Musing

10C/50F, spectacular clear start again today, steady breeze makes the lagoon choppy; Gusta contrite & well behaved this morning exhibiting a plaintiff & apologetic look for her chair gnawing crime

brainstorming potential deal structures with an accountant is somewhere between having a root canal & flying to the moon; exciting & potentially painful at the same time, but worthy brain exercise – gets juices flowing - corporate skullduggery, world peace & feeding homeless were part of discussion where SB & I actually made progress skinning the cat on a project

I am not cranky this morning – photos in the paper of evacuated families lined up to return home during the mid-east ceasefire remind me how far from truly ‘engaged’ we are here in our comfortable homes, comfortable communities

we do not so much live in the absence of fear as we do the absence of engagement in what is really going on around us here & around the world - maybe it is time we did

I read west nile virus is visiting Alberta along with some pine beetles that have leaked into our NW Alberta trees; I don’t see a stampede of action by anyone – just complacency we all exhibit most days on most issues because we believe someone in government is on the file

morning papers remind how un-connected we are from what is really happening in the world today; we (most of us) have forgotten how to put our shoulder to the wheel, to be active participants in solving anything – instead health care pros of old knock the way things are today when people have to do more with less, a ‘solve the world AIDS crisis’ does not engage us beyond reading about a conference where Bill Gates & Bill Clinton are helping, more than anything, to put money where the problem is – but who has solutions? More importantly, how many of the 6 billion of us apply our minds, our labour or our cash toward even token involvement? - maybe it is time we did

our media inform us all, but engage us not at all

we can be well informed about every problem on the planet – we can even care about some of them – the media brings them to our door & into our living room every day where we see the ‘best optics’ problems getting the attention of media addicted politicians & organization leaders – meanwhile few people get truly engaged in making a difference, while 6 billion of us are quite content to sit this one out, sit the next one out & the next one & the next one - maybe it is time we did

we seem to live in a cosy world where problems that need solving, issues that need resolution & complex issues need to be unraveled, but we leave them to someone else (I read this morning that there are more obese people on the planet than there are people starving – part of me says ‘great, lets all send 10 lbs of ourselves to Africa’ or ‘hey, maybe world hunger isn’t a big deal’); the point being we need to get connected with the truth rather than gobbling the news like pabulum as if it were all true & all being solved by the governments & organizations we fund with our tax dollars - maybe it is time we did

I don’t think pursuit of life, liberty & a BMW in the driveway to the exclusion of having a social conscience is unique to Calgary – I don’t think we are less of a people because things are going well anymore than the people of the Gaspe in mid-winter are; I think we are all substantially disengaged from the issues & we could make such a difference if we tried - maybe it is time we did

we have it so good here, we do not know trouble; we have it so good here, we do not know pain; we have it so good here, we do not have our head around what is going on in the world

maybe it is time we did

'If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.' - African proverb

Mark

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