Easter Sunday

The holiest of days on the Christian calendar does not rate much in the secular world of today.  Stores remain open, people rush about as usual and even television barely gives a nod to old tradition.  We live in a world of mixed messages and never more so than on this holy day.  Politically we appear to be bound by old Christian values ranging from fidelity of our leaders to questions on abortion and gay marriage and yet in our daily lives these values are clearly invisible. 

       Is it a matter of the ones who hold these values dear are the majority that go out to vote while those who do not appear to have the same type of standard neglect the polls?  Or do we give ourselves a double standard, we want politically to cling to the old while living a freer lifestyle.  A case of do as I say  and not as I do standard.  I wonder.

       I suspect that there are many with ambivalent feelings about religion, faith and Christian values.  Over 2,000 years the faithful have been betrayed by hypocrisy over and over again.  It’s difficult to stay true, to believe unconditionally as we are taught to believe, when our leaders in church and state show weakness time and time again.

       And yet, on this holy day, I think about the one who stayed true and who we are taught died for the sake of all.  Whatever else we might believe, it is a truly moving story that continues to enthrall.

Easter Weekend

I’d like to say that spring has sprung but unfortunately the forecast is calling for a snow/rain mix on Easter Sunday but the last few days have been so glorious that one is fooled into believing the impossible.  Yesterday I pulled out all the deck furniture and even put out the cushions so we could sit and bask in the sunshine (and pssst, no wind).  Gorgeous.

       But as so often happens at the most inopportune time our kitchen sink tap broke while we were waiting for all our guests to arrive for an Easter supper.  I mulled with the idea of serving on paper plates but my heart wasn’t in it.  How can you decorate a nice table with plain white paper plates?  I suppose it could be done but that’s just not me.  This is a special day in the calendar and proper china is necessary.  So we improvised like true pioneers and washed up in the laundry room.  Ah, so you are wondering “why doesn’t she have a dishwasher”?  Well, I do but it’s one of those old fashioned ones that you have to pull out and screw into the tap so even if I had wanted to use the dishwasher (which I never use) it wouldn’t have worked.

       There were only six of us but that didn’t stop the conversation(s) into morphing into 3 separate conversations several times during the course of the evening.  I’d have to steer my unruly group back which would sometimes take 10 minutes at a stretch.  It was fun, it amused and it annoyed all at the same time.  The roundtable question was “would you fight if Canada was at war” and then it was “pick me, pick me” to start the round.  Interesting answers and not always what I expected from the individuals.  We can learn a lot from our own family members when we throw out a hot topic and let it land in the middle of the room.

       I never got to ask my second question because the first kept on going.  The second one, “would you have tried to save Jesus”?  That will have to wait until next year.

Reunions, Reunions

Despite being a user of social media (blogging, Facebook) I am actually not a big fan of it because of all the misuse that is apparently happening with social media.  I have a Twitter account but quite honestly I do not understand it.  It seems to me that celebrities and others tweet constantly about odd and inappropriate things.  Really, you are going to tweet your sympathies when someone dies?  Bizarre to say the least.

       On the other hand I do think that social media has also provided people with an outlet for creativity in the case of blogging and other websites.  Facebook allows people to re-connect with lost classmates and friends which I believe is a wonderful invention.  The flip side is that one can be “un-friended” or just as bad, completely ignored in that medium.  The other thing is that when you have Facebook and email it is more difficult to pick up the telephone; once you do phone instead of having a short 10-15 minute conversation one ends up being on the call for an hour or more.  That can be daunting when personal time is at a premium, as it is in my case.

       Currently I am in the midst of a phoning blitz with my former classmates and while it can be stressful in terms of time management it can also be very rewarding in having a real conversation with someone you haven’t’ spoken to in years.  There is nothing better than connecting with another human being and my belief is that high school reunions are a must for personal development alone.

Living Life to the Fullest

I managed to snag a new book on the Kennedy family, this one is “Jackie, Ethel, Joan, The Women of Camelot” and of course I dive right into it despite having 2 other books on the go.  I read that Jackie lived every day to the fullest and I pause.  Really?  What does that mean?  Never a dull moment in 66 years of life?  Is that humanly possible?

       I consider my own life which is rather mundane although I often infuse drama into it by simply laughing at the freaks and foibles of the freaks and fellows I encounter on a regular basis.  The thing you need to know about this writer is that I tend to takes things “literally”.  So if someone says “she lived life to the fullest” I immediately envision a woman of action, climbing tall mountains, running marathons, eluding danger everywhere she turns, laughing, dancing, embracing people left and right.  And so on and so on.  Action, everywhere action.  Then I take a breath, sit back and consider the reality of anyone’s life, full tilt or not.

       I don’t know about Jackie or Ethel, but I know about me.  If I am lying on my bed, light turned on over my head and I am curled up with an excellent book, I am living life to the fullest in that moment.  When I feed my cats, watch them chase each other and then come to me with their big Meows, asking to be let out, I am in the moment and life is good.  When I potter around the kitchen baking a cake or cookies I am savouring every moment with pleasure, anticipating the delight of family or friends.  When I write an especially funny blog I chuckle to myself and imagine the guffaws of my readers.  Perfect.  Laying in a hot tub with lavender bath salts, oh yes, I am definitely in the moment.  Every muscles protesting and joints twinging, as I do my sun salutations, I am definitely There.  Dodging the dangers on the road, cussing, muttering, wondering at the stupidity of others, trust me I am All There.

       Life may seem mundane and frequently without joy but every one of us is living our lives to the fullest when we are consciously engaged in our activity.  I don’t think we should feel diminished because someone may not say about us “she lives life to the fullest”.  Trust us, we are.

Mother, My Mother

I watch my mother as she crosses the room, climbs the 3 steps into the kitchen area and proceeds to bustle about making coffee for our “Aften’s Kaffe” (evening coffee) while we watch a favorite program.  No longer is she upright with the proud Jacobsen Princess bearing; instead she is rather leaning forward as she takes hesitant steps across the room.  She is not nimble going up the stairs but takes them clumsily and one at a time.  Sometimes it is rather painful to wonder where my beautiful, energetic mother has gone while in her place is this tiny little old woman.

       I know I am not alone when I worry about my aging parent.  So far she is still quite capable of carrying on with her kitchen duties.  She is still the most wonderful cook in the world and she still diligently cleans up the kitchen afterwards with pride and skill.  She dusts the living room, she does laundry.  But there are signs that she is not the same woman she used to be.  She cannot get out into the garden to rake leaves or pull weeds.  She can barely haul the water hose around.  She can still knit but she only takes on small projects which take longer than usual to complete.  Instead of taking her a couple of hours to make a pair of socks it will take 2 or 3 days.  She used to be a skilled seamstress but now she only hems up pants or skirts and not if they are black as she cannot see the dark thread against the material, she of the eagle eyes of yore.

       But then she comes out and stands at the top of the stairs holding out my coffee cup and a plate of “contraband” and she smiles her own sweet smile as her blue eyes twinkle brightly.  She says “I baked a cake” and so now I fall off the wagon as I eat the so-called contraband guiltily.  Her sense of humour is intact.

 

 

What is a Leader?

The following is quoted from Wikipedia:

Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task".   Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.

Leadership is "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal". The leader may or may not have any formal authority. Studies of leadership have produced theories involving traits, situational interaction, function, behavior, power, vision and values, charisma, and intelligence, among others. Somebody whom people follow: somebody who guides or directs others.

So here’s my evaluation of self; I am the eldest of 6 children and it is not surprising that from the beginning of my sisterhood I was appointed as the mentor of my siblings.  I was their guardian, teacher, disciplinarian, example and big sister.  Let me repeat this with capitals; I was their Guardian, Teacher, Disciplinarian, Example and Big Sister.

       I was a Girl Guide for 4 years and became troop leader in my second year.  In the course of my many friendships I have frequently taken the lead in organizing events and in recent years I organized a book club that has been going strong for 10 years. 

       My father was a very powerful personality but when we decided to form a family consortium and build a business I went toe-to-toe with him to ensure that I, as the lone female partner would have equal rights with my father and brothers.  I won that very hard fought battle.  I was Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer of the company and my main responsibilities were as office manager, book keeper, and account manager for both payables and receivables.  I built strong relationships with vendors and with the account managers of our customers.  I was an advocate for our employees in numerous ways (note: vagueness on purpose). 

       I ran a federal campaign as an MP candidate in the largest riding in Alberta single-handed (and I do my mean alone in the fullest sense of that meaning).  I wrote 14 different speeches for 14 townhall meetings and I was the only candidate to get a standing ovation at the end of a speech.  Despite the blackout on the NDP in 1993 I still managed to achieve more votes than the candidate in the previous election which was no small feat.

       Returning to the public workforce I have been a star performer, and I say this without bragging, it is a simple fact.  Without going into details I can honestly say that I have led in a number of ways, in a number of companies, including being a mentor to others, organizing various groups independent of “formal authority”.

       In short, I would consider myself a leader.

       Let’s just say that this week I was rather staggered by a suggestion that I “should develop my leadership skills”.  And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

What Does Happiness Look Like?

Do you ever question your own happiness?  Or do you just take your day as it comes without considering whether you are happy or not?  Is happiness relative?

       When I have the luxury of really browsing in a book store I will look through the self-help section with considerable interest.  I am astonished at the variety of books on subjects that perhaps would never cross a person’s mind if it wasn’t brought out front and centre by a new guru’s book.  This isn’t to say that the topics aren’t relevant, if you happen to be considering a simple life, life without additives, happiness, depression or what have you.  As I have mentioned before self analysis does not come easy to me.  That does not mean that I am not constantly analysing myself, but I always find it rather disconcerting to sit down and answer multiple choice questions about myself since (1)  I can usually figure out what the “right” answer should be and (2) one’s mood is always changing so how I feel is not going to be the same today as it is next week.

       So what does happiness really look like for anyone?  I would hazard a guess to say that perhaps the overriding key is “no money worries”.  I believe it is pretty difficult to be happy if you are worried about paying bills.  I don’t mean that you cannot have moments of happiness while you are in debt, but I mean that sort of contented happiness that is with you always.  So the question then becomes is happiness contentedness?  Well, no.  Um, maybe.  Partly.  See what I mean?  Happiness is as simple or as complex as we make it.

       Are you happy today?

Longevity - Some Thoughts

When I was a teenager I got into the habit of saying that I was going to live for another 100 years but at age 16 I thought “Now I have to stop and be mature, so from now on it will be that I will live to 116 years old”.  Now many of you are going to think that I am a complete wingnut but I have been saying that ever since.  It is my goal to become a centenarian, preferably in good health.  With this goal in mind over the past few years I have been reading and watching programs featuring longevity.  The absolute underlying characteristic of longevity is joy and enthusiasm for life which I am happy to say (no pun intended) I have in spades.

       At work I have been putting on weekly Lunch and Learn programs and several have had to do with healthy lifestyles and once again having a healthy mental attitude is vital to staying healthy.  I find all of this extremely fascinating and also very motivating because my goal is very do-able.  That is exciting for me but I am the type of person who likes others to also get excited and motivated.  I became shocked and dismayed when people don’t seem to share my enthusiasm for a long life and I wonder ‘what is the matter in their life to have that attitude’?   Who doesn’t want to live long?  The alternative is pretty dismal if you ask me.

       They may suffer from depression which I cannot do much about, but when people are discouraged that is something they can change and they really only have to take some tiny baby steps to get passed that discouragement.  The first step is to recognize that you are discouraged; then you have to want to change that feeling; step three is to start thinking about the 5 things that you are grateful for – every day.  It is reinforcing if you can actually write down your gratitudes in a small journal.  You will be amazed at how quickly your attitude will change.  No matter how dismal your world may look, there is something to be grateful for because I firmly believe that everyone’s fairy godmother granted you some noble gifts.

       Once you get passed your discouragement you will discover in yourself potential, indeed Boundless Potential.  Have faith, my friends, it’s there for the taking. 

Rambling Morning Thoughts

It’s still early morning, I’m having my cup of Joe (by the way, when did coffee start getting a name) and doing my radio show quiz.  Then I read the radio show’s news feed and answer their daily poll.  Today’s poll question was “do you think they chose the right pope in Pope Francis I”?  Lucky for me there were three options, the last being “I don’t care” so naturally I chose that (being non-Catholic).  I was quite surprised to see that 58% had also voted that they did not care.  I happen to work with quite a lot of Venezuelans so of course they were pleased to have a South American pope since they are also Catholic.  I also have a number of friends who are Catholic so the poll surprised me because I was out of the normal hoop, I suppose.

       Now the above was a politically correct thought but the truth is that I was surprised because my observation of people is that most often they follow like lambs to the slaughter.  Especially in Canada we have a tendency to approve, nod and allow whatever happens to be the flavour of the day.  Sorry Canadians but it’s true.  We are an extreme example of docility.  Just saying.

       Well, for some reason my mind wandered off in another direction – oh that’s right, there was a picture of a blade of something green growing and I thought “oh, Earth Day is coming up” and then I went to google the date.  Sadly on the official site there is no obvious place to find the date.  Instead they have a time clock counting down 37 days, 6 minutes, 22 seconds and I said “that’s too much math for 6 a.m. on my day off”.  Exit that site and there on the front list on google was the date April 22^nd.  Be more alert, Sanne.

       While searching the Earth Day site there was a statement “A great president would tackle global warming” which triggered some irritation in me.  I am not Obama’s biggest fan since I was Hillary’s number one supporter but give the guy a break people.  He inherited a government that was already in crisis, the housing market and banking scandal were already beginning before he took office and you want him to worry about polar bears?  Are you kidding me?  The country is in a fiscal crisis with the jobless rate at a record high and let’s face it, the President is dealing with a Congress that is filled with lunatic non-thinkers.  He has no time to think about global warming except at a very elementary level.  A great president would find a way to overcome the insane structure of the American government model. 

       That’s my thoughts on this early Friday morning.

Butterflies are Free

I believe there was a movie many years ago with the above title although I never saw it.

All my life I have loved butterflies.  When I was little I collected the butterfly cards that came in the box of Red Rose tea.  As a teenager I saved articles and pictures of butterflies when they came in the Saturday weekend magazine of the newspaper.  I’ve even painted butterflies when I was in painting form.

       Biology was my chosen science in high school and when we learned about caterpillars, it’s life cycle of egg, caterpillar (larva), pupa and butterfly fascinated me.  After I learned that a caterpillar turned into a butterfly I had so much respect for them and would go out of my way not to harm them.  Not being an ignoramus the butterfly analogy in certain romantic novels did not escape me and yes, I am in danger of using this trite comparison today.

       Humans can be simple and they can be complex but they all go through normal stages of life, infants, young childhood, teenager, youth, adult, middle aged adult, and the elderly.  However in today’s world of longevity the phase from middle age to elderly is much longer and I think we are at that time in history where we need to come up with another phase of life.  We have heard the word Zoomers here in Canada, I’ve also heard “Nexters” but both are too trendy for a life phase.  Post-middle age maybe.

       Or perhaps we just avoid putting a label on it and simply live it.  Live it with Zest, Verve, Enthusiasm, Delight.  Move in to a time where we experience true bliss.  We know who we are, we know what we love, we are still able to accomplish the things that delight us.

       We, the people.

Game Changers

Ask your 12 year old self “what defines you” and then evaluate the answer with what you are today.  How far have you deviate from the life path you thought you were on when you were a kid?

       I am thinking back to the person I was when I was in Grade 7, when I was 12 years old, before practical things and hormones got in the way of my fascination.  At 12 I was still looking for adventure, I still loved ghost and detective stories while romance novels were still something for the future.  I was a very active kid, I liked to bicycle, climb trees, run, explore and make up adventure stories and games.  I was pretty creative in a variety of ways but I especially loved to write stories, any kind of story.

       Today while I am reading “Boundless Potential” I rest between chapters and question my passion, my fascination and where I want to be.  Perhaps it seems obvious that writing is what I want to do in my “second half” but I have doubts.  As I closed my eyes this afternoon I thought about what it would be like to simply take off the chains that bind me, chains that tie me down, chains named Responsibility, Common Sense, Doubts, Talentless.  I pictured myself a few days after my final days of official work and saw the chains fall away and I felt that perhaps there is hope to get back the imagination I once had before “earning one’s living” got in the way.

       I am so thankful that I stayed tuned in when the program Boundless Potential aired and I am so glad I pursued the piqued interest by buying and reading this book.  I feel my confidence slowly growing back and I find myself thinking “I can really nail this thing called retirement”.   Not by sitting in a rocking chair, not by going fishing, by volunteering, by visiting and doing slipslop work but rather by going back to what I love and making it my life.

       When I grow up, I want to be a writer.

Sentiment, Taboo?

I came across a startling statement this morning, declaring that sentiment is now taboo in writing and even poetry!  What, no sentiment in poetry?  What madness drives such a statement but the even bigger question why do people listen to this or any other mandate?  It’s no surprise to learn that I am an individualist who has gone her own way since childhood.  Perhaps it’s more surprising that a person who is a diehard socialist is also a sentimentalist of gigantic proportions.  Or perhaps not, hence the term “bleeding heart liberal”?  In any case, I adore a good love story whether it is about people or animals.  I cry at the drop of a sentimental commercial.

       Mother just stopped in the doorway and asked “is it going well” to which I replied “I’m writing that I am the Queen of Sentiment and Michael Landon was my prince”.  Perfect timing because I was about to comment on his series “Little House on the Prairie” which frequently (almost always) had a sentimental touch.  Corny, sure, but it was also very wholesome entertainment.

       I believe it was a short story by Katherine Anne Porter that is the epitome of what I call sentiment.  It’s a story of two sisters who grow up poor in some southern town and who are ostracized in school due to this poverty.  One of the girls talks about her fabulous new dollhouse and eventually invites her classmates to her home to see the incredible house that even has a miniature lamp.  The sisters also go to the girl’s home, make it into the house and the mean rich girl, who has known all along that the sisters were there turns viciously on them and directs them out of the house.  As the sisters leave, the youngest turns to her sister and whispers gently “I saw the lamp”.  Well, I cried for an hour afterwards. 

       Sentiment is alive and well in this house.

Baby Boy Blue

I am re-reading the Williamsburg series of novels by Elswyth Thane.  For those who haven’t read the series it begins with the love story of Tibby Mawes and Julian Day in “Dawn’s Early Light” while chronicling the American Revolution.  The next book, which is the one I read first is “Yankee Stranger” which sees Eden Day fall in love with the Yankee Cabot Murray during the Civil War.  The next 5 books find the Day, Sprague and Murray families swinging between Williamsburg, Virginia and England where they begin inter-breeding with the Campion family and progress through both world wars.  The final book, which I am reading right now, is “Homing” which finds Mab Campion and Jeff Day as the reincarnations of Tibby and Julian which is quite reasonable given all the in-breeding in the family.

       My readers are probably horrified right now by my synopsis but it is a little tongue-in-cheek.  The family is sensible of stopping cousins marrying after the second generation so they skip a generation or two before they go back at it (again, that does sound horrid, doesn’t it?) but they now have a lot of new blood, sort of. 

Besides the love stories, the interesting thing about these novels is the very American view that families ought to be ready to join the fight at the drop of a hat even to the women taking part in the wars.  My twentieth century common sense finds this part of Thane’s philosophy rather primitive.  It’s one thing to defend one’s country, or to try to change one’s country, as her early characters do in the first two stories but it is quite another thing to find the Day twins (brother & sister) in “Kissing Kin” eager to “go kill me some Germans” in 1917.  Even when I first read these books some 40 years ago I thought this was going too far but as I re-read them today I really wonder if this type of thinking was prevalent in America back then.  I have a suspicion that it was and that it exists even today which goes a long way in explaining the Tea Party and the love affair Americans seem to have with fighting in foreign lands. 

A few days ago we saw our fourth boy arrive in this, our fourth generation Canadian.  I’ve noticed there seems to be a real trend towards boy babies even in my workplace.  Mom and I were wondering if this trend is Nature’s way of anticipating something in the near future?  As my father was wont to say “Nature is cruel, but nature is true”.

The 7 books are:  Dawn's Early Light; Yankee Stranger; Ever After; The Light Heart; Kissing Kin; This was Tomorrow; Homing. 

Don't Touch the Potato

Last week a political science professor from the University of Calgary Tom Flanagan made a comment with respect to child pornography that stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy.  In a nutshell he said that he had grave doubts about whether a viewer of child porn should be jailed.  Here’s my thought, as a political activist this man ought to have known better than to ever, in public, speak on such a controversial topic without expecting major blowback.  The fact is that he was speaking at a public event, as a speaker no less, when he made the comments.  If he wanted to throw doubt on how the government is approaching their justice reforms it was a very poor example to draw from because children are those that everyone will jump to defend and protect.  This man is not politically naive so why would he “misspeak”?

       Any individual who is in the public eye has the responsibility to be circumspect about the statements they make and if they do go out on a limb to discuss theory then they have to expect whatever uproar may follow.  It’s one thing to have such a discussion within a classroom where one may look at a topic in various ways but it is quite another thing to stand on a platform in front of an unprepared audience and throw out such a statement as an opinion.

       Interestingly, an opinion poll on my radio station only gave 2 options to vote on with respect to this “misspeak” – which goes to show how circumspect they are in this controversy.  Don’t touch the potato.

Public Inquiry

I am so sick of the constant misuse of taxpayers’ money that I almost want to plug my ears when a new “scandal” starts.  The blowhards we call politicians will yell and scream, point fingers, posture, demand inquiries but at the end of the “scandal” nothing is done, no one goes to jail and the whole thing starts over again.  Case in point, how many times have we heard about the abusive practices in the Senate?  At least since the mid 1970’s there has been a hullabaloo.  Here we are 40 years later where the misuse is so out of proportion wrong that it staggers the mind.  The cover-up is so negligent it parallels the audacity of the Catholic ministry; it illustrates the sheer contempt that our governing representatives have over their constituents.

       The real irony today is that the so-called Conservative party which was the old Reform party, alias Canadian Alliance, who back in the 1990’s were some of the loudest screamers of, what’s that word I’m looking for, oh yes “REFORM”.  They were some of the loudest critics of the Senate and here they are 20 years later milking the system like we taxpayers are a bottomless pit of gold. Meanwhile Pamela Wallin, who “owns several properties in Saskatchewan” and “owns a condo in Toronto” wracks up nearly $400,000 in travel expenses in one year, for God’s sake!  What on earth is a Senator doing travelling to the tune of $400,000 – what duties could a Senator be doing? 

       I’m not just after senators, I am after every last one of those money grabbing leeches we call politicians, or political appointees on various committees (including our health boards).  Yesterday I was watching a program where one of the conservative politicians spoke, not of social programs, but of Entitlement programs which so enraged me I was close to kicking in the television set.  How is it possible that these parasites have the audacity to speak of Entitlement when they are the first at the trough?  My blood pressure is rising even as I type..

       Take a look at the American senators where more than half of them have been sitting in the same seat for 30 to 40 years and when they leave another family member takes over.  Take a look here in Alberta where the party has been in power for over 40 years and at last we are hearing how corrupt the party has been but let’s not get overly excited because each story is quickly buried with what, hush money?  No, not in Canada, our wonderful journalists would never do such a thing . . . and yet, here’s Pamela Wallin, a former journalist, an owner of several properties, who finds it necessary to grab money from taxpayers to pay for her frivolity.

       Shame on us for not putting a stop to this.