Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Vote!

It was election day here in Ontario yesterday. Time to decide who will lead our cities for the next four years. Since I turned 18, I have never missed the chance to cast my ballot in any election. And my husband and I have told our kids ad nauseam about how they need to vote every chance they get...

Last night at dinner, I found out that none of my kids discussed the election in any class today. Their teachers do not like to talk about politics in front of students, they said. And none of the students seemed overly interested in the election either, despite the fact that municipal elections are the ones that most directly impact their lives. 

How is it that a generation of teenagers, who seem intent on changing the entire world any chance they get, showed so little interest in doing something about it?

It was the same for the adults, though. Just over 40% -about 42% - of the city's population actually went out and voted. 

42%.

Not even half of the entire city thought it was important enough to cast their vote.

And yet, those people who didn't vote, will most certainly be very loud when things don't go the way they want in this city, won't they?

I'm of the opinion that if you don't vote, you shouldn't get to complain about politicians or how our city is run. Maybe some of the non-voters thought that their vote didn't count; that their vote wouldn't make a difference to the outcome in their area. And maybe they were right. But maybe, just maybe, their vote would have been the one to force changes. To make our city an even better place to live, and to raise a family in. 

Maybe, non-voters, you should remember all those cities and countries where people do not have a say in what their government does, or in who runs their country and their lives.

Maybe, next time, be grateful that you live in a country where democracy still wins.

Thursday, October 18, 2018

I live in Canada.

In a country that as of October 17, 2018, has legalized pot.

What the hell are we thinking?

Haven't we spent decades teaching about addiction?

How many lectures and tv ads did we watch in the 1980's about how we were just supposed to say no?

How many friends have I watched destroy their lives by smoking pot every day?

We know that habitual drug use is bad for us, and yet, somehow, the Prime Minister of this country thinks it's a good idea to make this crap legal.

Because it will kill the drug trade, he says.

Um, no. No, it won't.

Because the legal pot is only going to be sold in a select few places across the country. Which means that most Canadian potheads are still going to get their poison from their regular drug dealer. And for cheaper than buying it in a government run store.

And it's still going to be garbage that kills you.

"Pot doesn't kill", say some. "You can't o.d. on weed."

But you can get paranoid. You can stop caring about anything other than getting high every day. You can stop caring about personal hygiene. You can start using other drugs and alcohol to get high. Which can, and does, lead to death.

Some days you gotta wonder, just how stupid are some people?

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Write.

For years, I have sat in prayer, and asked God to tell me what He wants me to do with my life.

The answer is always the same.

Write.

But what?

That's what I always come back with.

What do you want me to write?

It's strange for someone who can sit and blather on for a very long time about almost nothing to be unable to think of words to put down on paper (ok, type) when she sits to work.

Does that make sense?

Sigh.

Probably not.

Not a lot of my life makes sense right now.

I am not where I thought I would be when I pictured this moment in life.

I turned 50 almost exactly six months ago,

This was supposed to be my year.

I turned 50.

Oldest kid turned 18 and graduated from high school.

Second kid turned 16. 

20th wedding anniversary.

All these big things, none of which has turned out exactly how I envisioned they would.

Does it ever?

Really?

I mean, does life ever turn out the way we hope or plan?

I have a friend who seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into a depression.  She has had sick parents and in-laws to deal with, on-going fights with siblings, an economy that seems to have knocked her down more times than you can count - well, I guess that's all of us, really - but as I was listening to her talk about the stuff she's had to deal with lately, I started to wonder, "Is this all there is? We get a few good years here and there, and then we get shipped off to depressing spaces where we lose our memory and our autonomy?"

I don't want my life to look like that. "Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light..." (Dylan Thomas)

The meaning of Thomas' poem is clearly about living life to the fullest.

I can't say I've been doing that.

But I want to.

And I'm going to.