02:44 - 08.06.06
Se habla espagnol - not
I signed up for a workshop scheduled a couple of weeks from now. It was strange that it showed up when it did, but the invitation came by email from one of the organizations I think does a really good job with education and the environment. The last event I went to of theirs was about the Kyoto protocol and the right of everyone has to clean air and water. Hmmmm.
It has been raining for a while now and I feel 100% better. Nothing like Mother Nature to wash away the toxins, is there. I spent the day cleaning as much as I could manage and job searching. Today I found several likely prospects - for my sons. A couple of them aren't really all that happy with where they are. These offer training as well as income. Take it while you can, I think. There was one posting that fascinated me .... one of those really BIG leaps of faith. Need to sleep on it since that choice would have big repercussions for other people too.
I joined one of those free trading sites a couple of days ago just to see how they operate. It is basically like an on-line garage sale, only no money or other specie is allowed in a transaction. One simply gives things away as a gift. The one sour note was when I read one of the polls run by one of the traders. They wanted anyone who was down on their luck eliminated from using the site. Does that make any sense to you, dear diary? It is wonderful that one can pick up luxuries like home and garden decorations, but why begrudge someone something essential like food or clothing because they are poor. To me that makes no sense. It isn't the first time I've encountered such behaviour though. One of the things the umbrella group of parents councils for this city did was run a "coats for kids" program while I was part of the organization. Winter clothing is extraordinarily expensive, but it is not an option when temperatures can drop into the -30's and that without a wind chill rating. I recall mornings in the not-too-distant past when the radio announcer was intoning "and with the wind chill factor the temperature feels like it is -70". No kidding. Yet when we presented our plea for used coats to one of the most affluent parent councils in the city - our very well off city - the response of several of the parents was that they had already done their charity for the year. They had bagged up some used books from their school library, they proclaimed, and sent those to one of the poorest schools. They added in the totally non sequiter that they were having a huge parking lot built at their own expense next to the school so that their beamers had a nice home away from home, don't you know. What has that got to do with coats one knows their children will never wear again sitting in storage somewhere in their nanny's suite. Sorry rant over. Whatsoever you do to the least of these my brothers .....
On a slightly different track, it is like the story of one of the survivors of a car accident that I helped care for years ago. He was a very handsome young man with a Phd in some obscure but very impressive branch of physics. Coming home from a vacation in our sister province to the west, his van was broadsided by someone else. The van rolled and he ended upbeing paralyzed from the waist down. There was no disfiguration or other damage to him. He was fully functional except he needed a wheelchair to get around. On his first day trip out of the hospital after that accident his wife took him to a restaurant. Some jerk at another table made a big fuss and said having to look at this poor man made him sick and he didn't want to have to try to eat with him in the same restaurant. In that case the manager politely walked the jerk out of the restaurant and apologized to our patient. That patient tried very hard not to let it bother him, but it brought home to him the fact that the rest of his life would include being blindsided by other people's ignorance and intolerance of his disability. Not much has changed either from what I've witnessed downtown from time to time. If people are perceived to be in a vulnerable position, for whatever reason, there are always those cretins who feel that gives them permission to take another swipe or two at them for good measure. Anyway, one of the other free trading participants was quite disgusted with the responses of some of the traders and started her own site to help those who are down on their luck out. I emailed to see if I could be helpful in some way. I don't have much that is worth trading, but maybe there are other things I can help with - like job searches or whatever. We'll see.
There are some people that are panicking a bit about the arrests made a couple of days ago of some suspected terrorists. I don't understand the attitude though. When I was volunteering for the local Amnesty International group it was well known among us - by the phone calls and letters we received - that there were at least a dozen groups from the IRA to the Tamil Tigers fundraising and recruiting in Canada in the 1980s and 90s. Add in the RCMP reports on the white supremacists and the Militia that operate out of the US states that share our southern border and the gangs/arms/drugs dealers and where is the surprise, people. That is one the of topics that some members of my family have told me not to raise at family gatherings. At least not until it's in the news. Instead the BIG news is this date with the devil. Only if one uses the Gregorian Calendar. Personally I prefer the Chinese one, but that's another story. Then there is the denial of having any inkling of it before the story broke a few days ago. Yes, well anyway.
Some really cool things on the web today: this citizen driven movement for green energy - go Ontario! And , finally, detente between journalists and the blogging community. The writer acknowledges that there is room for everyone when it comes to keeping our leaders accountable. It isn't a criticism of the media per se just an acknowledgement that everyone is responsible for who we accept with respect to our own governance. That is what citizenship means after all. In arts and entertainment - great directors and videographers. The cats are starting to make their displeasure at the fact their pillow isn't co-operating so I'd better go oblige them so as to keep the peace. Good night dear diary.
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