much more likely to accurately report the facts in a given situation than a person who tends to be characterized by deceptiveness. A person with the character quality of tolerance will be more accepting of others – less prejudiced.
Responses Determine Results
Success or failure in any situation depends, more than anything else, on how we respond to the events and circumstances we face. Therefore, it is our character that determines our success. Of course, that doesn’t mean that “good” people will always experience more “success” than “bad” people. There are, however, some character traits that tend to lead to “success” and others that tend to produce “failure.” It is only common sense then, that if we want to have better success, we need to strengthen the “good” character qualities and get rid of the “bad” qualities.
There could be many lists of “character qualities,” or “character traits.” If you and I each made our own list, we would probably both include words such as honesty, integrity, dependability, loyalty, enthusiasm, etc. Of course, there are many other qualities that could be added to our lists.
For example, “honesty” really consists of several more basic qualities – truthfulness, dependability, diligence, etc. Therefore, when we work on becoming more honest, we do so by becoming more truthful, more dependable, more diligent.
A good list of character traits that was developed by a Character Training Institute breaks “character” down into 49 specific qualities, or traits. Having such a list of character traits allows us to focus on specific qualities in order to build the “good character traits” into our lives.
Breaking character down into its basic elements allows us to focus on building specific qualities into our lives. For example, we may feel we are weak in the quality of “Alertness,” so we can concentrate on becoming more alert to what is going on around us.
As we work on strengthening specific good character qualities, our overall character is improved and our responses to the circumstances we face will become more positive and effective. We will have more “success.”
How Does Character Affect Our Lives?
It has been suggested that character is the foundation for all true success. A person may have money, position, or power, but unless they have good character they will not be considered to be truly successful.
At this late stage in life, I have come to understand that character is what really determines our success in any area of life. Our character qualities guide our responses to the situations and circumstances we face in our lives. They are why we do the things we do and they are why we do things the way we do them. How we respond to the various things that come up in our lives is what determines the results we get, so our success really depends on our character.
Now, here comes a sad personal admission...
I have always considered myself to be of decent character but deep soul-searching reveals to me that I have a poor batting average when it comes to being successful. Then too, I have not always responded to life developments in a positive way, exhibiting some of the aforementioned "bad character traits." When things have not turned out well, the activist-innovator me has rationalized by looking for excuses, in a fit of self-pity blamed others, allowed myself to be distracted, felt remorseful, experienced resentment, denied ownership, gave in to quick-trigger emotions and discouragement, lost sight of the original goal -- all of the above and more. In retrospect then, does that mean that I have lacked in character?
I hesitate to concede that maybe it does! Quite honestly and obviously, there were times in life when I needed an "attitude" adjustment in order to go that extra mile that may have made all the difference.
...And that explains a lot of things.
"Ve get too soon oldt undt too late schmart," as the Pennsyslvania Dutch would say.
"Ve get too soon oldt undt too late schmart," as the Pennsyslvania Dutch would say.
12 September, 2018
YOU HAVE FULL CONTROL OF YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD LIFE
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
― Charles R. Swindoll
The above popular quotation by Charles Swindoll, evangelical Christian, pastor, author, educator and radio host, was forwarded to me by a friend recently. It got me thinking about how "attitude" is ideally applied in our lives.
Attitude is one of the most important factors in helping you get through the highs and lows of life. Since attitude spells how a person copes, whatever perspective you may hold will invariably have an effect in your performance and the way you handle rejection.
In one’s state of mind, it is often easy enough to generalize than to invest in careful analysis of a particular event. Thus, a person who suffers consecutive rebuffs may believe that all other potential partners will likely reject him or her again and again.
Inherently, attitudes have a basic structure and are essentially formed by us. Espousing a specific thought for a long time will inevitably make it a permanent entity in one’s mind—may it be for better or for worse. That is to say, that once a particular attitude is formed, it is highly likely that it is what often comes out of a person. Believe me, I have learned the hard way that if you approach an undertaking with a halfhearted attitude you will end up with less than desirable results.
Living life requires a predominantly positive attitude due to its nature of high and low cycle. Few people, if any, remain at the top their whole lives. It is unavoidable that one will undergo phases of trials and tribulations.
Even before any difficulty happens, a person’s mindset must be able to possess a certain level of positivity and realism. Although nobody can ever have absolute control in what occurs throughout their life, the attitude and approach they choose in handling life’s obstacles is fully within control.
Our attitude about any state or condition in our life is always within our power to choose. Attitudes are rooted in one’s own beliefs and are unique across most individuals. They do not form overnight but rather, throughout the course of one’s life.
Moreover, certain attitudes create a negative impact to one’s life and may even cause it to fall apart. This is why it is an important task for each person to help themselves take on the proper attitude direction. Do remember that a person whose heart is not in what he or she is doing will never be half as productive as someone who has the right attitude.
It is simple really, a positive attitude produces much more favorable results while negative attitudes only serve to generate failure. We all have within us the power to respond to any given situation in any way we want regardless of the circumstances and this is why you can either choose to react positively or negatively.
According to a Stanford Research Institute study, the path to success is comprised of 88% attitude and only 12% education. This doesn’t imply that education is of little importance, but it only goes to show how vital it is to foster the proper attitude n regards to a person’s success. Once you have arrived at the right attitude, it then becomes much easier for things to just fall into place.
Much like walking, writing, playing sports and acquiring any other skill, attitude can also be learned. Having already mentioned that attitude develops from one’s own personal experiences and interactions throughout life, we have already accumulated several different attitudes on different things or instances which can be both negative and positive.
It is important to recognize a negative attitude right away as it hinders growth and success. Much like how we can learn them, we are also able to unlearn them and develop new and more positive ones.
Although one’s attitudes are initially nurtured from one’s environment, we nonetheless always have a choice on what to keep or discard in the long run. It is vital to develop a positive attitude since it will be very difficult to retain a certain kind of integrity without directing your perspective for a higher meaning or purpose.
― Charles R. Swindoll
The above popular quotation by Charles Swindoll, evangelical Christian, pastor, author, educator and radio host, was forwarded to me by a friend recently. It got me thinking about how "attitude" is ideally applied in our lives.
Attitude is one of the most important factors in helping you get through the highs and lows of life. Since attitude spells how a person copes, whatever perspective you may hold will invariably have an effect in your performance and the way you handle rejection.
In one’s state of mind, it is often easy enough to generalize than to invest in careful analysis of a particular event. Thus, a person who suffers consecutive rebuffs may believe that all other potential partners will likely reject him or her again and again.
Inherently, attitudes have a basic structure and are essentially formed by us. Espousing a specific thought for a long time will inevitably make it a permanent entity in one’s mind—may it be for better or for worse. That is to say, that once a particular attitude is formed, it is highly likely that it is what often comes out of a person. Believe me, I have learned the hard way that if you approach an undertaking with a halfhearted attitude you will end up with less than desirable results.
Living life requires a predominantly positive attitude due to its nature of high and low cycle. Few people, if any, remain at the top their whole lives. It is unavoidable that one will undergo phases of trials and tribulations.
Even before any difficulty happens, a person’s mindset must be able to possess a certain level of positivity and realism. Although nobody can ever have absolute control in what occurs throughout their life, the attitude and approach they choose in handling life’s obstacles is fully within control.
Forming the Right Attitude
Our attitude about any state or condition in our life is always within our power to choose. Attitudes are rooted in one’s own beliefs and are unique across most individuals. They do not form overnight but rather, throughout the course of one’s life.
Moreover, certain attitudes create a negative impact to one’s life and may even cause it to fall apart. This is why it is an important task for each person to help themselves take on the proper attitude direction. Do remember that a person whose heart is not in what he or she is doing will never be half as productive as someone who has the right attitude.
It is simple really, a positive attitude produces much more favorable results while negative attitudes only serve to generate failure. We all have within us the power to respond to any given situation in any way we want regardless of the circumstances and this is why you can either choose to react positively or negatively.
According to a Stanford Research Institute study, the path to success is comprised of 88% attitude and only 12% education. This doesn’t imply that education is of little importance, but it only goes to show how vital it is to foster the proper attitude n regards to a person’s success. Once you have arrived at the right attitude, it then becomes much easier for things to just fall into place.
Much like walking, writing, playing sports and acquiring any other skill, attitude can also be learned. Having already mentioned that attitude develops from one’s own personal experiences and interactions throughout life, we have already accumulated several different attitudes on different things or instances which can be both negative and positive.
It is important to recognize a negative attitude right away as it hinders growth and success. Much like how we can learn them, we are also able to unlearn them and develop new and more positive ones.
Although one’s attitudes are initially nurtured from one’s environment, we nonetheless always have a choice on what to keep or discard in the long run. It is vital to develop a positive attitude since it will be very difficult to retain a certain kind of integrity without directing your perspective for a higher meaning or purpose.
In my next post on Wrights Lane I will talk about the importance of character in our lives. Just as we can have good and bad attitudes, we can have good and bad character. It's all about application.
07 September, 2018
AN UPDATE ON ME: IT'S ALL GOOD!
While I have occasionally and selectively succumbed to my Internet addiction (responding to other people's sometimes provocative Facebook posts when feeling so moved) I have been enjoying my previously announced sabbatical from an inordinate amount of time spent on the computer.
In recent weeks I have met new friends, caught up with long-neglected chores around the house and property, adopted a new lifestyle regimen, concentrated on personal revitalization and intentionally lost some weight (approx.30 pounds to date). Already I feel that I have made great strides in the long range goal of achieving mental clarity and emotional well-being after a period of personal loss and debilitating stress.
Admittedly, I was pretty far gone for a while there.
Now the chore will be to avoid a tendency to eventually backslide, which I have been known to do in the past. Not this time though...if I know what's good for me!
13 August, 2018
WRITER JEFF MAGUIRE REMEMBERS ME -- AND JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
The most pleasant surprises occasionally crop up when meandering though the Internet with the aid of my Google search engine. Such was the case this past weekend when two names suddenly bounced out of my monitor screen -- Jeff Maguire and Dick Wright. "What the heck (word to that affect)," I said in amazement. I remembered Jeff Maguire as a young reporter at the St. Thomas Times-Journal during my time as City Editor. Quickly hitting on the link, what to my wondering eyes should appear but an Inside Ottawa Valley.com story Jeff had written several years ago, recalling an assignment I had given him to cover a speech by the famed John Kenneth Galbraith in 1971. I'll let Jeff pick up his story from here. He makes liberal and kind mentions of me.
By Jeff Macguire
Carleton Place Almonte Canadian Gazette
...I had just joined the newsroom staff at the daily St. Thomas Times-Journal in St. Thomas, Ontario. St. Thomas, a city of some 40,000 south of London, is the centre of government for Elgin County, an elongated jurisdiction of some 1,840 square kilometres that hugs the north shore of Lake Erie between Fort Erie and Windsor.
It was 1971 and I was a wet-behind-the-ears reporter who had just moved to the larger daily newspaper from the smaller (twice-weekly) Wallaceburg News in the town of the same name between Sarnia and Chatham.
The city editor was a happy-go-lucky guy named Richard ‘Dick’ Wright. He is long retired and lives in Southampton, Ontario on Lake Huron.
Dick had connections to Chatham where my late mother Molly and my wife Kathleen (Kathy was my girlfriend in 1971) were both born. He took me under his wing and helped “protect me” from the managing editor an English expatriate who was, to say the least, not an easy man to work for.
One thing Dick did for fledgling reporters was make sure we got a square meal as often as possible. The best way to ensure that was to send us to lunch meetings held by the local service clubs. We covered the guest speaker’s address and got a free lunch.
On this particular day the managing editor had a great deal of interest in the St. Thomas Rotary Club’s weekly lunch meeting. That’s because the guest speaker was world-famous economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
The boss would have preferred a more senior staffer covered the Galbraith speech, but no one else was available that day. He had no choice but to send the rookie. Dick told him, “Jeff will do just fine.”
I didn’t need any added incentive. I was already familiar with Galbraith who, to this day nine years after his death, remains one of the most highly regarded economists in world history. He was a best-selling author. Galbraith penned nearly 50 books along with several novels and hundreds of essays. He authored a famous trilogy on economics ‘American Capitalism’ (written the year I was born), ‘The Affluent Society’ (1958) and ‘The New Industrial State’ which was released in 1967.
Galbraith earned degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley before starting his teaching career at famous Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1934. Later he briefly taught at Princeton University in New Jersey. But his longest tenure as an educator was at Harvard where he was named Professor of Economics in 1949 and was a highly respected faculty member for half a century.
Galbraith was an active Democrat. He served in the administrations of four presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt (during the critical Second World War years), as well as assisting Roosevelt’s successor Harry Truman and then serving in the Kennedy administration as well as working for Lyndon Johnson who succeeded the assassinated JFK.
Galbraith was the American ambassador to India during Kennedy’s all too brief tenure. The list of national and international awards the economist received is lengthy.
So, why was he speaking in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1971?
The answer is easy. Galbraith was born in nearby Iona Station in 1908. He grew up in Dunwich Township near the village of Dutton (now part of Dutton/Dunwich) in Elgin County. He attended a one-room school and later received his secondary school education in Dutton and St. Thomas.
Galbraith became an American citizen in 1937, the same year he married Catherine Merriam Atwater, a Radcliffe grad. The couple was married for 68 years until his death in April 2006 at age 97.
He never forgot his southwestern Ontario roots. That’s why he came to St. Thomas in 1971 at the invitation of the Rotary Club. His speech was not focused on his outstanding careers as an educator, author and political advisor to four American presidents. Instead he talked about his formative years. What it was like to grow up on the family farm in rural Dunwich Township. That’s all he wanted to talk about during the interview I did with him afterwards as well.
Galbraith was impressive physically – he was six foot, eight – but what I recall was his very kind demeanour while speaking with a young reporter. He had been interviewed countless times by scribes from the world’s largest newspapers. But his friendly smile and attitude immediately put me at ease.
In his 1963 book ‘The Scotch’ Galbraith, whose parents Archibald and Sarah were Canadians of Scottish descent, wrote about growing up in a part of Canada that was more Scottish than Scotland.
I remember him telling me how tight the community was – in every sense. The Scots of course are not only famous for their contributions to the world but also for their frugality. Galbraith laughed when he said his neighbours “were as tight as bark to a tree.”
In fact in ‘The Scotch’ he recounts the legend of one John “Codfish” McKillop of Dunwich Township. It is said that when McKillop died and was being lowered into the grave he lifted the lid of the coffin and handed out his clothes.
What I remember most about that long ago interview with the famous man was his obvious affection for the place where he was born, raised and attended school. He had such vivid and fond memories of those who were part of his early life. Despite his impressive career and status (he won countless awards and honours in his lifetime) he never forgot his upbringing and happy home life. That’s why I will never forget my interview with John Kenneth Galbraith.
In conclusion, I’m happy to say that my hard to please managing editor was silently satisfied with the story I produced for the T-J. Dick Wright was good enough to tell me that later!
 |
| Jeff Maguire has been writing for community and daily newspapers in Ontario since 1971 and contributes regularly to Ottawa Valley. com online news site. |
Carleton Place Almonte Canadian Gazette
...I had just joined the newsroom staff at the daily St. Thomas Times-Journal in St. Thomas, Ontario. St. Thomas, a city of some 40,000 south of London, is the centre of government for Elgin County, an elongated jurisdiction of some 1,840 square kilometres that hugs the north shore of Lake Erie between Fort Erie and Windsor.
It was 1971 and I was a wet-behind-the-ears reporter who had just moved to the larger daily newspaper from the smaller (twice-weekly) Wallaceburg News in the town of the same name between Sarnia and Chatham.
The city editor was a happy-go-lucky guy named Richard ‘Dick’ Wright. He is long retired and lives in Southampton, Ontario on Lake Huron.
Dick had connections to Chatham where my late mother Molly and my wife Kathleen (Kathy was my girlfriend in 1971) were both born. He took me under his wing and helped “protect me” from the managing editor an English expatriate who was, to say the least, not an easy man to work for.
One thing Dick did for fledgling reporters was make sure we got a square meal as often as possible. The best way to ensure that was to send us to lunch meetings held by the local service clubs. We covered the guest speaker’s address and got a free lunch.
On this particular day the managing editor had a great deal of interest in the St. Thomas Rotary Club’s weekly lunch meeting. That’s because the guest speaker was world-famous economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
The boss would have preferred a more senior staffer covered the Galbraith speech, but no one else was available that day. He had no choice but to send the rookie. Dick told him, “Jeff will do just fine.”
 |
| John Kenneth Galbraith |
I didn’t need any added incentive. I was already familiar with Galbraith who, to this day nine years after his death, remains one of the most highly regarded economists in world history. He was a best-selling author. Galbraith penned nearly 50 books along with several novels and hundreds of essays. He authored a famous trilogy on economics ‘American Capitalism’ (written the year I was born), ‘The Affluent Society’ (1958) and ‘The New Industrial State’ which was released in 1967.
Galbraith earned degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of California, Berkeley before starting his teaching career at famous Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1934. Later he briefly taught at Princeton University in New Jersey. But his longest tenure as an educator was at Harvard where he was named Professor of Economics in 1949 and was a highly respected faculty member for half a century.
Galbraith was an active Democrat. He served in the administrations of four presidents including Franklin D. Roosevelt (during the critical Second World War years), as well as assisting Roosevelt’s successor Harry Truman and then serving in the Kennedy administration as well as working for Lyndon Johnson who succeeded the assassinated JFK.
Galbraith was the American ambassador to India during Kennedy’s all too brief tenure. The list of national and international awards the economist received is lengthy.
So, why was he speaking in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1971?
The answer is easy. Galbraith was born in nearby Iona Station in 1908. He grew up in Dunwich Township near the village of Dutton (now part of Dutton/Dunwich) in Elgin County. He attended a one-room school and later received his secondary school education in Dutton and St. Thomas.
Galbraith became an American citizen in 1937, the same year he married Catherine Merriam Atwater, a Radcliffe grad. The couple was married for 68 years until his death in April 2006 at age 97.
He never forgot his southwestern Ontario roots. That’s why he came to St. Thomas in 1971 at the invitation of the Rotary Club. His speech was not focused on his outstanding careers as an educator, author and political advisor to four American presidents. Instead he talked about his formative years. What it was like to grow up on the family farm in rural Dunwich Township. That’s all he wanted to talk about during the interview I did with him afterwards as well.
Galbraith was impressive physically – he was six foot, eight – but what I recall was his very kind demeanour while speaking with a young reporter. He had been interviewed countless times by scribes from the world’s largest newspapers. But his friendly smile and attitude immediately put me at ease.
In his 1963 book ‘The Scotch’ Galbraith, whose parents Archibald and Sarah were Canadians of Scottish descent, wrote about growing up in a part of Canada that was more Scottish than Scotland.
I remember him telling me how tight the community was – in every sense. The Scots of course are not only famous for their contributions to the world but also for their frugality. Galbraith laughed when he said his neighbours “were as tight as bark to a tree.”
In fact in ‘The Scotch’ he recounts the legend of one John “Codfish” McKillop of Dunwich Township. It is said that when McKillop died and was being lowered into the grave he lifted the lid of the coffin and handed out his clothes.
What I remember most about that long ago interview with the famous man was his obvious affection for the place where he was born, raised and attended school. He had such vivid and fond memories of those who were part of his early life. Despite his impressive career and status (he won countless awards and honours in his lifetime) he never forgot his upbringing and happy home life. That’s why I will never forget my interview with John Kenneth Galbraith.
In conclusion, I’m happy to say that my hard to please managing editor was silently satisfied with the story I produced for the T-J. Dick Wright was good enough to tell me that later!
09 August, 2018
AUNT ANNIE'S HISTORIC METIS HOME IN SOUTHAMPTON
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| Aunt Annie's House has been remodeled over the years. |
Angelique “Aunt Annie” Longe, was a Métis woman born on the banks of the Saugeen River in 1844 and she lived in the home most of her life. As a girl she sailed the Lake Huron shore with her family in a ship packed with chickens, supplies and furs for trade.
 |
| Aunt Annie sitting in front of her home, circa 1900. |
Annie spoke English, French, Anishinaabemowin and Gaelic and her home at the harbour became the hub in the community for many of the local settlers, Metis and others who sought to speak in their native tongues. She was also often consulted on traditional medicine and served as a midwife, helping bring many Metis babies into the world. In later years she always left a candle burning in her front window as a symbol of protection for the Metis fisherman who braved the waves of the "Sweetwater Sea" (Lake Huron).
A spinster, Annie died in November, 1934. Her parents were Joseph Longe Jr. and Christine Plante.
The Saugeen Metis have lived at the mouth of the Saugeen River since the early 1800's. They were fur traders, mariners and fisherman and continue to live in the area to this day.
Likewise, Aunt Annie's House remains in the Longe family after more than 160 years and is available for rent during the summer months.
Historic Saugeen Métis (HSM) are hosting their 10th Annual Rendezvous this weekend and the house will be open for very rare guided tours...I plan to be there to see what else I've been missing.
07 August, 2018
JAYS CARE FOUNDATION HELPS WITH WALPOLE ISLAND FIELD OF DREAMS
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| Walpole fans get a hug from B.J. Bird |
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| A future Blue Jay? The stuff dreams are made of. |
“We had unsafe fences, we had pond sand in the infields which just hold water,” Jacobs said. A couple of years ago, Jacobs was forced to cancel 48 home games due to having a field that was destroyed after every rain storm.
With a $140,000 assist from the the "Jays Care Foundation" -- which is the Toronto Blue Jays charitable arm -- as well as contributions from other local sponsors, such as Union Gas and South Kent Wind Farm, the diamonds are now in tip-top shape due to major repairs and rehabilitation. Jacobs and other volunteers had worked tirelessly over the previous couple of years in the effort to upgrade the two baseball diamonds.
“My biggest concern was always the kids,” Jacobs said.
When he started minor ball on Walpole Island almost 10 years ago, Jacobs started with two lackluster diamonds and one team. Walpole Island minor baseball now has five teams and two top-notch fields. Jacobs said he hopes that the organization can only grow, especially with a dedicated group of volunteers that take care of a lot of the work in keeping the organization running.
The new diamonds were on display for the first time last summer during Walpole Island’s National Aboriginal Day Solstice celebrations on June 21. It’s a well-worn cliche, but for Jacobs, it was a field of dreams, as hundreds of people from Walpole Island and neighouring First Nations communities came out to the refurbished baseball fields to take part in a baseball clinic held by the Blue Jays organization.
Jacobs said it was like Christmas morning, as he was excited to see the baseball diamonds get their time in the spotlight.
“I grew up in these diamonds. I played on these diamonds when I was six, seven years-old. Me and my friends would meet up here every day in the summer and we would play games…,” Jacobs said.
Along with a new canteen and washrooms, the fields have been improved, fencing has been added, as well as other improvements. Jacobs said more improvements are in the works, including fixing up a third ball field in the park.
Robert Witchel, executive director for the Jays Care Foundation, said while the majority of young players eventually leave baseball for other pursuits in life, the game teaches "resiliency about ourselves and how to be better people,” adding that the Jays foundation was impressed with the Walpole Island minor baseball minor baseball organization and how the older players helped out with the young players.
Along with the baseball clinic, the Blue Jays welcomed close to 300 Walpole Island residents to one of their home games last June to celebrate National Aboriginal Day.
A most commendable initiative by Canada's one and only major league baseball organization. Makes me even more proud to be a Blue Jays fan!
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| Members of the Walpole Island Minor Baseball Association gather at home plate for a photo with B.J. Bird, the Toronto Blue Jays' mascot. |
05 August, 2018
BLAME OUR TRIBAL INSTINCTS FOR POLITICAL VEXACTION
"It is easier to be uncomplimentary and argumentative when you are sitting at a computer keyboard than it is when sitting/standing face to face with another individual. Politics in general bring out the worst in people and social media has become a vehicle for venting previously suppressed frustration, anger -- and, yes, even hatred indicative of man's inbred inhumanity to man. This despicable trend will continue as long as an ill-advised public keeps jumping from the frying pan to the fire by electing combative leaders of questionable character and backgrounds in protest to the perceived performance of incumbent governments. Otherwise, Heaven help us, the attack mode now prevalent in political discourse will continue to fester and divide otherwise decent people."
I posted the above comment on a friend's Facebook timeline earlier today in response to his understandable dislike for unsavory and personally insulting responses to a politically-oriented item he had recently generated.
As the political parade passes, the troubling spectacle plays itself out on television and social media every day. Those who gather choose their sides of the avenue. In so choosing, they self-segregate. Tribal affiliations are on display. It’s a natural human tendency, with deep roots in our evolutionary past.
According to Sharon Begley, writing about the Kurzban-Cosmides-Tooby jersey experiment in which team colors seem to overcome racial biases, [Kurzban’s] basketball-jersey experiment and others who have confirmed its results, suggest that humans do have brain circuits for classifying people — but according to whether they are likely to be an ally or an enemy.
As I say, politics brings out the worst in us by tapping into those tribal tendencies. Sure, trading barbs is better than trading bullets. We all know really nice people who participate in stinging or acrimonious exchanges online. Maybe we get so uptight that we do it ourselves.
How about the oft-repeated: "Justin Trudeau is a joke and so are the people who support him."
Here’s a nice headline from the U.S. that you might have seen: “5 Scientific Studies That Prove Republicans Are Stupid.”
Or how about: “Yes, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.”
Here we have someone calling hundreds of millions of people stupid or crazy. Never mind that the country can’t be so easily divided into two teams. It’s a two party system in the U.S. and three parties in Canada. So in that good old democratic operating system (DOS) you have choices of app, which means choices of tribe.
I wondered if anyone else ever sees this subject from my lonely distance. In this vein, I found some relevant thoughts from the Cato Institute’s Trevor Burrus:
Like any other game, the rules create the attitudes and strategies of the players. Throw two brothers into the Colosseum for a gladiatorial fight to the death, and brotherly sentiment will quickly evaporate. Throw siblings, neighbors, or friends into a political world that increasingly controls our deepest values, and love and care are quickly traded for resentment.
But it gets even worse. The first-past-the-post rules of our democratic politics turn a continuum of possibilities into binary choices and thus imposes black-and-white thinking onto a world made mostly of grays. Teams (politicians), cheerleaders (pundits), and fans (voters) galvanize around an artificially schismatic world view.
And then our biases take over. Now that we’ve invented a problem — “which group of 50 percent +1 will control education for everyone?” — imposed a binary solution — “we will teach either creation or evolution” — and invented teams to rally around those solutions — “are you a science denier or a science supporter?” — our tribal and self-serving brains go to work assuring us that we are on the side of righteousness and truth.
The shrillest and most dogmatic pundits and politicians become the most popular, feeding our sense of righteousness like southern Baptist preachers.
This could have been yet another of those articles which end with a call for reasoned discourse or more tolerance. Plenty of those articles have been written, and I conclude that they don’t do much good. Our tribal brain burns hotter than any intellectual plea for tolerance.
I agree also with futurist and theorist Max Borders who says "Politics sucks and democracy is overrated."
"Politics — especially elections — creates a system that brings out the worst in people. It poisons relationships. It pulls us in as spectators who stand agog at a completely inauthentic show of national politics (over which we have virtually no power). We end up mostly ignoring the local issues over which we could have considerably more influence. As a consequence, an entire nation falls under a particular kind of spell," Borders went on to state in a Foundation of Economic Education article.
As like-minded Jeffrey Tucker writes, "We are encouraged to believe that we are running the system. So we flatter ourselves that our opinions matter. After all, it is we the voters who are in charge of building the regime under which we live. But look deeper and you discover a truth that is both terrifying and glorious: the building of the great society can’t be outsourced. It is up to you and me.
"The only people to whom our opinions matter are the pollsters with their robocalls and their wet index fingers held aloft, and the media who hold up mirrors so distorted we can barely recognize ourselves."
People are different. They are going to have differences of opinions, they’ll hold different values, and run in different circles. But we expect that our opinions, values and circles should extend to nations of multi-millions of people; by brute force if necessary. And until they do we’ll just get on Facebook and sock them in the face until they stay plastered.
On Election Day, the team with the red jerseys will pull on their side of the rope. The team with the blue jerseys will pull on their side of the rope. In the end, both will end up in the mud — because they’ve been standing in it all along.
It was ever thus...and evermore shall be!
Too bad.
I don't like it, but I accept political verbal warfare between sides as an unfortunate fact of life that I prefer to view from a safe distance, often with a hint of humor and devil's advocacy.
I posted the above comment on a friend's Facebook timeline earlier today in response to his understandable dislike for unsavory and personally insulting responses to a politically-oriented item he had recently generated.
As the political parade passes, the troubling spectacle plays itself out on television and social media every day. Those who gather choose their sides of the avenue. In so choosing, they self-segregate. Tribal affiliations are on display. It’s a natural human tendency, with deep roots in our evolutionary past.
According to Sharon Begley, writing about the Kurzban-Cosmides-Tooby jersey experiment in which team colors seem to overcome racial biases, [Kurzban’s] basketball-jersey experiment and others who have confirmed its results, suggest that humans do have brain circuits for classifying people — but according to whether they are likely to be an ally or an enemy.
As I say, politics brings out the worst in us by tapping into those tribal tendencies. Sure, trading barbs is better than trading bullets. We all know really nice people who participate in stinging or acrimonious exchanges online. Maybe we get so uptight that we do it ourselves.
How about the oft-repeated: "Justin Trudeau is a joke and so are the people who support him."
Here’s a nice headline from the U.S. that you might have seen: “5 Scientific Studies That Prove Republicans Are Stupid.”
Or how about: “Yes, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder.”
Here we have someone calling hundreds of millions of people stupid or crazy. Never mind that the country can’t be so easily divided into two teams. It’s a two party system in the U.S. and three parties in Canada. So in that good old democratic operating system (DOS) you have choices of app, which means choices of tribe.
I wondered if anyone else ever sees this subject from my lonely distance. In this vein, I found some relevant thoughts from the Cato Institute’s Trevor Burrus:
Like any other game, the rules create the attitudes and strategies of the players. Throw two brothers into the Colosseum for a gladiatorial fight to the death, and brotherly sentiment will quickly evaporate. Throw siblings, neighbors, or friends into a political world that increasingly controls our deepest values, and love and care are quickly traded for resentment.
But it gets even worse. The first-past-the-post rules of our democratic politics turn a continuum of possibilities into binary choices and thus imposes black-and-white thinking onto a world made mostly of grays. Teams (politicians), cheerleaders (pundits), and fans (voters) galvanize around an artificially schismatic world view.
And then our biases take over. Now that we’ve invented a problem — “which group of 50 percent +1 will control education for everyone?” — imposed a binary solution — “we will teach either creation or evolution” — and invented teams to rally around those solutions — “are you a science denier or a science supporter?” — our tribal and self-serving brains go to work assuring us that we are on the side of righteousness and truth.
The shrillest and most dogmatic pundits and politicians become the most popular, feeding our sense of righteousness like southern Baptist preachers.
This could have been yet another of those articles which end with a call for reasoned discourse or more tolerance. Plenty of those articles have been written, and I conclude that they don’t do much good. Our tribal brain burns hotter than any intellectual plea for tolerance.
I agree also with futurist and theorist Max Borders who says "Politics sucks and democracy is overrated."
"Politics — especially elections — creates a system that brings out the worst in people. It poisons relationships. It pulls us in as spectators who stand agog at a completely inauthentic show of national politics (over which we have virtually no power). We end up mostly ignoring the local issues over which we could have considerably more influence. As a consequence, an entire nation falls under a particular kind of spell," Borders went on to state in a Foundation of Economic Education article.
As like-minded Jeffrey Tucker writes, "We are encouraged to believe that we are running the system. So we flatter ourselves that our opinions matter. After all, it is we the voters who are in charge of building the regime under which we live. But look deeper and you discover a truth that is both terrifying and glorious: the building of the great society can’t be outsourced. It is up to you and me.
"The only people to whom our opinions matter are the pollsters with their robocalls and their wet index fingers held aloft, and the media who hold up mirrors so distorted we can barely recognize ourselves."
People are different. They are going to have differences of opinions, they’ll hold different values, and run in different circles. But we expect that our opinions, values and circles should extend to nations of multi-millions of people; by brute force if necessary. And until they do we’ll just get on Facebook and sock them in the face until they stay plastered.
On Election Day, the team with the red jerseys will pull on their side of the rope. The team with the blue jerseys will pull on their side of the rope. In the end, both will end up in the mud — because they’ve been standing in it all along.
It was ever thus...and evermore shall be!
Too bad.
I don't like it, but I accept political verbal warfare between sides as an unfortunate fact of life that I prefer to view from a safe distance, often with a hint of humor and devil's advocacy.
01 August, 2018
TRUE LOVE OVERLOOKS THE IMPERFECTIONS OF TIME
Oh God...here I go again, shedding melancholia induced tears. I'm trying to get over that!
I have lately been throwing out and giving away things that are just taking up space in my life or are no longer of value to me, having outlived their usefulness. In that vain I was about to toss a small notepad in a garbage can today when, flipping through the pages, I came across the following in my rather sketchy hand writing:
"Physical attractiveness diminishes with age. Love sees the imperfections that come with time and turns them into reasons to love even more. God bless those who are able to share the intimacy of that love over the years. Life can be lonely otherwise."
I can't remember when I jotted down that note, nor why, but something must have struck a chord within me at the time...It certainly had special emotional impact for me as I read those words today.
All I can add to that notation now is: It (life) is lonely because you are left with no one to share your imperfections with...I really miss that kind of love!
It's not nice knowing that you are imperfect...and not having someone to say "It is okay, I love you anyway!"
Advise to self: Enough talk about imperfections. Throw them in the garbage can along with the notepad that has now served its purpose. Love yourself anyway!
I have lately been throwing out and giving away things that are just taking up space in my life or are no longer of value to me, having outlived their usefulness. In that vain I was about to toss a small notepad in a garbage can today when, flipping through the pages, I came across the following in my rather sketchy hand writing:
"Physical attractiveness diminishes with age. Love sees the imperfections that come with time and turns them into reasons to love even more. God bless those who are able to share the intimacy of that love over the years. Life can be lonely otherwise."
I can't remember when I jotted down that note, nor why, but something must have struck a chord within me at the time...It certainly had special emotional impact for me as I read those words today.
All I can add to that notation now is: It (life) is lonely because you are left with no one to share your imperfections with...I really miss that kind of love!
It's not nice knowing that you are imperfect...and not having someone to say "It is okay, I love you anyway!"
Advise to self: Enough talk about imperfections. Throw them in the garbage can along with the notepad that has now served its purpose. Love yourself anyway!
20 July, 2018
THE UNIVERSE DID NOT LISTEN TO ROSANNE
Rosanne was constantly praying...about everything. God bless her soul!
At one point a few years ago when we were having difficulty making ends meet, she told me that she had been asking God for help with our finances and in view of our health limitations, she thought lottery tickets would ultimately be the answer to her prayers.
I suggested to Rosanne that asking for money specifically was a rather selfish prayer that God may not answer. "Why not, instead, put out a positive message to the universe expressing thanks for the many blessings in our life coupled with a wish for fulfillment of specific personal needs i.e. good health and happiness -- and one million dollars would be nice too," was my serious, but light-hearted advise.
"If you want, write out your message to the universe and read it aloud every day," I added further. "Nothing wrong in dreaming big, just remember to keep your thoughts focused and never stop believing."
I don't remember talking about the matter again, but it all came rushing back to me a couple of weeks after Rosanne's passing as I was tearfully clearing out our living room that over the course of the past 10 years had become a glorified hospital room. As I removed an assortment of medications and a telephone from the top shelf of a book cabinet that sat at Rosanne's elbow, adjacent to her lift chair, I noticed a slightly weathered note taped to the inside.
It read:
"Universe...We are so ready
&
we thank you for all your blessings
$1,000,000.00
please
Our love and thanks."
The poor dear girl had listened to me. My unhealed heart exploded once again, along with fragile emotions ever at the surface.
Sadly, the universe had not listened to Rosanne.
On impulse, a few days later, I purchased a $3 scratch-and-win ticket in her memory. I thought "maybe, just maybe..." The ticket, however, was not a winner.
That, too, is reality.
I honestly do not know what to do with the book cabinet and the note so hopefully taped to it. Should I let it go the way of all unfulfilled hopes and dreams? Perhaps!
08 July, 2018
FURTHER THOUGHTS ON "THE OTHERS AND US"
“---we have a national identity, we are proud of it, you come into this country you have to integrate, you have to learn our language, there is one law for everybody, right, and we will decide how many people come in.”
This may read like one of U.S. President Trump’s ubiquitous ranting tweets; or it might sound like an defiant utterance from some far-right American group. In fact, the speaker is a former leader of the Canadian Federal Liberal party, Michael Ignatieff (Globe & Mail, September 17, 2016).
To be fair, he was not referring to Canada, but to Central European nations like Hungary and Poland. His argument was that the best countermeasure against rampant populism which is growing in these countries is to acknowledge that these ethnically homogeneous states have a right to ensure the survival of a national identity. By contrast, in countries like Canada and the United States which are already multicultural, Ignatieff contends there is greater acceptance of immigrants from other cultures, including “---the idea that desperate people have a right to asylum---."
"While both nations celebrated the founding of their countries this past week, Ignatieff’s assumption may sound a bit naive," writes Bob Johnson in his frequent Saugeen Times column. I referred to Bob in my previous Wrights Lane post (below) on the subject of "the other -- us and them."
Here is a further quote from Rev. Bob that grabbed my attention this weekend (and temporarily got my mind off myself): "As the world’s focus and widespread condemnation has been drawn to the US Southern border and the plight of those 2,500 children separated from their asylum-seeking parents, the battle lines become clearly drawn: the poignant plight of refugees and asylum-seekers balanced against the right of a nation to control its own borders. Trump is vigorously, albeit crudely, enforcing laws which were already on the books but seldom fully implemented under more cautious past presidencies.
"In Canada we now have our own leaky border. An estimated 27,000 undocumented border-crossers have entered our country since Donald trump became president in January, 2017 (Reuters) In the subsequent 18 months 135 have had their appeals for asylum rejected (CTV News, June 7/18)."
This may read like one of U.S. President Trump’s ubiquitous ranting tweets; or it might sound like an defiant utterance from some far-right American group. In fact, the speaker is a former leader of the Canadian Federal Liberal party, Michael Ignatieff (Globe & Mail, September 17, 2016).
To be fair, he was not referring to Canada, but to Central European nations like Hungary and Poland. His argument was that the best countermeasure against rampant populism which is growing in these countries is to acknowledge that these ethnically homogeneous states have a right to ensure the survival of a national identity. By contrast, in countries like Canada and the United States which are already multicultural, Ignatieff contends there is greater acceptance of immigrants from other cultures, including “---the idea that desperate people have a right to asylum---."
"While both nations celebrated the founding of their countries this past week, Ignatieff’s assumption may sound a bit naive," writes Bob Johnson in his frequent Saugeen Times column. I referred to Bob in my previous Wrights Lane post (below) on the subject of "the other -- us and them."
Here is a further quote from Rev. Bob that grabbed my attention this weekend (and temporarily got my mind off myself): "As the world’s focus and widespread condemnation has been drawn to the US Southern border and the plight of those 2,500 children separated from their asylum-seeking parents, the battle lines become clearly drawn: the poignant plight of refugees and asylum-seekers balanced against the right of a nation to control its own borders. Trump is vigorously, albeit crudely, enforcing laws which were already on the books but seldom fully implemented under more cautious past presidencies.
"In Canada we now have our own leaky border. An estimated 27,000 undocumented border-crossers have entered our country since Donald trump became president in January, 2017 (Reuters) In the subsequent 18 months 135 have had their appeals for asylum rejected (CTV News, June 7/18)."
As we celebrated our 151st Birthday, how do Canadians feel about “the other,” especially those labeled as visible minorities who make up 22% of our population? One survey reassuringly found that about 65% believe that percentage is the right balance for Canada, 15% believe we need more diversity while 20% believe it is already too high (Probit Newsletter, June, 2018) The problem with these numbers is they make no distinction between visible minorities who have been citizens for generations and those who are newcomers, legally or not. And, of course, not all newcomers are members of visible minorities
A rather frightening American survey has noted that a third of its population believes that rising hostility over Trump’s immigration policies and the resultant public harassment of members of his administration is potentially leading to a “Second Civil War.” (Rasmussen survey reported in USA Today, June 28) United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions wryly noted that many so-called liberals who oppose Trump’s planned wall, hypocritically live-in gated communities themselves, protected from outside “undesirables” by high fences. There is no doubt American public opinion is increasingly polarized.
In Canada, our own record concerning issues of race and diversity is far from perfect. In both nations, novel efforts are being initiated to respond to the challenge of endemic bigotry between groups. The recent “anti-bias training day” workshops initiated by Starbucks for its 1,000 North American franchises, including those in Canada, reflects this approach. Other corporations are currently running similar seminars and training sessions.
CBC Radio Noon recently featured anti-bias training as its phone-in theme. Eventually, I was able to decipher what the program’s guest was actually talking about. She was describing a type of bias or prejudice in which a person carries a negative assumption or predisposition toward the “other,” an attitude which is not based on facts. These attitudes then lead to acts of discrimination against that “other” person based on race, religion, ethnicity or whatever triggers the stereotype. I would go as far as suggesting that Canada may have to accept that some folks may remain stuck with holding negative biases, as long as they don’t make their public behaviors based on them.
It has been said that Canada is not so much a multicultural country as it is a multi-ethnic one. If this nation of diversity is going to avoid some pitfalls inherent in American society, we will need to continue along the path toward greater understanding of one another. Yet I oppose the trendy concept of “cultural competence” where we are expected to achieve deep knowledge of all our many “communities” which constitute Canada.
I go along with Bob Johnson in preferring the alternative term “cultural humility” where we approach “the other” with an attitude of openness and a desire to learn and change as needed . It is not just the majority group in Canada which needs to change and evolve. Minority communities are not above holding their own negative biases and stereotypes. We can all start by avoiding racist, ethnic and gender negative labelling.
By reducing stereotypes of all kinds we will be building bridges not barriers, between groups---between the other and us. And that was reason enough in 2018 to celebrate our Canada Day---together in our home and native land.
A rather frightening American survey has noted that a third of its population believes that rising hostility over Trump’s immigration policies and the resultant public harassment of members of his administration is potentially leading to a “Second Civil War.” (Rasmussen survey reported in USA Today, June 28) United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions wryly noted that many so-called liberals who oppose Trump’s planned wall, hypocritically live-in gated communities themselves, protected from outside “undesirables” by high fences. There is no doubt American public opinion is increasingly polarized.
In Canada, our own record concerning issues of race and diversity is far from perfect. In both nations, novel efforts are being initiated to respond to the challenge of endemic bigotry between groups. The recent “anti-bias training day” workshops initiated by Starbucks for its 1,000 North American franchises, including those in Canada, reflects this approach. Other corporations are currently running similar seminars and training sessions.
CBC Radio Noon recently featured anti-bias training as its phone-in theme. Eventually, I was able to decipher what the program’s guest was actually talking about. She was describing a type of bias or prejudice in which a person carries a negative assumption or predisposition toward the “other,” an attitude which is not based on facts. These attitudes then lead to acts of discrimination against that “other” person based on race, religion, ethnicity or whatever triggers the stereotype. I would go as far as suggesting that Canada may have to accept that some folks may remain stuck with holding negative biases, as long as they don’t make their public behaviors based on them.
It has been said that Canada is not so much a multicultural country as it is a multi-ethnic one. If this nation of diversity is going to avoid some pitfalls inherent in American society, we will need to continue along the path toward greater understanding of one another. Yet I oppose the trendy concept of “cultural competence” where we are expected to achieve deep knowledge of all our many “communities” which constitute Canada.
I go along with Bob Johnson in preferring the alternative term “cultural humility” where we approach “the other” with an attitude of openness and a desire to learn and change as needed . It is not just the majority group in Canada which needs to change and evolve. Minority communities are not above holding their own negative biases and stereotypes. We can all start by avoiding racist, ethnic and gender negative labelling.
By reducing stereotypes of all kinds we will be building bridges not barriers, between groups---between the other and us. And that was reason enough in 2018 to celebrate our Canada Day---together in our home and native land.
If only we could leave unsavory political bias out of the equation, just for once.