Rumour Mills and Mother Nature

Have you ever found yourself caught up in rumours without even being aware of it?  While this can happen in any social group the most common rumour mill happens at work.  The conversation can begin innocently enough with the words “have you heard” but very quickly the conversation can escalate to a lot of different types of speculations.  As you walk away you can feel very upset in the tummy and your head can be in a whirl.  On calmer reflection you can go back to the original statement and realize that everything that stemmed after it was at best speculation, at worst completely false.  After a few of these encounters (if the first experience wasn’t lesson enough) it certainly behooves one to steer clear of any conversation that begins with “have you heard”.

As soon as a person enters the world, leaving the sanctuary of the family home, one becomes vulnerable to all the uncertainties that others may throw at one.  These uncertainties come in all forms, sizes and ways that can be very confusing to the unsuspecting and inexperienced.  As a young girl of 19 I found myself wondering about my colleagues in my second full time job.  I was one of 8 women, the youngest of the lot but it didn’t take me more than a very few weeks to realize that I had landed in a poisonous situation.  The setup was rather unusual in that we were split into 2 groups of 4 for our coffee and lunch breaks but then every second week two of us would move into the other group.  I was very shocked to experience the hypocrisy of the women who would first gossip about the 4 absent ones, and then when the reshuffle happened, they would gossip about the 2 who were now in the other group.  Only one cycle of this was sufficient for me to realize that I was also a target of these Unmagnificent 7.  I found it extremely upsetting because I didn’t have the tools to handle a confrontation with these much older women (a couple of whom were well into their 50’s), a confrontation explaining that they were in the wrong to gossip.  How did a person approach such a topic?

My solution was to leave the office over the lunch hour and walk the street.  I was in the unfortunate location of having no shops or malls anywhere nearby to browse in so I simply walked along the sidewalk as a form of escape rather than exercise.  It still left me a victim during the coffee breaks though and within 4 months I resigned.  Since then I have learned to keep my distance from those types of personal conversations and in general avoid rumour mills.  But once in a while we can stumble upon it unawares and the reaction is the same, gut wrenching anxiety and upset.

For some, rumour mills are the spice of life, they seem to thrive on stirring up doubts in others whether they realize they are doing it or not.  But the consequences to a person’s health in living with doubts, uncertainty and anxiety can be very severe.  This winter we have seen in our city a growing level of uncertainty within our business sector and likewise we have seen an unusually high rise in absences and illnesses in the community.  The severe grey weather has not helped to make things easier so this is one person who is hoping that Mother Nature brings us an early spring.  We all desperately need that sunshine.

The Next Big Thing

The magic of a PVR helps to eliminate all that white noise we call commercials but even as I whiz past them all I wonder to myself “What am I missing?  Could there be something really big that I am missing out on?”  Seldom do I slow the machine down to catch a bit of the blurb because the truth is most of the time I feel so inundated with information that my mind feels as though it will explode.

Reading books, the newspaper, a magazine, listening to the radio, talking with colleagues and friends, there seems to be a lot of information to absorb on a regular basis.  Then there is the inside noise in your brain, your dreams, your meditation, your so-called mindless wanderings that also have to be collected, sorted and thrown away.  Raw information.  Somewhere in all of that, do you maybe think you could have the next big thing?

Frequently there are things on the tip of our tongue, hovering on the edge of our mind, just beyond the fog of the dream, that could perhaps, maybe, almost be that magic thing that could make you a millionaire.  Or not.  It could just be something that you think would be really cool but everyone else thinks a total dud.  The magical thing about our minds though, is that we have one and we need to slow down once in a while to appreciate what is going on in that head of ours because maybe, just maybe you are on to something big.

Isn’t that a cool thought?  Stop and think about what you are thinking about.  It’s kind of nice.

My little niece said that to my dad once, he laughed for days.

Aliens Amongst Us

A week or so ago some folks in my community saw some mysterious lights over their farms and concluded that there might be UFOs flying around us.  These are respectable people and I’m sure that the lights were so out of the ordinary that they are certainly justified in speculating on the possibility of aliens.  People do tend to make fun of this topic however and if a person has a particular passion for this subject they can be construed as an oddball.  But the topic is interesting and there are many curious events in the world that could cause a person to question whether we are alone as human beings on this planet.

While I won’t rule out the possibility of life beyond our planet I do feel rather dubious about any having so far landed on Earth.  I am more inclined to believe that the lights seen over town were “secret military ops” rather than UFOs. 

I have a hard time understanding why any government would need to have alien landings be such a big secret.  Considering all the things we already “know” about government shenanigans, the wicked things already perpetrated on an unsuspecting society, what possible damage could knowing aliens are amongst us really cause?  Okay, so maybe the idiots in the Bible Belt would have a total meltdown to know that the Bible might not be the real deal but really, who else gives a care?  Would there be mass hysteria if President Obama or Prime Minister Harper came out and said “We are pleased to announce we have visitors from Mars”?  Considering how little excitement there was over the invasion of Crimea I expect the excitement would be more generally felt in media circles as they tried to sell as many newspapers and magazines as possible, “milking the story”.  Just look at how crazed they have become over the missing Malaysian plane!  From that perspective I suppose one would say there would be hysteria, but for the average Joe, I am guessing not so much.

I don’t think we would get excited until they were revealed to be stealing all our water (like in the series “V”).  But maybe I am one of the few who see it that way.  How would you feel if you stumbled upon some little white man with a big head?

Global Warming and My Questions

I thought I would participate a little bit on this subject accepting the overwhelming majority of the scientific community’s belief that there is global warming and that it is at least partially caused by humans.

My first solution is for individuals to review their use of personal vehicles and find ways to reduce consumption of gas.  Wherever possible one should walk, ride a bike, use public transit or travel efficiently.  If you can car pool that is terrific, if you can’t then declare a car free day once a week (more if you can).  There are dozens of other suggestions with respect to household use of electricity and gas, recycling and so on that I don’t need to regurgitate here.

One other aspect that I really believe needs more attention is the potential for people to assist in generating clean power by way of solar panels and windmills.  The trouble with this is that the cost is extremely high for what the power they are collecting can produce without first putting it into the grid.  The problem here is that the grid is privately owned by greedy utility companies who refuse to fairly compensate these individuals for the power they can put back into the grid.  The bottom line is that government allows private enterprise to be unconscionably greedy to the detriment of the greater good.

It seems incredible that human greed can ultimately be the cause of destroying a planet.  Despite some 5 billion people on this earth the mass cannot stop the 1% of 1% going towards destruction.  How strange is that?  And when earth is desolate who will be left to ask “was it worth it”?

What's Relevant Day to Day?

We’ve had some interesting current events already this year, with Russia annexing the Crimea, with our premiere resigning her post, an aircraft disappearing with over 200 souls, UFO sightings in my small town, what more could a person need as fodder for an article?  Yet the question is, what is relevant day to day?  What do people read, absorb, talk about, care about or remember?  The answer seems to be that people care about their family first, their work second and whatever remains for them to focus on is perhaps a hobby such as the latest hockey game results.  Few people care about headlines except as something to discuss at the water cooler for 5 minutes, then it’s on to something else “more relevant”.

Those who govern us (and I use the word loosely) recognizes this fact about us, our willingness to be ostriches with the world at large therefore they are successful in achieving their agendas.  If you look through history you can see the patterns and you can see the pendulum swing albeit in very wide arc from suppression to liberation.  The trouble is that the John Does of this world never truly escape their ostrich-like existence except for those few moments when they cry out “enough already”.  Very quickly they assume their complacent mantle and plod along caring for their families and hoping that things go back to being like the good old days.

In mainstream media one rarely reads left-leaning stories and sadly few try to pursue the stories via the internet.  The fact is the stories are easy to retrieve if you just know where to look or what questions to pose on Google.  This past week one such rare individual, Tony Benn, passed away in Great Britain.  Here’s a wonderful quote from him on democracy.

“In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person — Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates — ask them five questions: ‘What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?’ If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.”

What's on my bookshelf?

One of my favorite things is a lovely new pile of books on my night stand ready for me to dive into at bedtime.  Yesterday I had the luxury of browsing unhurriedly at the Chapters for an hour and I took full advantage coming home with 6 great books.  As I looked through my favorite section, the discount tables, it was not for the first time that I felt wounded for the authors whose works were being sold for $4.99.  All the love and work that went into their work was being sold for a pittance but at the same time I consoled myself with the thought that at least the poorer shoppers were able to enjoy their work. 

I had a lovely experience at the cashier’s desk as my clerk happened to have read one of my choices “Orphan Train” by Christina Baker Kline.  She recommended a similar book called “Calling Me Home” by Julie Kibler and because she was so enthusiastic about it I followed her back to the discount table and after reading the first page decided it was a keeper.  As a perpetual reader since the age of nine I still find it thrilling when I find a book that I simply cannot put down.  Of late years the experience has been less frequent so it is with pleasure that I can recommend “Orphan Train” as one of these books, not-put-down-able.  It’s written in the third person narrating two women’s stories some 80 years apart but bringing them together in a very natural way. Vivian and Molly are sympathetic characters who engage the reader’s interest from the moment they hit the page.  Very satisfying.

So here’s one of the comments on Calling Me Home – “If Julie Kibler’s novel .. . were a young woman, her grandmother would be To Kill a Mockingbird her sister would be The Help and her cousin would be The Notebook. . . .”  Doesn’t that sound interesting?

Girl Guides

I came across a leaders’ handbook the other day and as I flipped through it I wondered, not for the first time, whether Girl Guides (and Scouts) was a thing of the past.  The values espoused back when I was in Guides are certainly not terribly apparent in the youth I encounter on the C-train every day.  Back in the 1960’s God was a part of our daily lives by virtue of the fact that the Lord’s Prayer was read every morning in school.  As well, in my particular school at least, a bible reading was also done by the principal as part of the opening exercises.  Then we sang both “Oh Canada” and “God Save the Queen”.  That was public school, not the Catholic school, heaven only knows how much more God was in their regimen.

Guiding used God and country as cornerstones of the high ethical standards instilled in girls.  Today I am not sure if those things are relevant for many of the girls.  I was reading an article where Girl Guides Canada decided to bring more current concerns into the value chain and it was noted by the commissioner that “an organization that can’t change is an organization that doesn’t have a great future”.  I can certainly agree with that. 

I enjoyed my time in the Girl Guides and have considered become a leader but when I think about the kind of personality issues a leader would face today I simply shudder.  This evening I had to sit beside a 6 year old while the 5 year old sat across from me.  Both of them were kicking me, rubbing themselves up on me and also being quite loud and unruly.  I closed my eyes and tried to keep my lips from being too firm (not to mention snarly) and trying to suppress my irritation by telling myself that the mother had to get the children home somehow.  You may laugh but there are days where I really have to coach myself into feeling compassion for other people on the train; my experiences lead me to believe that when I am on the train “everything is about me”.

But I digress, if those 2 boys were brought to Beavers I can only imagine how they would behave when confronted by a dozen or so other boys.  I am pretty sure I would be accurate in my imaginings.  Today leaders have to be very careful about what they say or do with children; when I recollect how the girls behaved back some 50 years ago – there was no problem.  There were about 20 of us in the troop and in 4 years I never saw or heard any sort of unruly behaviour.  No one would have dreamed of talking back to an adult so there was no need for any kind of discipline.  Quite frankly I would be intimidated by the responsibility of dealing with 20 children with no backup.  Those who do take it on deserve a lot of credit as well as a medal of honour for heroism. 

That’s my look on children today.

Mother Nature's Powerful Ways

I’m watching the trees wildly swaying in the Chinook winds this morning and wondering if there is enough sap in them to keep from snapping off.  I remember my father’s words “nature is cruel but nature is true”.  I think the most astounding show of nature’s power came closest to home for me was last year’s flood here in Alberta.  Watching the water moving swiftly across acres of fields and approaching the highway as I drove past High River shocked me profoundly.  The next morning when I watched the news and saw the live coverage not only of High River but of Calgary I had no words to express my shock and amazement.  I’ve seen tremendous snows, even blizzards, but nothing compared to the power of that water.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been planting seeds to start off my summer garden and here I witness another of Mother Nature’s powerful ways.  I will be the first to admit that I was not born with a green thumb so when I witness successful germination of seeds I am wildly excited.  There is something amazing at watching the first signs of a green plant coming out of the soil and growing taller, unfolding it’s little leaf or stem.  Then moving on to the pots that have overwintered in the sunroom and seeing life come back makes me acknowledge that it’s worth while having a messy room for 6 months if it means savings on some of the bigger plants.

It’s the beginning of March and spring is not far away.  This year I am hoping southern Alberta actually gets a spring because for the last several years we’ve had a kind of extended winter and a dullish sort of summer.  My hope is that the seven year cycle is upon us and we now have some really good years of gardening ahead of us.   I’ve been watching a lot of gardening shows lately and yesterday I was really inspired by a fabulous container gardening program. 

Get me my uniform!  [Kelly’s Heroes]

Mother Nature, are you listening?

Pastiche

Personal blogging can become a collection of essays, articles and journal entries where lines become blurred; a confused mixture also known as pastiche.  Pastiche is the word of the day and appropriate to how I’m feeling about my blogging.  The good news is that with the winter almost over and the pain gone from my injury the little grey cells are clearing up and beginning to percolate again with interest outside of body and home.

The first two months of 2014 have certainly been interesting from a political perspective with tensions continuing to grow in Europe over the crisis in Crimea.  At home expense scandals continue, bullying of the common man continues so let’s just call home status quo.  Celebrities rise and fall whether in the Olympic arena or at the Oscars.  For the rest of us mortals, it is humdrum routine even as we have battled a winter of particular fierceness of almost global proportions.  We can only hope that spring is “just around the corner”.  As the economy makes another shift even those in Alberta now feel rattled and threatened.  Only the 1% feel cushioned in their cocoon of wealth while they continue to deny what is real to the rest of the world.

So yes, this muddled brain is a veritable pastiche; old, new, original, borrowed and utterly confused thoughts scramble about for attention and all to what purpose?  In the hopes that something might ring a bell for someone else, that perhaps someone wiser or more energetic can pick up the torch and make the world a better place.

And yet even as a write, even as I think and ponder, I recognize this in myself, I am happy.  And isn’t that nice?

Celebrating Courtesy

I have a particular fondness for John Steinbeck and his rogue gallery of remarkable characters.  When Steinbeck wrote his characters he did so with a compassionate pen even while poking fun, exposing villainy and general writing about the darker side of humanity.  One feels that he had genuine affection for the people who possibly inspired his characters.  It seems to me that today we are often subjected to those who govern us pointing fingers at the downtrodden and weaker ones.  I don’t believe that is their role or what we truly want to hear, or am I of the few who find it offensive?

When people are successful it is good to celebrate them but it seems to me that society today is moving along a perilous path of simply idolizing individuals who have succeeded without any sort of balance.  What do I mean?  It’s as though we are making gods of celebrities (actors, politicians, sports figures, etc.) just because media promotes them, frequently publicizing bad behaviour.  When a person sees an inebriated individual on the bus or train they won’t sit beside them, they avert their faces and do their utmost to ignore the situation.  If Justin Beiber got on the train in a similar state, what do you suppose would happen?

Celebrating success is terrific but as a society we fail to celebrate simple goodness and decency.  There are days on the train when I feel like clapping or cheering when I observe someone give up their seat for another simply because it is so rare an observation.  Does that seem like a small thing to you?  In 20 to 25 days of the month I might see it happen once so for me it is quite a big deal.  Courtesy is extremely rare in today’s society so when you see it I hope that you can at least acknowledge it with a smile and a thank you.  And remember, we all deserve credit for being decent human beings.

Peculiar Weekend

This has been a strange weekend with extremely cold temperatures that that are keeping families home which makes it nice for bonding, housekeeping and simply putzing about.  However, one look at the world news has sent everything sideways, wondering if we are perilously close to another war.  How does Russia go from hosting the world with the Olympic Games, supposedly creating goodwill, to mobilizing their army to invade a country?

This evening a good part of the world will be watching the Oscars but I find myself disturbed and wondering what I will be waking up to tomorrow morning.  I cannot seriously think about who had the prettiest dress on the red carpet or who was the better actor when what I am really thinking is that there are so many pockets of war around the world that it is only a matter of time before some lunatic lights the keg of dynamite.

The face of war is nothing like what you see in the movies, and it’s not even what you read in books.  War is more horrible than anything one can possibly imagine and most horrifying of all is how quickly one’s neighbour can change from an ordinary citizen to someone you neither recognize nor understand.  My parents lived through World War II in an occupied country and some of the graphic stories my father told strikes utter fear in my heart should something like that happen again.  Once fighting starts in Europe who knows where it will lead.

I am extremely concerned.