Musing

today’s Musing written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park

-5C/22F (high 7C), half melted snow blanket still hanging around, full moon was hanging on the shoulders of last night, waiting to see a spectacular sun rising to an empty blue Alberta sky; school buses rolled by to collect kids, Gusta chasing frozen eau de mole or something

things will be tough for some in the coming year or two for reasons that really have nothing to do with yesterday’s announcement; but most will prosper, most will continue to work hard and earn fairly; we the free, we the governed have no appreciation of what it might be like to make decisions for a populace, making choices with far-reaching implications for today’s entrepreneurs, for tomorrow’s newborns and for a legacy we all want to see protected, but, I could be wrong about that

freedom to create prosperity, not a certainty, but our birthright; as Canadian as canoes, maple syrup or hockey, we hiss and moan; Canadians (Albertans too) blow off steam and cling to ideas whether fed to us or views rooted in who we are, how we have lived and what we have seen – and, like seasons, time passes

soil under my feet feels permanent, my Canadian birthright and Albertan freedom intact; I could be wrong - I did not feel a quake, I went outside to confirm the sky had not fallen; listening to and reading news coverage suggests changes, bluster about wholesale capital moves - noise of the ill informed listening to the ill conceived tossing half-baked ideas about in the hope they might be right and later thought clairvoyant

a Wall Street guy saying this, half-flaked economist from socialist organization says that - each has little relevance at most breakfast tables; we are a calm and serious people, we count on leaders to lead, innovators to innovate, street sweepers to sweep and accountants to count; I live in a land of plenty, a place that welcomes people and ideas, a place of freedom and opportunity like few on earth, a place of change and innovation, a place of frontier spirit and pick-up truck straight talkin’

“We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.” – Chuang Tzu

no one shoo’ed off the porch or the property; within days reasonable captains of industry and talking heads will measure real results as markets adjust to new realities, to a different view of opportunities and constraints; a steady leader assessed a situation and made choices we will learn to live with and benefit from - that’s what leaders do

yesterday’s announcements did not shake the world or destroy an economy, neither did they create nirvana; a year or two from now some Toronto economist will fly into town to tell us how smart they are – they will announce there is no better place to be; when that happens cowboys will grunt, kids will laugh and play, most of us will smile and let the silly economist have his day – because we’ve known it the whole time

yesterday’s changes did not kill a people or an industry or a golden goose; yesterday’s announcements made for stories above the fold and air time and sound bytes and minor adjustments like the grinding of the earth’s plates against one another; signs there will always be friction and tension – steam and tremors now and again are necessary but major earthquakes don’t happen very often; a politician got it partly wrong, industry and investors cried fowl, pundits wrote about it because it was the news du jour and commentators commented because that is what commentators do, but, I could be wrong

dire predictions, one viewpoint swamping another, overblown, out of context; yesterday, a Thursday – a nice day but no more spectacular or dismal than any other Thursday – a day when life went on, babies breathed their first, some old notions breather their last, anglers began angling as rule changes did not make the prize go away; as predicted some spoiled kids will take their ball and go play somewhere else; most won’t because this is where they live and there is no better place to be Albertan than in Alberta; I could be wrong about many things, but about this I am certain

Mark Kolke
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