Canada Moves to a "Peoples" Monarchy

Three points of interest are upper most in my mind. First, Canada's new Governor General is showing the humanity and potential of representative constutional monarchy in Canada. In what is a characteristic Canadian way, the new new Governor General, Her Excellency, Michaelle Jean is illustrative of the Canada of the early 21st century and also is a reflection of who we are today. Her Excellency's inaugural speech to the country, extold the affinity shared between herself and the the Queen's personally epxressed concern for humanity.

In a few words, Mme. Jean aligned what some may say is an anachronic institution with the hopes and aspirations of a progressive and enlightened Canada.

http://www.gg.ca/media/doc.asp?lang=e&DocID=4574

Let me begin by speaking about hope. During the 22nd visit to Canada by
Queen Elizabeth II last May, Her Majesty reminded us that we can “make a
difference” for those who will come after us. “If we make an effort in our
own
lives and in our way of improving the world around us,” she said, “we
will have
every reason to be proud of what we have accomplished.” That
observation is a
perfect reflection of the woman who is deeply concerned
about the fate of
humanity, whom I had the honour of meeting at Balmoral. It
is an expression of
hope that parallels my own.

I know how precious [....] freedom is, I know what a legacy it is for every
child, for every citizen of this country. I whose ancestors were slaves, who was
born into a civilization long reduced to whispers and cries of pain, know
something about its price, and I know too what a treasure it is for us all.

Every Canadian woman, every Canadian man prizes that freedom and would
defy anyone who tried to take it away – of that I have no doubt. From Signal
Hill to Vancouver Island, from Baffin Land to Thetford Mines, the freedom that
is ours unites us all. Freedom has marked our history and our territory, it has
marked our summer breezes and our howling winter winds. It has helped create the
spirit of adventure that I love above all in this country, this country where
each and every one of us is able to participate fully in the ongoing task of
building it.

.....And that is how I am determined that the position I occupy as of today
will be more than ever a place where citizens’ words will be heard, where the values of respect, tolerance, and sharing that are so
essential to me and to all Canadians, will prevail.

So the reflection of who we have been is melded with who we are now. The continuity of Canada past is brought into the present and the new Governor General expresses the national hope for the future. No longer attached to Britain as in the days of yore, Canada is defining itself on its own principles and national character and not always as in the context of " we are not Americans." It would be a mistake to rush from the arms of domineering Mother Britain into the lascivious embrace of dirty Uncle Sam. Here is the second point:

To do this is to ignore the realities of the world context that exists outside of the U.S. Context. The following article highlights why that is the wrong choice.

http://www.rabble.ca/politics.shtml?sh_itm=fe02adf09d8b998b8bff9ffcf6234f14&rXn=1

In world trade talks, Brazil, India, South Africa and China have shown their
ability to work together in opposition to U.S. initiatives.

In response to these changes in world politics, Canadian foreign policy has
fallen deeper into the trap set by continental economic
integration. As countries re-align, Canada sits passively in the NAFTA
protectionist fortress, emerging only to champion ill-conceived, dangerous and
downright criminal American trade initiatives on public services, investment and
intellectual property.

Duncan Cameron is associate publisher
of http://www.rabble.ca/

He writes from Vancouver. His column appears each Wednesday.

Thirdly, if we must copy another nation why not consider the example of Norway?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10415.htm

Just a few thoughts from the faerieshaman....Be well, Be aware, be discerning...it is our country!

The Gift of Gay Spirituality

The Gift of Gay Spirituality

Homosexuality is one of God’s most significant gifts to humanity.

How are same-sex relationships a means of grace for the persons involved and how is it that people, who live, in such unions move towards sainthood through the struggle which are particular to them?

Christian gays possess a charism which is analogous of a religious vocation. The gay person’s charism is a sexual charism. (2) Gay sexuality is a fact of creation.

All charisms converge in the task of raiding up the God hidden in our world and our lives. (3)

Sexuality and Spirituality

James Nelson writes and I believe the body/soul dualism prevalent in Western Society is undergoing a shift which is re-integrating the two. ( 3)

The Gay man cannot wait for the tradition to tell him how to think and feel about God and how his experience can contribute to the overall understanding of the God reality today. He needs to trust his experience of God.

New Age Victimization

Thinking about the blog entries, I have been writing. I realize readers may see how cynical and judgemental I am about others. Then I realized this is the place where I can rant and rave. I can voice my anger at the injustices around me. Anger is a great healer and motivator if it can be harnessed. Writing about it exercises it and helps ot let it go.

A professor at the Vancouver School of Theology remarked that the reading, in Scripture where Jesus used a whip in the overturning of the tables at Temple in Jerusalem, indicated that he "fashioned" the whip. This means he thought about his anger and that it was clear and focussed. He meditated about it. Jesus is not meek and mild in this situation!

I have been reading Golden Men: The power of Gay Mid-life.

http://gaytoday.badpuppy.com/garchive/reviews/060500re.htm

The book defines the difference between reaction and response. Reaction is impulsive not focussed or thought about. It is action without careful thought or meditation. Response is focussed, clearly defined and understands the real reason for the anger. Angry response can be appropriate and measured and it has a greater chance of being heard.

Our society has become so afraid of offending and speaking truths about our living situation that people are rendered powerless. They are victims because they have allowed others to take away their voice, so that now all we hear are the voices of conservatism. When a belief system says, there is no right or wrong no good or evil, the default is no opinion is valid. New Age Thought is nihilist and nature and and makes victims. Why Do you think Neitzche was a favourite of Adolf Hitler and Mussolini?

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nietzsch.htm

The point is as humans we do not live life isolated in our own personal spheres, we interact with others all the time in our social and community lives. our task is to know ourselves so we can make the choices about our lives and our realtionships withour governments and our churches or faith communities. In Golden Men, the topics of gay personal values and ethics are discussed.

I choose every day to live in a certain way based on my values and my beliefs about other people and what I think are my responsiblities to myself and others. What are your values? We are proactive and able to make conscious choices about what values work for you and which don't. I am working at responding to others rather than reacting, hopefully my anger will be "fashioned" in such a way. It will be heard. It is time to make our politicians, our governments and other institutions responsible and accountable to us!

Consciousness, choice, and CHANGE...

the faerieshaman...

Onward Christian Soldiers.........

Has anyone noticed the inconsistencies in the "dominant" institutions that influence our lives. The Roman Catholic church has announced a policy and a strategy to weed out gay men from the seminaries. Forget the idea that G-d may call a gay man to the priesthood. The homophobic men who run the church know G-d so well that neither women nor gay men need consider being a priest. Meanwhile back at the Vatican, His Holiness, the Fuhrer Papa is refusing to co-operate in the search and arrest of a man charged with war crimes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4263426.stm

Then there is the pentagon, the collective embodiement of the religious fuhrer in a temple dedicated to the G-d Mars and the glory of imperial war to uphold the Pax Americana. Here homophobia reigns supreme and in tandem with the church universal. A policy is now in place discontinuing the "don't ask, don't tell" of dealing with gays in the military which has discharged some from even exercising a misguided but nonetheless genuine will to serve the country. Now a such discharges will cease due to the fact that the numbers are needed in Iraq and the country really does need its gay soldiers! Any self respecting gay person inthe American miltitary must feel like cannon fodder at this moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4296325.stm

Here is the clincher!

http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0921-01.htm

It reminds me of the proverb, "just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean people aren't out to get you!" So yes, the U.S. is not executing their Gay population like in Iran. (see http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2005/09/20/3)

But the institutions that predominate in life in the United States, church and state are working together to say, "if you are gay then you had better be invisible or at the most be willing to die for us when we deem you necessary and useful."

Come to think of it, the inconsistencies work for both the military and the Roman Catholic Church. One operates on the premise that human life is expendable in the service of the nation regardless of the justification of the cause and the latter, the church preaches love for those who are willing to conform and anathema to those who are wanting to be themselves; gay people who have a faith in that tradition of the Christian church.

the faerieshaman....says......"the success of gay marriage in Canada is such a crumb compared to the vocal opposition of men like Stephen Harper, Peter MacKay, Preston Manning and the conservative churches in Canada. I hope the reality south of the 49th parallel is enough to stop us from becoming too complacent because there but for the grace of Canada go us!"

A Tribute and a Raspberry

I want to pay tribute to Rick Barnes, a fellow blogger. I am so impressed with the sophistication and the range of topics of his blog. I would like to ask him to do a "workshop" on blogging at Gayway in Vancouver. I'd sign up! The following link will take you to his site.

http://queerthoughts.blogspot.com/

A friend chatted with me in the doctor's waiting room the other day. He was very concerned, apparently, a doctor at this particular clinic told him to go back to work. The doctor cited HIV is now a chronic managable disease and that his lab numbers were very good. I have heard this doctor say this before. He spouted the same rot at the unveiling of the AIDS Memorial in Vancouver.

My friend said he is probably doing well because of the fact that he does not have the stress of work. He has not worked for years and even the thought of returning to work scares him.
Thanks doc!

I have had problems with this doctor in my few years here in Vancouver too. He seems to feel the necessity to tell you with an air of authority and superiority what you should do and don't ever assume to talk back if you feel you have a say in your own health program.

HIV is an episodic and cyclical condition that allows long periods, perhaps, of health and a sense of well being. I have had to work to maintain this status. Some days are better than others. This doctor obviously does not know what it is like to live with this disease. On this point alone, I think he ought to be more senstive to people.

If he can't do that than he should go and work for one off the insurance companies, at least there his attitude would be more appropos not to mention appreciated. He could also continue his high life of fancy clothes and continue to pretend he is god's gift to the male world and in particular the gay community. Although he might find his income less after all he makes his living off us poor blighters who are HIV positive.

Do I sound bitter? Well, I don't want to feel as though men like myself should be treated poorly. Some of us do work, some of us handle being HIV positive better than others. So what? What I am trying to say is no one knows how much energy it takes to live with this fucking illness.

Those of us who are HIV positive and able to find work with an understanding employer are fortunate. I know I have been putting my resume out there and have had little success. Some afternoons I am so exhausted and my head aches hurt so much that I am glad no one has called.

So here is a raspberry to Dr. Joss De Wet!

Two Tiered Law in Canada

One law for the rich and another law for the poor in Canada. Yesterday, as I was passing a newspaper box with a headline saying something about a 1.5 million dollar fraud and John Coffin with suspended sentence, I heard a member "of the great unwashed" comment on the leniency of the sentence.

Well, I take it that that is the word on the street. If you are Marc Emery or some other individual who dares to do something wrong and if you are below a certain income level, you are asking for trouble. There won't be as much leniency. I heard somehwere along my years that is is important how it looks rather than how it actually is in practice. I have to say it looks pretty doubius when white collar crime nets wealth and little penalty other than a slap on the wrist.

Oh well, dear Alphonse, who said life was fair....next time we feel smug about Canada maybe a reality check on how we deal with crime and punishment in this country.

faerieshaman

Private Health Care

I have noticed more and more procedures and check ups that had previously been done at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver are now being referred to private clinics and labs. This is most disturbing. Most of us are not concerned with billing and how the government pays for our services, but my intuition is telling me that we should be asking questions.

My husband had an eye appointment with a doctor who seemed more concerned with getting through her workload before she took her holiday than really being present with her patient.

What is evolving is private medicine funded by public monies. Where is the quality assurance when the end user/ the patient is not paying for the service?

Just a thought from the faerieshaman.....

More Families in the Bonaventure

Call me, super sensitive. But the Executive Director of Wings Housing has the annoying habit of referring to a man, woman and child /children configuration as a family. I am married to my partner and I consider we are a family. I know it is only a matter of semantics, but you know after the way "the right" is always using the family tag, I feel more than a little annoyed by this man.

He probably means he wants more families with children in the Bonaventure. But right now, I would have to warn any family with children that this is not the place to bring them. The same Executive Director has the habit of admitting folks with known drug problems that are far from being addressed.

I would not bring my children into this building without some guarantees that security and a code of behaviour, i.e abstinence from crystal methamphetamine is enforced rigidly. I believe the families who need housing deserve a safe environment.

If more families do move in, it would be nice to have some gay couples with children!

Troubling Times Indeed

These are troublingn times indeed. The CBC lock-out strike continues, Bill Graham, our Minister of Defence is reported to be on the verge of a cross country tour to tell us we are about to lose soldiers in Afghanistan.

I caught myself yesterday thinking of Miss Irene Macaulay who was my next door neighbour in my childhood. She was adamant that the Canadian Ensign should remain the flag of Canada because our soldiers had shed their blood for it in two world wars. She did allow that for Pearson's rag to have any meaning at all it would have to have some history and some blood shed for it. She had a right to say these things, after all, her father had voted for Sir John A. MacDonald!

Now 40 years later, we have had soldiers serve and die under the Maple Leaf Flag. Our CBC has faithfully given us news reports, investigative reports, barbed political comedy and documentaries that have been different and braver than those aired in the corporate media. Our Prime Minister, Paul Martin has said, the investiture of our new Governor General may be in jeopardy because neither he nor Ms. Jean will cross [CBC] picket lines. Ms. Jean has been an employee of Radio Canada and so her unwilingness to cross the picket line is even more relevant. The date of her investiture was suppose to have been September 27th.

I believe it is time to recognize the importance of the CBC to our national ethos and tell the PM to get off his duff and tell Mr. Rabinovitch at the CBC to start making a deal, so when our soldiers do their duty and give their lives CBC will be reporting. There are more important issues than those keeping our news service from the air waves!

oh and....long may it wave our boast and pride, the Maple Leaf Forever!

But I am only the faerieshaman.

I've Finally Got it!

Why do people litter?

The amount of litter on the street is a direct indication of the level of hopefulness in the general population. I have reached this conclusion once I came to understand who is doing the littering and the increase in the litter in Vancouver's West End over the last three to four years.

Mayencourt's Safe Streets Act and his personal quest to ameliorate bullying in the province's schools have been feeble attempts at making it look like he has been working hard! However, I believe, Katrina's truth shows here in Canada as well. The latest edition of X-tra West reports Gay men are now an underserved population compared to the Intravenous Drug Users; and funding for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Strategy on both the federal and provincial levels have not increased since the 1990s. But both gay men and HIV funding are great themes for political promises and the posturing of politicians, but like Katrina's revelation the amount of gargbage on the streets and the increase in panhandlers and drug dealer's in the West End of Vancouver are showing us how well our politicians are serving us.

They're not serving us.

Carole Taylor's show off of her 15 year old red shoes which she had resouled for her budget is enough to make one vomit. What a show of poor taste and lack of social awarness. Ms.Taylor is the kind of woman Samson's Mother warned him about! In my estimation both the BC Liberals and the Provincial New Democrats have a great deal of work to do, if they intend to prove they have the ability and/or the poltitical will to make substantive meaningful policies and programs. All Canadian political parties should realize by now, that the Canadian cultural ethos does not support a 100% approval of a laissez-faire political approach to corporations and other forms of big business. The policies of George W. Bush are not favoured on the Canadian scene. So our politicians should get over themselves and start thinking about what they can do for the people of Canada and British Columbia. ( Alberta is a special consideration!)

And so, I hope I don't find myself buried in garbage and litter this time next year as the level of hopelessness in the citizenry increases, but quite frankly I have little hope of any change.

Be well. be active and be activist....

the faerieshaman

Two Personas, One Body

War is present reality in the world. I know the U.S. is at war with insurgents? in Iraq, but I am talking about my war. When I was growing up I needed the security of certainty. I had an affinity for the elder woman next door and my closest friends were the elders of the neighborhood. Most of them had lived in the same house for their enire lifetimes.

My values resembled their values. I assumed the tenacity for which the themes of God, Church, Queen, Country, family, and neighborhood were a central key to the meaning of life.

To be gay, I have played with other realities and also lived a challenge to the values I hold. I enjoy being radical, mainly because I know there are some values common to both sides of my life. The traditionalist is integrated, at the best of my times, with the radical. But there are moments or times when an inner war erupts. This usually happens when I am feeling unwell and depressed. Then I "become old" and my sense of playfulness turns from cheer to cynicism and derision. The best I can do is understand myself and be conscious of the fact that my "reactions" are different from my "responses."

My reactions are unconscious and immediate to others around me and the situation in which I live. If I respond, it is thoughtful and based on how I am feeling and what I think is happening for me. I think it is essential for me to understand my social formation and hope it plays into my non-conformity. Am I rebelling for the sake of rebeling and pushing people and situations away from me or am I rebelling because I want to prove how silly and anachronistic are some of our societal rules?

Who is in charge of gender rules? What keeps us from really telling our politicians we want better and that they are accountable to us? Why do we take prescribed medications without question? Do we always need someone to tell us how we feel and why do some of us always look to "an authority" outside of our own experience? My faith and who I am are the result of the values I have practiced in my life. Now is my time to become ever more conscious of those values and decide which I want to keep and which I want to discard. But I realize I can never really escape from my past even if I can't go back. I have changed through the years.

What is your inner war?

the faerieshaman

George W. 's Feelings are Hurt!

Well it is official. One of the thousands of casualities of Hurricane Katrina is George W. Bush's heart and feelings.

Two-thirds of Americans think President George W. Bush could have done more to tackle the floods and damage in the south, one opinion poll suggests.

One member of Mr Bush's staff said such allegations "broke his heart".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4229238.stm

Well, read on, dear reader and see if your heart bleeds for Mr. Bush?

http://newstatesman.com/nscoverstory.htm

Can you guess, what his ole Christian heart may be praying for on his proclaimed day of prayer (Sept 16th) ? He will be grandstanding some more and praying for redemption in the eyes of the electorate!

Well, folks, before redemption comes accounting....perhaps my U.S. relatives ought to re-read the Declaration of Independence and see if it needs to be re-visited for King George Bush II.

It is not a Secret.....take back the church!

I have always been influenced by John Wesley and my understanding of the Gospel of the Warm Heart.

http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2001/05/daily-05-24-2001.shtml

Wesley believed we are all perfect and at one with the Divine. There is nothing to do, but come to that awareness. The world is full of promise, but one must to the personal work to fulfill one's own potential.

The joy of this knowledge was enough, said Wesley, to foment great community work. The obstacles in life and the shit we endure is the process of growth and "sanctification." We grow in greater knowledge and certainty of the love that binds all of creation including ourselves. We are being perfected.

Wesley was known for his activism. He set up drug dispensaries for the poor of Britain and had his society members take blankets into the French prisoners held after one of Britian's wars. This was done because the authorities would not give blankets to the cold prisoners.

Wesley told the wealthy that the poor were perhaps more welcome to the gifts of earth and heaven than those in the upper classes. One Lady said, Wesley was a horrid man for insisting that her chamber maid was equal to her! One can only imagine what Wesley would be saying to George W. Bush and the privileged goverment class in the U.S. and around the world.

Are there others in the Vancouver area willing to form a Methodist society to take back the church? The "Free Methodists" have already moved in to Canada from the United States and you can bet it does not resemble the canadian understanding of John Wesley's mission.

http://www.fmc-canada.org/

THe United Church of Canada is closer to the Canadian methodist understanding of mission and activism. The United Church supports same sex marriage and confidnetly ordains all persons so called to ministry in the church. Beware of imports form the United States!!!

be well, be Gay, be non-Gay, be happy becuase you are worth it!

the faerieshaman

Individual freedom meet Community Boundaries

I have been wrestling with the ideas of what are personal freedoms or liberties and where are the natural boundaries or limits. For instance, am I free to litter my neighborhood if I feel it is my personal right to do so?

Does my personal liberty enable me to make the choice to indulge in drugs or alcohol to the point where I am inebriated and "disorderly" on the street? Are there to be no sanctions against inappropriate behaviour? Do we still have societal norms that reflect pride of self and care for the community?

These are a few questions, I think beg to be considered. Classical Liberalism with its empahsis on the freedom of the market and captitalism have come into full play and human worth is not to be considered unless it has monetary value and the power of consumption of material means. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous German theologian, forsaw a "religionless world" where the trauma of the second world war would give rise to "secularism."

Secularism is the un-cola to the Colas of the world's religions. The Christianity of North America and Europe is in large part "religionless" contrary to all popular perceptions. It's manical tendency to hold on to the political ideology, requires people to fall into lock step with the secular and the patriotic vision of buying to support the economy.

Bonhoeffer would say, the real church stands in protest and there is a personal cost to each member. " The cost of discipleship" requires me to have a "yes and a no." Discipleship requires I recognize my responsiblity to myself and to my community to be the best possible me.

Where in this world are people to go in order to learn their human worth and value?

The religions of the world have abrogated this duty by taking either no stance on societal issues or adopting a feel good approach to social justice on the one hand, or on the other, they busy themselves proping up the neo-conservative agenda and practising the spread of fear, lies and false judgment that undermine the value of all of life.

The "religionless" church or Christianity along with a heavy infusion of secularism promotes the type of reality revealed in the wake of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. Maybe, just maybe, G-d does reveal the truth; the truth that a "heavily influenced Christian" government fosters widespread poverty because of its strangled hold on the wealth of the United States to provide for the rich and leave the poor to their own devices. The lie revealed is that the United States is not a Christian country!

Keep this in mind when you hear a religious person attack you for being gay and remember the person speaking is not a Christian. My personal liberty entitles me to equality but my communitarian values prevent me from littering the streets and doing drugs that make me a nuisance in my neighborhood.

be well....and for whatever spiritual path you are on, choose well the manner in which you walk because people will judge the path by the person on it.

the faerieshaman

Radical?

In my short time as a "radical" faerie, I learned for the faeries radical is meant to refer to "origin" as back to the root or essence of our beginning. Of course, the far more universal connotation is that "radical" means revolutionary against the norm or status quo.

A few days ago, I once again, began delving into my family origins and realized how connected I am to my family history. I am descended from Jabesh Cabel Squires, a young man who emigrated from Fairfield Connecticut to New Brunswick Canada with his father Seth in 1783. Apparently Seth Squires had been neutral until he was requested to serve with the rebels in 1779 at which he point he moved his family behind the British lines.

I am very proud of the history of this branch of my family as well as very grateful. I live in a country which is becoming more and more estranged and unfamiliar with its own history. So I am intrigued with the thought that as a a gay man, I am very different, perhaps, from my family history and traditions and yet, who knows how many ancestors concealed their sexual nature in orer to conform to the societal and cultural norms?

How many eccentric elderly loners in my family clan were actually the "radical" antecedents of who I am today with the freedom to celebrate my sexuality and be married to a man I love very much. For me, a tension exists between the two meanings of the word "radical."

I felt this as I wrote out the generations and their respective spouses from Jabesh and Martha Hammond ( in Canada) through to me and my beloved Michael Saya. Right before my eyes was a list of pairings, from 1799 to 2005, from one generation to the next. I gave thanks for the courage of Seth and Jabesh to stand against the popular trend to join the revolutionary cause stirring in the New England colonies. Staying true to their heart, they were themselves as "radical" as the revolutionaries.

Seth returned to Connecticut later, but he left his son Jabesh to raise a family in New Brunswick. I suspect Seth missed his family and the established community of Fairfield Connecticut. Perhaps being older made it harder for him to face building a new life in a "less established" community.

I am Kevin Saya-Moore, son of Margaret Caldwell, daughter of Jessie Squiers, daughter of Hanford Lee Squires, son of Thomas, son of Seth Squires, son of Jabesh Cabel Squires, son of Seth Squires who returned to his home in Connecticut.

I am the faerie shaman.......Be Blessed be well....

The Fall of Western Civilization

I have felt over the last year as though it is of utmost importance to re-connect to community. By community, I mean the local and nearby people who share your neighborhood. I try to support Canadian manufactures and I attempt to purchase local produce when and if I can afford it. I choose products carefully, thinking about the impact on the environment and I am always aware of where I am falling short in my daily practices in this regard. But awareness is a beginning.

Globalization is a failure! Others have said it before me and I am sure the lessons of Katrina ( in the United States) and other events will teach us to be more reliant on the local area where we live. It does not mean I am unconcerned with events around the world, it means I can only depend on my surrounding community and the networks I create to be of mutual inter-dependence.

The following article, Ancient Rome on the Potomac, stresses the point that government(s) has become overstretched and awkward and cannot be relied on to deliver emergency services.


http://www.thebusinessonline.com/Stories.aspx?StoryID=4F85CC8E-51F7-429A-A3DF-D63ADA812B2E&SectionID=F200D393-0200-421B-894F-33C0717ACBD6

Be well...the faerieshaman

Observations from Afar

Watching the reaction of humanity to the disaster along the Gulf Coast of the U.S. prompts me to wonder "how thin is the thread of civilization" holding us all together. All day today, I have listened to news reports that said the shooting and anarchy was not like America. I posit it is the true side of the United States of America. The poor are left to their own devices after those who were rich enough to drive away in their cars to safety did just that.

This is the price and the cost of unbrideled corporate capitialism operating without due regard to the needs of the entire community. One commentator over the last few days stated all the anti-trust laws against monopoly and economic oligarchy have been repealed or muted. The destruction and the tragedy is too much and yet, the inhumanity of the operating systems in the United States has been revealed. These same forces of economic stratification are operating in Canada too, let's not fool ourselves.

Walking in the Davie Village tonight, I saw a man casually throw litter on to the street as he walked along. A proverb repeated by my grandmother came to mind, "tis a dirty bird that fouls it's own nest." I see this as an example of the same sort of disregard for community and a lack of self-respect. What is operating in our culture or civilization that promotes the break down of civic pride and responsibilty as well as care for others? I am not so sure that Vancouver would remain civilized for very long in an emergency like that in New Orleans. I hope and pray, we never find out.