I haven’t been on the scale this morning but I have already read Richard who has made the plea to stay on goal, stay focused for the next 7 days (until January 2nd) and not enter 2011 with more weight. Sounds exactly like my plan and so I will do more exercises and choose wisely.
Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon and evening with friends. And I did say no to extra helpings (though I confess I did have seconds – I’d like to say healthy, the bean salad and the ham were, but I did have perogies and we know how lethal they are, but soooo good). My friend and her husband are terrific hosts and make their friends feel really welcome and cared for. And she's a fabulous cook as well. I console myself with the fact that we played active charades after dinner and maybe I burned a few ounces!
There were two other couples over one who I know quite well and then a couple I had only met once before. A very interesting couple, I like them very much. Now here is a fascinating thing about them, they are hippies from “back in the day”. However, here’s the oxymoron, he's ”a Capitalist (with a capital C)”, wife's quote. Explain that to me, please. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that the hippies of yore are ultra conservative, something my father and I had talked about years ago. I don’t understand how you can be anti-establishment then and now you are conservative and a capitalist. He was also against all government regulations, believing that companies can regulate themselves. Yeah right, we saw how well the U.S. banks did (are you still on your chair?). Hmmm. I could see everyone got uncomfortable when he and I got to arguing (in a polite way) and so I said to him, “I think we better stop but not because I can’t take the challenge. We’ll call it a draw for tonight, but I don’t want to disturb anyone else.” I think my friends thought I was defenceless! I actually enjoy “discussing” politics with people who know a something about the topic.
When I was a teenager I wasn’t a hippy, I didn’t think about being anti-establishment or going against the norm. But I did hold strong beliefs that weren’t generally accepted back then. I was pro-choice, I was against the war in Vietnam, I was a feminist and basically a socialist that believed taxes should be spent appropriately for the common good. I haven’t changed, I am pro-choice, I am against the war in Afghanistan, I am a feminist and I am a socialist who believes the few should support the many with our taxes. What I mean by that is, true socialism as evidenced in Scandinavia works. I do not have a problem paying my 34% of taxes now if it would go where it ought to go. To infrastructure across the country (did you know that Alberta, the richest province, has the most gravel roads in Canada?); to education (did you know school boards cut art funding so a few elite athletes can play more football? Football for heavens’ sakes, are you kidding me?); to health care (don’t even get me started on this one, we know our system is in the toilet). Last but not least, to seniors. Our provincial finance ministers were meeting this past week to discuss the Canada pension plan, but before they even met they announced there would be no significant changes. But hey, let’s meet anyway and spend ten million dollars in taxpayer money to enjoy Kananaskis country because that makes so much sense.
What I don’t understand is why Canadians sit back and listen to this hooey as placid as a cow chewing cud. Every other nation in the world has their moments of protesting. Look at France and Greece rioting over the suggestion of cutting back their retirement age from 60 to 62. No way do they want that to happen. They’ve invested in the fund for years under the premise of being able to retire at 60, why make them wait another two years? If it happened in Canada we would shrug our shoulders and let it happen. Don’t Canadians understand that we have the right to protest, and the best way is to sweep the board at election time and put in someone new who will give us what we want and need.
The scary part for me is that most Canadians don’t want the same thing as I do. I want to see every Canadian have a decent standard of living. I think that those of us who are more fortunate should not begrudge our taxes going to support those less fortunate. The curious thing is that there are more churches in North America than anywhere else in the world and yet North America does not support the golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Charity begins at home, people. Think about that during this holy week.
Wow, that was a rant I didn’t start out to write about, but that’s how I’m feeling at the moment so I will let it stand.
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