1st World Problems

   There's been a lot of anger.  People are nearing the end of their ropes and the actions of others are impacting our lives in ways never seen before.  As I said yesterday, I love this country. I am proud to be Canadian. I am proud of the work we do as peacekeepers, we are known as the guys. Our world has gotten smaller as the internet has grown. Camera phones are everywhere and everything can be shared in an instant. The world is watching us.  We need to stop picking up the worst parts of other cultures/countries and taking them as our own. Last year I watched in terror as the US capitol building was stormed. There is so much violence in the world already. There is so much fear. And fear is so closely tied with anger. Due to the increase in media of all kinds, and the proliferation of social media, in particular, we no longer listen to those who study and know. Instead, we listen to arguments we want to listen to. Ones that make us feel like we are right, no m...

 Every day I am bombarded with someone's social media post or a news article about Freedom's being taken. It makes me sick. It makes me seethe with rage. A small vocal minority is spouting that their freedom has been violated. So much so that they dare compare it to the Holocaust. WTF!  First, let's set that one straight. Are you being herded into cattle cars to be taken to a concentration camp? Are you being marched into a "shower" to die? Just because you aren't vaccinated or are being asked to wear a mask? How dare you compare yourself to that. Men and Women fought for our freedom, for the freedom of millions of men, women, and children who were being slaughtered. How dare you!  My wife and I have read the research, studied the facts, and believe in the science. We have done everything that has been asked of us for the last 22 months. We have isolated when needed, received multiple doses of a proven vaccine in order to protect our loved ones and friends. We...

Did anyone else have just a really rough weekend? I am not talking about family problems or anything like that. I mean more external pressure that you just couldn't shake? I felt as though I was on the verge of tears all weekend. Not because of anything that is happening to me personally but as a reaction to not only the group in Ottawa but also in seeing how many people I considered friends who completely bought into the rhetoric.  I am pro-democracy, I am pro having your say and protesting the things that you can't live with. But in this country, my home, I never thought that people I know would be ok with Nazi flags being flown. I never thought that my countrymen would throw rocks at ambulances, or dance and urinate on a cenotaph to fallen soldiers. Never thought that they would deface a Terry Fox statue. Do they really think he would be on their side? I am embarrassed by the people who call themselves patriots. Who goes to the capital and mocks indigenous drum circles, stea...

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.  It is also the day that the Red Army discovered and freed the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The Nazis knew the day was coming and had stepped up the murder of the residents. They had started to burn the evidence as they could and were marching the remaining prisoners to other camps that were further away from the oncoming Red Army and the other allies.  Until the Russians came upon this camp the world had no idea how terrible the war really was. Hospitals were set up and the survivors were treated. Russian soldiers handed out chocolate to the children . More than the chocolate the survivors told stories of the human kindness they were shown.  When I was in high school we spent a day at a local university learning about the holocaust, and we were given a chance to meet survivors. Each class was sent into separate rooms where a survivor would come in and share their story. When it was my class's turn to hear a survivor's story, a small ...

Let's talk about mental health. Not because a giant corporation has turned talking about mental health into basically an advertising campaign where they get to look like the good guys. Not because it's trendy to act like you're depressed, or to use your mental health as a crutch to blame things on. But because we don't talk about it enough.  Actual mental health and what that means was not something to be talked about up until the recent past. You didn't acknowledge what was going on, you just pushed through. Think about all the older members of your family. Think about how cold they seemed. Maybe they had addiction issues. Maybe there was a cycle of abuse that they perpetuated.  Most of this probably could have been somewhat helped if they could have talked about their feelings, or what was going on in their lives. If you've been reading what has become almost my diary for a while, you'll know that my grandmother is suffering from dementia and some other is...

After yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to keep it a little light today.  My daughter starts high school in the fall and last night we attended a virtual open house for the school she will be attending. We learned about the school motto, and who it was named after. We learned about the school's learning philosophy and about some of the features the school has to make it a place of learning. Including that there is a therapy dog in the form of a big, black lab that comes once a week.  Now that you know about the part I am most excited about, let's get to the point. I sat with her and we reacted to the presentation together, mostly in the form of laughing at something the other said. Then she got a little serious. It was during the part of the PowerPoint when they show all the different options that the school has.  I should have prefaced this by saying that there was another plan in place. She had planned to follow in her brother's footsteps by graduating from t...

It's another political post! Let me get a few things out of the way before I proceed. And yes, I did put my hair up before I started. I am very much pro-trucker. My dad was a driver, as was my husband. I know a lot of professional drivers and I know how much long-haul drivers sacrifice. Not only for their families but for the rest of us as well. Without drivers, like farmers, there would be nothing on the shelves if it weren't for the effort and time lost with their families. Now, to get on with the rest. Let's pretend that this movement is only about the new driver vaccine rule. The rule that has been put in place on both sides of the border. It is not only our government that has enacted this. America has now as well. I get it. We are all sick of the mandates, the masks, the drama of it all. The thing I am more sick of though is the overly vocal minority holding the rest of us hostage. I really don't care what people's statuses are. We all need to live our lives. ...