Quote from a great Canadian

'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here 
in good faith  becomes a Canadian and assimilates himself to us,
he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else,
for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man 
because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet 
a Canadian, and nothing but a Canadian...
There can be no divided allegiance here.
Any man who says he is a Canadian, but something else also, 
isn't a Canadian at all.
We have room for but one flag, the Canadian flag...
And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is 
a loyalty to the Canadian people.'

Wilfrid Laurier 1907

To that I would my own version of the same sentiment:

This is my country.
It is a country that respects individual rights
It is country in which EVERYONE is equal, in rights and importance.
It is a country in which EVERYONE has the freedom to practice their beliefs.
It is also a place where EVERYONE has the right to freedom FROM religion and religious belief.
It means that I will respect your right to disagree with those values,
but not the right to change them.
This is the lifestyle we practice in my country,
and if you feel impelled to impose contrary religious, cultural or political values on my country, then, I invite you to go back to your home, for this is not it.
And to those citizens of my country who would, in the name of political correctness,
give away or compromise the rights and freedoms we have achieved, I invite you to go with them.

Hockey and religion

There are parallels between Religious extreamists and Hockey nuts. Notice I didn't say religious nuts.

They are similar in their adamant defence of their "beliefs" in the face of scientific evidence.  What brought this to mind lately, is the furor over the new Ontario school bullying bill and the way a Catholic fringe group called the bill an attack on Catholics and religious values etc etc. (The CBC again giving more air time to a fringe group than is warranted).

The religious fanatics' response is very much like the hockey nuts who keep saying that fighting and hard checking is part of hockey and critics should just butt-out. It's tradition and should be left alone etc.

You can of course, get away with calling the hockey people "nuts", you usually cannot get away with calling the religious fanatics "nuts", and therein, of course, is a major difference.

But it points out an obvious fact;  that it is not the hockey, or the religion, or whatever else, that is the problem, it's the way people settle into their little foxholes of belief feeling completely safe and refusing to leave, no matter what.

One, of course, always thinks that he is viewing others in their little foxholes of belief from the vantage point of level ground. It may be, however, that we do not understand those people in their little foxholes because we are so deep in our own that we only see their heads poking out.

"Political correctness" gone too far

Recently I was again made aware of the school Principal, Erik Millett, in Springfield, N.B., who bowed to pressure from “a couple of families” to ban the singing of the Canadian national anthem in the school.

I don’t know which is worse, those who objected to the anthem being sung, or the principal who bowed to their ridiculous demands.  This “political correctness” nonsense has gone far enough. I’m all for avoiding needless offence, as I believe most Canadians are, and for that very reason, I find it completely mystifying that someone would offend an entire nation in order to avoid what can hardly even be understood as an offence to “several families”.

I can only assume that these “several families” are immigrants, for what Canadian would demand such a ridiculous thing? And, if I am wrong, I apologise deeply to all immigrants.

However, I would say this to all immigrants:

I sincerely welcome you into my country. It is a country that respects individual rights.
It is country in which EVERYONE has equal rights and everyone is equally important.
It is a country where EVERYONE has the freedom to practice their beliefs.
Which means that EVERYONE also has the right to enjoy freedom FROM religion and religious belief.
It also means that I will respect your right to disagree with those values, but I will not grant you the right to change them. This is the lifestyle we practice in my country, and if you feel impelled to impose the religious, cultural or political values that you fled your homeland from, on my country, then, I invite you to go back to your home, for this is not it.
And to those in my country who would, in the name of political correctness, compromise those values, I invite you to go with them.

Appalling Palin

Interesting little article by Rick Ungar in Forbes Magazine: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/06/03/sarah-palin-paul-revere-warned-the-british/

Mainly focusing on Sarah Palin,  he also points out numerous other gaffs.  It really makes you wonder if maybe Bush was not that much out of the ordinary as far as brains go.  Even the writer himself (Rick Ungar) goes a little beyond the edge when referring to McCain as running for "leader of the free world".  Just who the hell do these people think they are?

9/11 coverage

We’ve heard an awful lot about the terrible events of September 11, 2001 during the past week.  And it really was a terrible thing. An unprovoked, unnecessary, and unjustified attack on innocent civilians resulting in nearly 3,000 deaths. And for what? An ideal? To make a point? Or was it revenge?  Whatever the reason, it wasn’t enough to justify taking the lives, in so cruel a fashion, of people who could have had no part in affecting the lives of the murderers.

And the legacy of that action?   An unprovoked, unnecessary, and unjustified attack on Iraq resulting in over 100,000 innocent civilian deaths. Civilians who could have had no part in affecting the lives of their murderers. And for what? An ideal? To make a point? Or was it revenge?

It makes me wonder if all the coverage of what happened in New York was misguided. Maybe a lot more tears should be shed over the 100,000.  Maybe the real terrorists are on this side of the ocean, because, after all, isn’t any unprovoked attack on innocent civilians a terrorist attack? And can’t we measure the magnitude of the atrocity by the number of dead? 

If someone who murders 3,000 is a terrorist, then what do you call one who murders a 100,000?

Atheist Registry??

There's a chap in Florida who seems to think that there should be a national atheist registry.  Not so that normal, rational-minded people would be able to contact each other, etc. No, this registry would be so that the "right-thinking", gun-totin' people of the US, especially those in the south, I would think, can deal properly with atheists.

I have read people pointing out that many Christian groups around the world are, in fact, becoming more militant, more ignorant, more despicable, than the militant Islamists. I am begining to believe that they are right. I don't know whether it's due to our colder climate or what, but I am very grateful that we have far fewer of these lunatics up here in Canada.

If you'd like to know more, heres a link to follow: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2011/sep/04/1

Funerals

I've commented before on the nature of small town funerals, but the subject bears a closer look.  First off, people should not die during the hottest weeks of summer, especially when the church lacks air conditioning. If it is so equipped, then setting off for the after-life during the hot days would be a blessing for the community. But the local church doesn't have it and let's face it, situated as it is, in Northern Ontario, air conditioning is not something worth separating parishioners from their money for. 


Secondly, pastors should definitely base the length of their services not on the number of high points in the deseased life, but rather on the significance of the presence or absence of said device.

That asside, it was a normal small town funeral. People greeting friends and relatives that they haven't seen since the last funeral, or wedding. People getting reaquainted, catching up on news, recalling past glories, etc. People checking out the goody table, searching for Mrs. whats-her-name's peanut butter parsteries, etc. In short, as a social event, it was a hit.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make. And that is that in the end,when you have done your thing and thrown it all asside for something better, the significance of that life, those years of toil and sweat, of struggle and pain, of greed and generosity, in short, your own hard fought contribution to the world in general, the very significance of your life, may actually be little more than a one or two hour social event.