The world economy limped into the new year on crutches; battered and bruised from mismanagement, greed, and plain outright theft. The media keeps churning out the bad news and it seems that everyone is jumping onto the blame game wagon. Fingers are pointing left, right and center. The government made bad decisions. The banks mismanaged their funds. The Auto industry was too arrogant. Wall street is too greedy. And the litany continues. The armchair pundits are now expert and have the solution to every little and not so little problem of the world.
But you know, the more I think it about it, the more I think we should be looking elsewhere, as the saying goes, we have found the enemy, and the enemy is us. When personal debt is at an all time high, our credit cards maxed out, our homes being foreclosed upon ... ultimately, the responsibility is our own. Ease of credit does not mean irresponsible use of it, and irresponsible use of credit my friends is what has got us into hock.
When is it that we began to shed ourselves off of prudence and good fiscal management; of kindness and courtesy; of expectations of ourselves and responsibility? When? Was it when looking out for number one came to mean selfishness and self promotion? Was it when we took out yet another credit card to pay for the last one? Was it when we stopped holding ourselves accountable, not to someone else, but to ourselves? Or did we get "ourselves" into such a state of myopia that we could no longer see that which was before us --- a slow deterioration of a society? We have become marshmallow people, you know, all soft and pudgy and no backbone save the skewer that will roast us over the fire. We are feeling that fire now.
Let the governments do what needs to be done. Let us do what we need to do. Financial ups and downs will always be there. They are not always of our making. But if we manage our lives better, chances are the world will be governed better too. The buck does not stop at the threshold of the Prime Minister or the President, it stops on your threshold and mine.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Birds of a Feather
Whoosh! Busy morning! And afternoon!
Took a mini 5-day vacation --- now I don’t know about you, but whenever I take an impromptu time off, I find that when I come back I have lots of bits and pieces to get done. That’s what this morning was about, errands.
The actual number of errands was not all that many; it’s just that the distances between them took up the morning and a good part of the afternoon. I am not complaining though. I take the opportunity whilst driving to listen to good music, tune in to a radio talk show, or … just think. Driving affords me uninterrupted personal enjoyment in my own private theatre: the car.
In no particular order, today so far:
The Miracle on the Hudson: Birds seemed to have factored prominently today. First on the news, a US Airlines flight that had an ummm… midair collision with a flock of birds on take off. The birds got sucked up by the engines – this happens with annoying regularity – and this disabled both of the engines rendering the aircraft engineless. The pilot did an admirable job of guiding the aircraft over the Hudson River and safely landing it, with all 155 passengers and crew reported safe.
Ordinarily a lone small bird causes little to no trouble, but this was a whole flock of them and they were no ordinary birds either, oh noooooooo … they were Canada Geese, arguably one of the largest of flight birds we know. Now its time these birds got some smarts. They would be better off if they stopped hanging around airports, and what are they doing in New York in the cold of winter anyway? By now they should have all migrated to warmer climates, well at least to Florida where they could be enjoying the life of riley on the golf courses … oh, they’re not welcome there either?
Swan Lake: Also today, one hundred and fourteen years ago, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiered in St. Petersburg. Let’s see, that would have made it January 15, 1894! I heard this on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation FM Radio – CBC, and got to hear a portion of that composition. Alas, the ballet had to be imagined. But I love Swan Lake. I was introduced to this ballet whilst still a young girl living in Japan. One of my dad’s business associates who lived in the country loved ballet so much that every time there was a performance by an acclaimed troupe, he would take the full day train ride from Bessho Onsen to Yokohama so that he could attend. He always stayed with us. I always got to attend the ballets. The iconic Swan Lake was my introduction this beautiful form of dance.
Eagles: Much of the area that I live in is surrounded by farmland; it is also on the migratory path for many birds. Yes, we have lots of Canada Geese here, but to be honest they have become a permanent fixture because of the mild (usually)winter climate, they do rather well hanging out on farmland, the many parks that we have, and the odd bird sanctuary . They have no shame and will accost you if they think there might be some grain in the palm of your hand or in your coat pocket. Truly, they are shameless, like a band of bandits.
But today I saw eagles. Bald Headed eagles. Lots of them.
Once again it is not unusual to see eagles here, but today the sightings were so many that I began to count them. They were mostly perched on leafless trees alongside the bi-ways on which I drove today. They were easy to spot. Sometimes two or three to a tree, at other times a single bird watched the passing parade of cars beneath. I don’t know what it is about eagles. They are so regal and I get an inexplicable sort of feeling whenever I see one. The feeling is a mixture of wonderment, humbleness and promise. Can’t explain it --- its just a feeling that comes over me. The First Nations believe that an eagle sighting is a good omen. Today, I got good omens in spades!
Yup! It’s going to be a good year!
Quicklinks:
Miracle on the Hudson<
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Swan Lake - Kirov Ballet 12 minutes
Swan Lake - Bolshoi Ballet 2 minutes.
Bald Eagles
Took a mini 5-day vacation --- now I don’t know about you, but whenever I take an impromptu time off, I find that when I come back I have lots of bits and pieces to get done. That’s what this morning was about, errands.
The actual number of errands was not all that many; it’s just that the distances between them took up the morning and a good part of the afternoon. I am not complaining though. I take the opportunity whilst driving to listen to good music, tune in to a radio talk show, or … just think. Driving affords me uninterrupted personal enjoyment in my own private theatre: the car.
In no particular order, today so far:
The Miracle on the Hudson: Birds seemed to have factored prominently today. First on the news, a US Airlines flight that had an ummm… midair collision with a flock of birds on take off. The birds got sucked up by the engines – this happens with annoying regularity – and this disabled both of the engines rendering the aircraft engineless. The pilot did an admirable job of guiding the aircraft over the Hudson River and safely landing it, with all 155 passengers and crew reported safe.
Ordinarily a lone small bird causes little to no trouble, but this was a whole flock of them and they were no ordinary birds either, oh noooooooo … they were Canada Geese, arguably one of the largest of flight birds we know. Now its time these birds got some smarts. They would be better off if they stopped hanging around airports, and what are they doing in New York in the cold of winter anyway? By now they should have all migrated to warmer climates, well at least to Florida where they could be enjoying the life of riley on the golf courses … oh, they’re not welcome there either?
Swan Lake: Also today, one hundred and fourteen years ago, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake premiered in St. Petersburg. Let’s see, that would have made it January 15, 1894! I heard this on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation FM Radio – CBC, and got to hear a portion of that composition. Alas, the ballet had to be imagined. But I love Swan Lake. I was introduced to this ballet whilst still a young girl living in Japan. One of my dad’s business associates who lived in the country loved ballet so much that every time there was a performance by an acclaimed troupe, he would take the full day train ride from Bessho Onsen to Yokohama so that he could attend. He always stayed with us. I always got to attend the ballets. The iconic Swan Lake was my introduction this beautiful form of dance.
Eagles: Much of the area that I live in is surrounded by farmland; it is also on the migratory path for many birds. Yes, we have lots of Canada Geese here, but to be honest they have become a permanent fixture because of the mild (usually)winter climate, they do rather well hanging out on farmland, the many parks that we have, and the odd bird sanctuary . They have no shame and will accost you if they think there might be some grain in the palm of your hand or in your coat pocket. Truly, they are shameless, like a band of bandits.
But today I saw eagles. Bald Headed eagles. Lots of them.
Once again it is not unusual to see eagles here, but today the sightings were so many that I began to count them. They were mostly perched on leafless trees alongside the bi-ways on which I drove today. They were easy to spot. Sometimes two or three to a tree, at other times a single bird watched the passing parade of cars beneath. I don’t know what it is about eagles. They are so regal and I get an inexplicable sort of feeling whenever I see one. The feeling is a mixture of wonderment, humbleness and promise. Can’t explain it --- its just a feeling that comes over me. The First Nations believe that an eagle sighting is a good omen. Today, I got good omens in spades!
Yup! It’s going to be a good year!
Quicklinks:
Miracle on the Hudson<
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Swan Lake - Kirov Ballet 12 minutes
Swan Lake - Bolshoi Ballet 2 minutes.
Bald Eagles
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Ness and Mess of Things
Today at four o'clock I was with a friend at the local Blenz Cafe. Cheryll and I decided that we would get together once a week at a cafe with WII FI and work on our computers. Its kind of a buddy system. It would have been the opportune time for me to blog here, but we ended up doing some technical type of stuff instead ... she has a much better grasp of webmastering and helped me with a few things I needed fixed on one of my sites.
I did get back on the computer when I got home though and funnily enough a muddle of thoughts flooded in. They were muddled because they really have nothing to do with each other, yet there they were, residing side by side in my brain. One of the thoughts I had muddled over before, many times; the other while not terribly original was awakened to my conscienceness by a newsletter I received from a friend. The dueling duo are ness and mess --- well at least they rhyme.
Mess you know, we all experience some at some point or another. We have a mess on the table, a mess in the room, a mess of some sort in our life. My friend Linda wrote that to live a life of richness, we need to deal with the messes in our lives. She recommended that we handle each mess one at a time and we need not be overly ambitious with any time frames as certain types of messes take longer to clean up than others.
I took her missive to heart, looked around my surroundings and decided that yes, I could certainly do with less mess. It was an easy decision. Job one: clean my desk. When I work I like to have my notes, my reference material, my books and files at my finger tips. Although I try to keep things sorted by some indescribable logic the reality is that it all gets jumbled and soon the desk is a mess. I decided to clean it all up --- put away the books, the magazines, the files and other material in their rightful places. It was surprising how much of the "reference material" was no such thing and quickly made its way to the recycling bin.
I work in blocks of time, each block dedicated to a different project so depending on the project, I now bring out the appropriate material, putting it away at the end of the block. I have been at it for a week now. Its been rough going but I am beginning to like the tidy appearance of my desk so much more and have rediscovered the beauty of mahogany. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit ... methinks this one will take a tad longer and yet, and yet ... I somehow find that an uncluttered desk does indeed promote an uncluttered mind. There is hope.
Now to the ness of things --- aaaahhh, this is a somewhat more complicated thought. And what the heck is a "ness" you say. Well, it came to me many years ago in one of those discussion groups that tilt towards the philosophical, or at least the pretense of being so. Actually, I rather enjoyed those discussions as we dined on controversy the way a gourmet dines on caviar --- both are exhilirating.
...and then I asked at what point do we lose our ness? Eyes turned on me in puzzlement. I explored this new thought that just came to me explaining that while I have lived most of my life in Canada, was born and raised in Japan, I still felt a very strong tie to my ancestry, my Russianness, if you will. At that point I had never been to Russia, yet, somehow, I still felt very connected; culturally, physcially and spiritually. I could not even speak the language very well, you know kids type of patois. Yet there it was, the ness of being Russian.
Others picked up on my thought. Someone brought up President Kennedy who was one of the most iconic of American presidents, was third generation American at the very least, fought in WWII for the United States, yet was often referenced to his Irish roots, and indeed, there was a certain Irishness to the man.
I don't know, I think that the ness stays with us, becomes deep rooted in our psyche and informs us as to who we are. Its sort of like in our DNA. So, if we were able to dig deep down, I mean waaaay deep down into ourselves, whom might we discover ourselves to be? I think that the more appropriate question would be at what point does one ness overtake the last one?
...oh if at the Blenz Cafe, order their hot apple cider, does wonders for the soul on a blustery winter afternoon!
I did get back on the computer when I got home though and funnily enough a muddle of thoughts flooded in. They were muddled because they really have nothing to do with each other, yet there they were, residing side by side in my brain. One of the thoughts I had muddled over before, many times; the other while not terribly original was awakened to my conscienceness by a newsletter I received from a friend. The dueling duo are ness and mess --- well at least they rhyme.
Mess you know, we all experience some at some point or another. We have a mess on the table, a mess in the room, a mess of some sort in our life. My friend Linda wrote that to live a life of richness, we need to deal with the messes in our lives. She recommended that we handle each mess one at a time and we need not be overly ambitious with any time frames as certain types of messes take longer to clean up than others.
I took her missive to heart, looked around my surroundings and decided that yes, I could certainly do with less mess. It was an easy decision. Job one: clean my desk. When I work I like to have my notes, my reference material, my books and files at my finger tips. Although I try to keep things sorted by some indescribable logic the reality is that it all gets jumbled and soon the desk is a mess. I decided to clean it all up --- put away the books, the magazines, the files and other material in their rightful places. It was surprising how much of the "reference material" was no such thing and quickly made its way to the recycling bin.
I work in blocks of time, each block dedicated to a different project so depending on the project, I now bring out the appropriate material, putting it away at the end of the block. I have been at it for a week now. Its been rough going but I am beginning to like the tidy appearance of my desk so much more and have rediscovered the beauty of mahogany. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit ... methinks this one will take a tad longer and yet, and yet ... I somehow find that an uncluttered desk does indeed promote an uncluttered mind. There is hope.
Now to the ness of things --- aaaahhh, this is a somewhat more complicated thought. And what the heck is a "ness" you say. Well, it came to me many years ago in one of those discussion groups that tilt towards the philosophical, or at least the pretense of being so. Actually, I rather enjoyed those discussions as we dined on controversy the way a gourmet dines on caviar --- both are exhilirating.
...and then I asked at what point do we lose our ness? Eyes turned on me in puzzlement. I explored this new thought that just came to me explaining that while I have lived most of my life in Canada, was born and raised in Japan, I still felt a very strong tie to my ancestry, my Russianness, if you will. At that point I had never been to Russia, yet, somehow, I still felt very connected; culturally, physcially and spiritually. I could not even speak the language very well, you know kids type of patois. Yet there it was, the ness of being Russian.
Others picked up on my thought. Someone brought up President Kennedy who was one of the most iconic of American presidents, was third generation American at the very least, fought in WWII for the United States, yet was often referenced to his Irish roots, and indeed, there was a certain Irishness to the man.
I don't know, I think that the ness stays with us, becomes deep rooted in our psyche and informs us as to who we are. Its sort of like in our DNA. So, if we were able to dig deep down, I mean waaaay deep down into ourselves, whom might we discover ourselves to be? I think that the more appropriate question would be at what point does one ness overtake the last one?
...oh if at the Blenz Cafe, order their hot apple cider, does wonders for the soul on a blustery winter afternoon!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Mental Meanderings on the First Day of 2009
Whether you raucously celebrated the night away or quietly met the first seconds of 2009 with a hearty toast in the company of a small party of eight, six or one: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Mine was more like the latter. Even the toast was with a nice Shiraz from Argentina rather than a bubbly and it worked just fine with a feast of a dish I simply know as Backalar .. . at least that is what it sounds like. It is a traditional dish of countries on the Adriatic Coast and my husband made it. He learned how to make it from his father. It was delish!
Today was a rather quiet day. No, no Polar Swim for me, did not even go to cheer on the foolhardy. The morning was magical as big snow flakes came swirling down. Dawn had not broken yet, so the white against the dark was nothing short of spectacular. I thought I would wait till the darkness faded and go for an early morning walk and take some photos of this first day of the year 2009. No sooner had I finished my coffee than the snow turned to rain, and then the rain stopped and it just turned out to be a grissly gray day. Better suited for reading by the fireside … or just thinking.
Of course, I got to thinking about what 2009 might hold for us? If only we could gaze into the crystal ball and see what’s in store … or do we really want to look into the future? What would we do differently if we knew? Or, if knowing, would we even put out the effort? Would we perhaps just say that we are powerless? Would it kill our innate will to survive, stifle our ambitions, or dispel our dreams? Perhaps. Thoughts to ponder on this first day of a brand new year.
In a few weeks our neighbors to the south will be swearing in a new president who ran a campaign on CHANGE. I think that is admirable but my fear is that those who voted for Mr. Obama will expect miracles of a man who has taken on an enormous responsibility for a great nation and give little thought to applying it to themselves. I think we should.
If there was just one thing I could wish for as change, it would be that we as human beings begin to take responsibility for ourselves. I think that much of what is wrong with the world today is this sense of entitlement that we somehow developed, particularly in what we term as the First World and specifically in North America.
When my parents and their parents were growing up, there were no financial safety nets. Life was tough. I think of my parents living in Japan during WWII and the post war years that followed. Those were very difficult times. They had to make their own way to survive. Dad lost his business during the war and it took all of my and my sibling’s growing up years for him to rebuild it. I think of my grandparents having to leave all behind in Russia when the communists took over. They too had to make their own way to survive. My grandfather had to start a new life for himself and his family in China, a country that was culturally strange and a language that was foreign to him.
Neither my parents nor grandparents looked for a handout. They never felt that anyone should look after them, that anyone owed them anything at all: not a living, not a job, not a business. They faced and picked up the gauntlet that was responsibility writ large and worked to put food on the table, to clothe and provide shelter. There were no countries for them to flee to as refugees, there were no governments giving them any money or helping them to integrate into a new society. There was just themselves.
We were taught early on that life did not come with rights or privileges. In both my grandparent’ and parent’s cases they had to take responsibility for their own life because if they did not take that responsibility they would not have had a life. I think that most of us, if we think of our parents and grandparents, will have had a background which if not similar, has at least the ring of familiarity. So when is it that we became a nation of marshmallow people? You know, soft, with no backbone?
There are some things that are beyond the scope of one individual to change: one individual cannot change the financial crisis; one individual cannot stop the many wars that are being fought today (46 at last count); nor can one individual solve the global warming crisis. But if every individual begins to live with a sense of responsibility rather than entitlement, great changes will be brought about. What if each would but choose to take responsibility for our own financial wellbeing? What if we decide to build bridges instead of walls in our own personal relationships? What if we choose to use products that are earth friendly? This we can do.
A butterfly in the Amazon Jungle moves its wings and sets off a ripple effect in the earth's atmosphere. The reverberations created and set in motion by that one small, seemingly insignificant act, are witnessed as storms and typhoons in Asia. Let us each be a butterfly.
2009 … a year to rebuild, to strengthen and to create change.
Mine was more like the latter. Even the toast was with a nice Shiraz from Argentina rather than a bubbly and it worked just fine with a feast of a dish I simply know as Backalar .. . at least that is what it sounds like. It is a traditional dish of countries on the Adriatic Coast and my husband made it. He learned how to make it from his father. It was delish!
Today was a rather quiet day. No, no Polar Swim for me, did not even go to cheer on the foolhardy. The morning was magical as big snow flakes came swirling down. Dawn had not broken yet, so the white against the dark was nothing short of spectacular. I thought I would wait till the darkness faded and go for an early morning walk and take some photos of this first day of the year 2009. No sooner had I finished my coffee than the snow turned to rain, and then the rain stopped and it just turned out to be a grissly gray day. Better suited for reading by the fireside … or just thinking.
Of course, I got to thinking about what 2009 might hold for us? If only we could gaze into the crystal ball and see what’s in store … or do we really want to look into the future? What would we do differently if we knew? Or, if knowing, would we even put out the effort? Would we perhaps just say that we are powerless? Would it kill our innate will to survive, stifle our ambitions, or dispel our dreams? Perhaps. Thoughts to ponder on this first day of a brand new year.
In a few weeks our neighbors to the south will be swearing in a new president who ran a campaign on CHANGE. I think that is admirable but my fear is that those who voted for Mr. Obama will expect miracles of a man who has taken on an enormous responsibility for a great nation and give little thought to applying it to themselves. I think we should.
If there was just one thing I could wish for as change, it would be that we as human beings begin to take responsibility for ourselves. I think that much of what is wrong with the world today is this sense of entitlement that we somehow developed, particularly in what we term as the First World and specifically in North America.
When my parents and their parents were growing up, there were no financial safety nets. Life was tough. I think of my parents living in Japan during WWII and the post war years that followed. Those were very difficult times. They had to make their own way to survive. Dad lost his business during the war and it took all of my and my sibling’s growing up years for him to rebuild it. I think of my grandparents having to leave all behind in Russia when the communists took over. They too had to make their own way to survive. My grandfather had to start a new life for himself and his family in China, a country that was culturally strange and a language that was foreign to him.
Neither my parents nor grandparents looked for a handout. They never felt that anyone should look after them, that anyone owed them anything at all: not a living, not a job, not a business. They faced and picked up the gauntlet that was responsibility writ large and worked to put food on the table, to clothe and provide shelter. There were no countries for them to flee to as refugees, there were no governments giving them any money or helping them to integrate into a new society. There was just themselves.
We were taught early on that life did not come with rights or privileges. In both my grandparent’ and parent’s cases they had to take responsibility for their own life because if they did not take that responsibility they would not have had a life. I think that most of us, if we think of our parents and grandparents, will have had a background which if not similar, has at least the ring of familiarity. So when is it that we became a nation of marshmallow people? You know, soft, with no backbone?
There are some things that are beyond the scope of one individual to change: one individual cannot change the financial crisis; one individual cannot stop the many wars that are being fought today (46 at last count); nor can one individual solve the global warming crisis. But if every individual begins to live with a sense of responsibility rather than entitlement, great changes will be brought about. What if each would but choose to take responsibility for our own financial wellbeing? What if we decide to build bridges instead of walls in our own personal relationships? What if we choose to use products that are earth friendly? This we can do.
A butterfly in the Amazon Jungle moves its wings and sets off a ripple effect in the earth's atmosphere. The reverberations created and set in motion by that one small, seemingly insignificant act, are witnessed as storms and typhoons in Asia. Let us each be a butterfly.
2009 … a year to rebuild, to strengthen and to create change.
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