plodding on

The packing seems endless. I'm trying to give away, throw away anything that I don't need...but there is still so much packing to do. How can one person have so much stuff? Why do I have so much stuff? What do I do with it all?

HAW HAW::From a four-year-old boy in the galleries: "I've been here before, when
I was a little kid." -- Summer Smith, posted at 3:14 p.m. at Iridesce Sent.

Trauma counselors put into schools in Vancouver for kids traumatized by the tsunami disaster! On cbc radio this morning an interview with a writer who disagrees with this decision has me saying, finally! A writer who is calling a stone a stone. OK, maybe if the kids have some direct connection, fine, maybe. But it's like another layer of removal from reality and somehow making the kids jump on a drama-band-wagon, without teaching the kids any ability to descriminate between "hollywood" and life's realities. In real life, families and the people in them, need to develop real ties and real resources, to face life's troubles.

Trauma counselors are an idea that is really popular--we even had them in at our workplace to help us deal with the sudden death of the child of one of our colleagues some time ago. To me that was money well wasted. It was sort of a faked pseudo-sympathetic gesture on the part of administration to help us handle our emotions in that situation, as if they cared. Meanwhile, we talked with each other, cried, held each other--and that was far more effective because it was real. I felt a little bewildered at the time by the uselessness of the "professional" intervention, but now, in light of that cbc radio piece, it is so clear to me.

James and the Blue Cat had something to say about speaking out about your workplace. There are, of course, two sides to the story, which I think he treated quite well. Makes me a little nervous and I wonder what have I said in this public place about my paying job that might get me in trouble?

Whistle-blowing has been in the news again these days in reference to the city of Toronto...obviously there are times when the morally right thing to do is to point out wrongdoing by superiors in one's workplace.

Youngest Daughter this week was telling me about an episode at her workplace where the owner invoked the "I am the Boss, therefore I have the right to respect" concept. I was proud of the way Youngest Daughter replied to him, that while she does respect the fact that he is the Boss, things have been said in the heat of the moment that should not have been said on both sides...pretty well making it clear that a Position of Respect can be undermined by the holder's own goofy actions, making the holder undeserving of respect. Respect cannot be elicited no-matter-what by virtue of only one factor, ie I am the owner. Respect is a multifaceted bonus that in great part has to be earned.

Regarding the idea of our disconnect from real life, promoted by all sorts of forces in our culture, the primary one being those who produce all that over-processed, and over-packaged food: Country Canada on cbc television recently did a piece on a school hunting trip into the wilderness. The concern was expressed a couple of times that the trip is very risky and will no doubt be deemed too risky for certain wimps in our culture soon. The almost inevitable result will be that the trip will no longer be allowed to take place.

What do these 'wimps' in our culture think they are preparing their kids for if at every turn, they protect them from making mistakes, coddle them in cotton and provide them with 'professional' help whenever things are a little sticky? Don't you think making some real mistakes might make kids respect certain rules and procedures a bit more, that working through sticky situations might allow them to develop some real muscles and skills? Having 'professional' help jump in whenever things are tough kicks the kids legs out from under them before they even have a chance to stretch a bit and work things out for themselves, and worse, never letting kids be in tough situations prepares them for a very soft existence which is not a fact of life for most people when they grow up.

While I believe in universal health care, I do worry about certain individuals that expect the government to provide them with everything, even some people who can't bother to blow their own nose -- I see those individuals in the line of my paying job. Those individuals are aberrant, sick individuals however. A whole discussion could take place here about the changes in the system that should take place to prevent abuses by manipulative people, whether their motivations are nefarious or based on disfunctional personalities.

I thought it was a beautiful trip for these kids, packed with more learning experiences than some might get throughout the whole rest of the school year! And let me make clear that most of the time I am a vegetarian. The kids get a week-long chance to be out in the wilderness in the middle of winter, with all the hazards of cold weather, knives, fire, potential accidents and illness, 5 hours from the nearest community. They are carefully taught skills and precautions that must be taken to avoid potential hazards, and they get an opportunity to participate in hunting and fishing experiences and then enjoy the fruits of their labours. I was very impressed with the enlightening experience this is for even some of the kids in the north, who we assume, are that much closer to the sources of their food than we here in the south.

One of the kids on the show even expressed a sympathy and respect for the fear and suffering of the animal being hunted, which is an attitude that to my mind, should be uppermost in anyone who understands our role in the interconnected ecosystems of our world. With that attitude, we might be less inclined to waste resources, ravage and pillage the natural world with so much abandon and lack of concern for the eventual outcome. We might, as I have heard some indigenous peoples used to do, thank Brother Bear for giving his life so that we might eat, as an example.

Might have mentioned this before, if so forgive me. Oldest Daughter was alarmed when a couple of years ago I talked to her about my wish to raise a few chickens for eggs and meat. "Mom, could you really kill a chicken?" she asked. "My chicken comes wrapped in plastic from the grocery store!" Of course, she is not as shallow as all that and was being a little facetious.

At Mighty Girl, I read about the Dance Along Nutcracher and I want to go! Don't you? Wouldn't you just love to DANCE along with Nutcracker characters all in costume on an elaborate stage?

Mighty Girl also had this quote which made me laugh, Again! :

1.04.05 WIT Best part of a recent New York Times
Magazine article “Sidewalk
Socrates.” Sidney Morgenbesser was a professor of philosophy at Columbia
known for his quick wit. Philosopher J.L. Austin was giving a talk on the
philosophy of language… “Austin noted that while a double negative amounts to a
positive, never does a double positive amount to a negative. From the audience,
a familiar nasal voice muttered a dismissive, “Yeah, yeah.”