Musing

-1C/30F, calm and overcast, Gusta sniffed out a snoozing bird of prey – too dark to see if it was hawk or an owl, but big wings were flapping fast, otherwise our walk around the lagoon was a simple stroll watching a band of gold and red peek between the horizon and a bank of clouds . . a spectacular start

I made a trip to the Sulpher Mountain hot springs and had dinner last night with muser SK and her son Ed (must be an English term for a 14 yr. old eating machine!); they are having a great time skiing and enjoying Banff . .

today as the shortest day of the year gives rise to the longest night; this evening at precisely 7:22PM EST (5:22 here in Calgary) will mark the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere – this first day of Winter feels more like a spring morning

from today onward the days get longer

from today onward, summer begins for our friends on the bottom half of the globe

on some fronts, my day may be very long

maybe short days contribute to short tempers, short fuses . . not sure about that

referring to the Marcus Aurelias quote I mentioned yesterday, perhaps instead of railing against the behaviour of idiots (they are everywhere) I should just appreciate their necessity in the world . . accept idiocy as it happens; then I can be more calm in reacting only to issues affecting things I am responsible for and simply ignoring the idiots and their idiocy

but . . try as I might I cannot do that or stay calm about all my idiot encounters

‘I do no suffer fools gladly’ seems like such a proper and dignified way to reference stupidity, ignorance and bad manners, while the charitable way would be to say ‘they meant no harm, they simply did not see it clearly’ . . bah ... humbug

but . .

add to the garden variety idiots the telemarketers and the ‘we are just taking a survey’ person who called me at 7:45 this morning, then perhaps we could address the idiocy issue and solve some real problems in this country; we could take all the idiots . . whatever their in station life . . ship them all to Baffin Island like the British did so long ago shipping criminals to Australia; we could re-name Baffin Island something apropos like Idiotia Island . . or Idiotopia

they could generate a society all their own and we would solve the housing and labour shortage problem in Calgary . . and probably everywhere else in the country with one simple initiative; meanwhile Idiotopia could develop its own society, its own laws as a ‘distinct society’, as a nation within a nation .. (oops, that’s been done already) . . or maybe the idiots could just separate

there would be a problem though, because once we exported all the idiots we have what would happen to new idiots we create?

would we also have to export the parents of every idiot, charging them with crimes against our country for raising an idiot?

what would the criteria be?

we would probably have to have a government tribunal or commission to review all the appeals of exportation orders but all the seats would be empty because we would have exported those idiots too

this afternoon, perhaps with a can of idiot repellant in hand, I will brave the stores to start my Christmas shopping

this shortest day is feeling too long already

Mark
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