Fighting Battles You Can Not Win

Five decades ago, I was enrolled at George Brown College in the Child Care Worker (now call Child and Youth Worker) program. One of the things that I learnt there was that when working with children, one should never start battles that you can not win. Equally as important - never start a battle in which the cost of winning is higher than the benefits of winning. It seems to me as if the US Democrats could have learnt a valuable lesson if they had attended those classes with me.

While it is tempting to believe that Trump's numerous misdeeds, missteps, outright lies and generally un-presidential behaviours are so obvious that anyone and everyone would vote to impeach him, that clearly is not the case. Moreover, to make that assumption that the US Senate, with its Republican majority would vote against Trump or even ensure that there could be a fair and unbiased hearing -clearly suggests that US Democrats live on a different planet than the rest of us.

It is not clear to me why the US Democrats bothered with the impeachment process. They must have known that the hell would have to freeze over before the Senate would vote to impeach their president. To an outside observer, the fact that the Republican-dominated Senate was allowed to decide on whether or to not allow any testimony is clearly absurd. To ignore the overwhelming amount of evidence that something happened (to decide whether or not it was right or wrong is why we have trials) is, at the very least, irresponsible. However, for the Democrats to pretend that there could have been a fair and impartial hearing of all of the facts was, from the very beginning, pure fantasy. At best, all the Democrats have done is to prove that they are as partisan and as tunnel-visioned as their Republican counterparts.

As an outside, occasional observer - it is good theatre. I suspect for many citizens of the US it is boring,  predictable and in fact not very entertaining. While many of the commentators, or at least those who pretend to be neutral,  liked to suggest that there was something to talk about, that some glorious truths would be revealed - everyone knew that that would not happen. The game was rigged before the judge sat down. By engaging in this farce - in fact, being, at the very least, co-creators of it, the Democrats have demonstrated that their capacity to run the country is as limited as the Republicans. They could have taken the high road and at least tried to make the country work, they could have tried to show that there were alternatives. Instead, they just showed that they were politicians and not very good ones.

I predict that Trump, next November will be elected for his second term. There is no one who, at present is running for the position who has any hope of generating a significant movement away from Trump. And that is a very sad prediction.

Flying on the State's Dime?

I can only imagine the horror and frustration of being a visitor stuck in a place where, whether it is true or not, it feels as if everyone around you is either sick with a sometimes deadly disease or are about to get that disease. If you do go out to buy food - you and everyone else are wearing masks. There are no planes, trains or buses leaving the area and at any rate, you do not want to be with other people in case they are contagious. All you want to do is to get back to Canada - except there are no flights. What is the first thing you and your relatives do? It appears that you demand that Canada do something to solve your problem.

I am never sure if it is the government's responsibility to get citizens out of trouble. I appreciate why one would want the state to do something - individuals must feel powerless. While we generally want the state to stay out of our lives, in times of crisis we expect them to quickly become directly involved. It reminds me of living with a teenager who communicates by slamming doors but then has the audacity to ask for a drive to the mall - then gets upset when you can't do it right away. If we expect that the government has the responsibility to intervene when we ask - then perhaps the government has the right to demand the same level of support from its citizens. It so frequently feels as if assisting citizens in trouble is a one-way street.

However, it is the accepted convention that countries do assist their citizens when they are in difficulty. Or at least they try to. It becomes more difficult when the county is far away and there are relatively few citizens who need rescuing. It seems to me that there are probably not a lot of aeroplanes large enough to fly from central China to North America just hanging around on some runway - waiting to be used. Secondly, I suspect that it is partially the cost - who pays for the flight on an aeroplane that might be half empty? As well, if I was an airline attendant - I am not sure if you could pay me enough to take the risk.

And there would be risks being on a plane full or at least half full of people escaping from the area that is the epicentre of a potential worldwide epidemic. Everyone could wear masks, although there is no scientific proof that an N95 mask does anything to stop the spread of the virus. For people such as myself with a beard, (admittedly my beard may be fuller than some) because a tight seal cannot be achieved, a mask would do little to protect myself or others.  Even if the Canadian citizens were rescued - would they agree to be placed in quarantine for the week or two?

My tax dollars will be used to assist people and I am glad that I live in a country where this is possible. I just wish that those being rescued were a bit more gracious as to how they ask for help or demonstrated some sort of gratitude from benefiting from the largesse of a government who accepts that they can never do enough, fast enough for some people.

Beauty Destroyed -One Sign at a Time

It is common for folks to say that they live in a beautiful part of the country. And they are always right. Every part of this country holds a unique beauty - whether it is the countless Prairie fields filled with incredible yellow canola, the soft blue of flax flowers or huge sunflower plants slowly twisting on their stocks as the sun moves across the sky; whether it is that first glimpse of the mountains an hour or so west of Calgary or the glory of the Canadian shield reflected in the majesty of Lake Superior; whether it is the Gatineau Hills, or those hills around Huntsville showing off their autumn colours - it is an extraordinary land. It doesn't matter whether one is on the ferry to Salt Spring Island or to Argentia, Newfoundland - there is never any doubt that one is being transported to a different world. Every square inch of this land is wonderful and it should be treasured.

The Cowichan Valley with its rivers, its ocean beaches, its sometimes dark forest and generally its benign climate is one of those spots whose beauty deserves to be mentioned. But it is less beautiful than it used to be.

On the Trans-Canada just south of the town of Duncan, on the east side of the highway, there has sprouted up a plethora of large billboards. To be specific - there are large 13 signs jammed into less than 500 metres. The signs are ugly, tacky and a blight on the environment. I suspect as well, that they are highly distracting. I am not sure if anyone actually is swayed to buy whatever is advertised on this large, brightly coloured signs, but to me - there are so many in such a short space that I am overwhelmed, my eyes and brain cannot possibly take in all or any of the information. But the temptation is to try and catch all of the messages as I zip by them - as opposed to watching the cars around me.

From the logo on the signs, it would appear that there are two different companies that have constructed the structures to hold the signs. I assume those two companies pay rent to whoever owns the land and in turn charge a fee to those who which to advertise their products or services. If I could see who was advertising - I would be tempted to write to each of the companies and tell them that I will never buy from them.

There are many ways to let me people know what is available to buy or use - we do not need the roadside littered with ugly commercials.