FAFO

I don't really know what to talk about today. So I guess I will freestyle it. 

It feels like we are on a precipice. The choices we make now will dictate the actions of many in the future. 

Remember when you were a kid and started to notice the correlation between action and consequence? When you started to learn that maybe you shouldn't do that thing because it won't end well? The internet has a new term for it, f*** around and find out. I love it. I substitute the first word because swears. But the message is really there.

It feels like there are a bunch of people right now that have forgotten how things go when you forget the difference between liberty and freedom. Liberty is when you have the freedom to participate in actions that are considered socially acceptable. The things we all do as a society to keep each other safe and happy. Some people have decided that freedom means that they get to do whatever they want whenever they want to. They don't care about other people's rights because they matter. I am almost certain that there is no pre-thought as to how much their choices are impacting other people. But, by the time they would usually think about it, they are so convinced of their righteousness that they can't be talked down.

The flippant side of me says that we should send down a whole bunch of grandparents with wooden spoons to maybe remind these groups of what happened when you eff around and find out. The police and military don't seem to feel the need to step in and urge correct actions. 

Above the anger that I feel at these people, the despair that I feel about how these people think they speak for my country is the knowledge that if these were Indigenous people the blockades would be over. It would have been ended with bloodshed, bullets, and arrests. 

I think it's time that these people relive that part of childhood where we learned what happens when we act out and can't play nice. 

Where I come from is kind of a lesson in opposites. The tiny rock in the north Atlantic is constantly buffeted by winds and ocean spray. The ground doesn't grow more than moss and misshapen trees. The living is hard and you would think that the people would be as well. Instead, they are the warmest and most loving people you can find. They would do just much for a stranger as for a friend. They are not quiet people, voices for the most part are loud enough to hear over a band playing in a crowded bar. They have radars for bullies and will not stand for it. 

For today's song, I picked a Newfie protest song. I guess it can be interpreted in many ways and this is one. Rant and Roar by Great Big Sea. It's how I feel right now.

The track is a traditional song that is actually titled "The Ryans and the Pittmans". It is originally a love story and sea shanty all in one. The original version was written in 1875, then the Newfies got a hold of it and it was printed in 1912's "Old Songs of Newfoundland". Some of the places mentioned in the song are in and around Placentia Bay. Which is where my mom's family originates. I am going to listen to this song today and yell out some rage as I drive.