I kicked an SUV today

What astounds me is the ability that people have to be able to stand perfectly comfortably within a clear contradiction. I've been hearing a lot about this belly-aching about the rising cost of gasoline, and how the oil companies are doing it ON PURPOSE, because there is "plenty" of supply and it is simply the oil companies choosing to refine less crude that is causing the artificially rising prices at the pump. People are calling into radio and TV shows lamenting how much harder it is for them to pay for gasoline, how much harder it is to get around, how they've had to think of alternative ways to transport themselves from here to there, how they've had to curtail or change vacation plans because of the price at the pumps.
Um, hello? Isn't this a good thing? Aren't we also the society that cares desperately about climate change? Aren't we also the ones who are wanting to lighten our environmental footsteps on the earth? Aren't we the ones who are trying to practice the "Three Rs"? It is starting to disgust me how people are complaining on public radio that they can't get around and now, heaven forbid, they have to take public transport or bicycle to where they need to go, and how the government has to do "something" to make gasoline more affordable.
Considering we are only now starting to get a glimpse about the "real" cost of food and oil, I suspect our society is not willing to cut back on the frivolous (ie. entertainment and diversions) in order to pay for the necessities, when push really comes to shove...

Germany III

So, I think I've gotten a bit paranoid since I was in East Germany a few days ago. I was staying with a young Ukranian woman, who was living there with her Italian husband, and was giving me a furrowed brow with her stories of her experience of living there. As the Ukraine is still not yet part of the EU, and also has previous connections to the USSR and communist regime, Ukranians in general are looked down upon by East Germans, thus it has been very hard for her to be allowed to have the papers made to find work, to make friends, etc. She also noted that one of the ultra right-wing parties was the one that held the majority of seats in the local parliament, which for her, had echoes of that of the Nazis. that one of her darker-skinned Spanish friends had indeed been beaten several times by white supremacists in their city.
To me, this is all a little disconcerting, as I find it very hard to understand how, in light of a history that went from ultra-right wing (Nazis) to ultra-left wing (GDR) in a short period of time, both demonstrating their shortcomings, that the East should swing all the way back to ultra-right wing.
Anyways, it was a big relief to take the train to Frankfurt, and, getting off the train, seeing people of all colours and creeds and nations again. The balance between the multiculturalism of Western cities such as Frankfurt and Berlin, with the continued homogeneity and general suspiciousness to foreigners in the East is likely an issue that the Germans will have to work with for several generations yet...

Germany II

One of my big "tourist" goals in visiting Germany, more than Reformation sites, more than additional churches and museums, more than eating as much bratwurst as could possibly be eaten, was to visit a concentration camp. I wanted to see what we had always learned about in school, about the horrors of institutionalized hate and murder, that was mandated by government, and tacitly condoned by the Church. The careful calculations of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, its careful design, security perimeters, lavish grounds for the SS officers, the landmarks of torture and incarceration, the gas chambers and incinerators... it was really too much for me at several points... To know that an entire peoples allowed such horrors to happen, in their time, while they were eating and drinking and living on the "outside" (for many of these camps were found sidled right next to residential areas in town), made me shrink in horror at my own apathy to suffering and evil...
One thing that spoke to me was how Pastor Niemöller, one of the prime leaders of the Confessional Church, the only Christians at the time to speak out against these atrocities, for which they too were sent to the concentration camps, was considered "Hitler's personal prisoner" because of his status... Pastor Niemöller at several points in his incarceration wavered in his faith and his convictions, but emerged with a stronger faith, and a desire to foster unity within the Church, after it had done so poorly in defending the defenceless, and speaking for the voiceless.
His is the poem that spoke most eloquently at the time for the travesty of staying silent in the face of injustice:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Germany I

A few observations about Germans: They are definitely not as fit as the Swiss, and are more similar in shape to the North Americans. I think this may be because a lot of their traditional cuisine involves wursts and potatoes. That is to say, sausages in all their shapes and forms, and potatoes every which way.
Fortunately, a large influx of Turkish immigrants to Germany have providentially provided a way out of this problem by providing donairs and kebabs, which I have been gladly eating, as I realize I quite miss the food from that region of the world. In fact, Berlin has the largest Turkish population outide of Turkey. I think I will likely write a bit more later about the East/West divide and the Berlin Wall, etc the longer I hang about here. I have, sadly, seen skinheads still walking the streets (though thankfully not to beat me to a pulp), and have witnessed the Reeperbahn, which continues to sadden me and reminds me that Europeans also need compassion and mercy extended to them as well.
Anyways, this will be brief, as I am on a German keyboard, so am having to correct myself quite frequently, due to the different keyboards...

Switzerland IV

One interesting statistic from Switzerland is related to their guns. As I had mentioned before, each healthy male in Switzerland is conscripted to the army for 20 years. Furthermore, there is obviously gun and rifle training as well - women are also free to partake in all these activities as well, though it is not compulsory for them.
Because of this yearly return to military base for further training, Swiss males keep their army-issued firearms at home. This makes the Swiss the most highly-armed (in the individual sense) in the world. However, strikingly, their murder rate by handgun violence is low, just a bit higher per capita then Canada, which, of course, has much stricter laws against handguns (though the politicians are considering banning them altogether). And, obviously, a CONSIDERABLY lower rate than handgun violence than America.
This brings up many questions, to my mind. Does this really mean that "guns don't kill people; people kill people"? What does this say about our North American culture, that guns are used for the sport of killing people, that we have very lax values in civic pride, that we have less respect for our environment and culture? Does it mean that we don't value life and stability as much? Are there socio-economic factors that play into the handgun violence in North America? Do we really have anger and rage issues that prevent us from treating each other with civility? It makes me wonder, had Canada gone the way of firearms a la America, would we too have a handgun murder rate comparable to them? Does it not strike you as odd that we are just under the rate of the Swiss, when they have at least one gun in every home, and we have so few?

Switzerland III

One of the strange things one can find in Bern, the capital, is a 'bear pit', since, historically, the town was founded on some sort of bear hunt. The very sad part of it is that it is literally a pit, with a few rocks, and then a few bears that roam around pathetically, hoping tourists will drop snacks into the pit. Apparently, they have been talking a long while about making a 'bear park', where they might be able to have room to roam and actually live a bear-like life, but tradition dictates all, and since there has been a bear pit for hundreds of years, actually improving the lives of bears for the better takes a long time to change...
I also had supper with some Swiss folks last night, and they would like me to clarify: They don't eat cheese all the time; in fact, we had chicken curry for dinner. So there.
Some other observations I've made of the Swiss: They smoke relatively less than the average European. They are also strikingly less obese than North Americans are - I think some of this has to do with the European lifestyle generally contributing to healthier people, but I think also the mandatory conscription of all healthy males into the Swiss army also helps in keeping people fit. Furthermore, I do note what I think is a huge prevalence of polio (?I'm not sure - does anybody know?), as there are many many people here with what appears to be polio deformities and using crutches to walk. That is odd, so I wonder if there was some slip-up in their vaccination programs (sorry, that's obviously just job-related ponderings).
That being said, there is a lot of cheese here - we spent the day in the Gruyere region of the country, eating (duh) Gruyere, which is quite tasty, though I think, with the obscene amount of cheese that I'm eating, I would have to say that I'm a bit of a patriot, and still prefer cheddar. There, I said it - just don't tell the Swiss...

Switzerland II

So, despite some cloud cover and a bit of drizzle, I went hiking through the Swiss Alps yesterday. Let me tell you, with the edelweiss, the goats with bells tinkling, the green hills covered with snow, and the tiny Swiss wooden cottages, you really did feel you were in the middle of the Heidi story... all I really needed was my shepherd friend, and we'd be skipping about the mountains, eating cheese and whey. Sometimes it does strike me as quite odd when stereotypes come to life...
Another thing that I've noticed: There are A LOT of Korean tourists through here. I am not sure why that is. Additionally, there are A LOT of Indian tourists as well. For this, I have an explanation: apparently, a lot of Bollywood movies are now shot in and around the Swiss Alps, as it got too dangerous in the Kashmir lands, so many people from the Indian continent come here to check out site locales from their favorite movies... strange, isn't it? I'm currently in this tiny tourist town in a valley between two mountain ranges, and there are actually curry houses here... weird...

Switzerland I

So there are several things that the Swiss do that I note are strikingly similar to how I understand the world. The first is that of wearing socks with sandals; apparently they find it incredibly dirty to wear sandals without socks. I don't particularly think that, but I do like wearing my Birkenstocks with socks. I was actually going to walk out in my sport sandals this morning, sans socks, until my sister pointed out that truism about the Swiss, so I threw on some socks, and, lo and behold, so was everybody else! Secondly, I do also note the extreme punctuality here of all the transport system (I saw the last-second TTC strike on the Star's webpage - the bastards!) - no train, bus or ferry has actually been late; they show up on time, leave on time, and no delays! It's amazing, and jealousy provoking compared to the dumbass service from the TTC.
Thirdly, I'm also noting the care about food that the Swiss take; did you know they only have Fair Trade bananas available for sale here? You can't buy conventional bananas - good for them! Most of the produce in the stores is organic - organic as standard, not as optional. They also label meat, so that you know the country of origin, as well as whether or not the animal had been treated with antibiotics or not. That's amazing to be able to make some knowledgeable choice when it comes to buying food! Certainly, there's a plethora of cheese (no surprise there) as well.
Those are pretty much my observations thus far; based on those three things alone, I think I would fit in quite well here....

FFT

They [the question of what mankind's responsibility is on the earth] are also, both in origin and effect, religious. I am uneasy with the term, for such religion as has been openly practiced in this part of the world has promoted and fed upon a destructive schism between body and soul, Heaven and earth. It has encouraged people to believe that the world is of no importance, and that their only obligation in it is to submit to certain churchly formulas in order to get to Heaven. And so the people who might have been expected to care most selflessly for the world have had their minds turned elsewhere - to a pursuit of "salvation" that was really only another form of gluttony and self-love, the desire to perpetuate their lives beyond the life of the world. The Heaven-bent have abused the earth thoughtlessly, by inattention, and their negligence has permitted and encouraged others to abuse it deliberately. Once the creator was removed from the creation, divinity became only a remote abstraction, a social weapon in the hands of the religious institutions. This split in public values produced or was accompanied by, as it was bound to be, an equally artificial and ugly division in people's lives, so that a man, while pursuing Heaven with the sublime appetite he thought of as his soul, could turn his heart against his neighbours and his hands against the world.
- Wendell Berry

Folks, we need to PRAY!

I am going to enclose this link (it seems like I'm getting lazy, just providing links rather than actually writing anything of value), particularly as it is a request from my brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe asking for intervention. It worries me that this is the case, as I have friends who work there...
"'Genocide' warning in Zimbabwe"

D'oh!

So a friend of mine points out the other night that I am Lisa Simpson, present on earth in bodily form. Sure, I don't wear a pearl necklace, or have extremely pointy hair, but I think he was getting at the 'vegetarian-Buddhist-ish-social activist-genius' angle. Parallels also abound: extremely shrill and argumentative at times, prone to self-righteousness, love-hate relationships with Bart-type personalities, geeky/smart, independent, well-versed in many different disciplines and topics, tending towards the left politically especially when pushed by the Right to make a choice, and possessing a disturbing tendency to be able to attract only Ralph Wiggum and Milhouse-types...

FFT - really

Well, some thoughts from Michael Pollan, who I totally adore, and he also quotes Wendell Berry, another iconic hero of mine...
"Why Bother?"

The invisible workers

No, this isn't a rant about the plight of labourers the world over... this is actually wondering something else; on my way from work, there's a ramp connecting two highways which last summer was closed down to a single lane for a good chunk of the whole summer in order to repave it or something. They've just started the other side this week, and so have shut down all the lanes, except for one.
My question is, however, where all the workers actually are? I've been driving by at 1, 2, 3pm in the afternoon and have yet to see a single person, let alone a machine, in the whole area they've shut down. I'd understand, perhaps, if I was driving by at 5 or 6pm and no-one was there; I could explain it by saying it was after the work day. However, to not see anyone there in the middle of the afternoon? This doesn't really make sense to me. And certainly, I would imagine they would need some sort of machinery to help them do some of this imaginary work. Can anyone explain this to me, as it boggles my mind that they would block several kilometres of major highway and not actually do any work on it?

Some more about Utah

One of the things that bother me most about the fundamentalist, "religious right" point of view is how I have to defend it. It bothers me how it presents an unloving, unmerciful and uncompassionate face to society; I don't think anybody in our society can characterize them positively at all; words like 'bigoted', 'hateful' and 'ignorant' come to mind. It bothers me, in that, on occasion, on some issues, I too, fall under the "Christian right-wing" banner, and I thus have to explain and defend my brothers and sisters. Then I have to listen to: "Oh no, not like you, they're not like you at all," at which point I do need to clarify, that yes, they are like me, because they are still part of my family.
I feel like it's kind of like having a very annoying brother, who does all that he can to torment and bother you at home. However, in the schoolyard, if some other kid is bullying him, you need to come to his defence and stand by his side, whether you like it or not, and even though you know, once you get home, he'll just be back to his regular self, with nary a feeling of thankfulness. Sometimes, there may even be some hostility for you having had been there defending his back, instead of letting him fight his battle on his own.
I just really wish, sometimes, that they would go away, that we could work again to create a faith that is loving and compassionate and can balance mercy and justice. Something that could take people's breath away and say, "For surely the LORD is in this!".

Am I in, like, Utah, or something?

As many of you know, I spent today FUMING (I still am!) at the audacity of a sermon that I heard at church this morning. Basically, the gist of the sermon was along the same old fundamentalist lines of disempowering women, and ignoring all basis for reality by informing us it was our God-given responsibility to have as many children as humanly possible. The same old arguments that those darn Muslims are outpacing us in their birthrates, and if we don't hurry up and make as many babies as they do, they will outnumber us on the planet, oh heaven forbid. The argument that it is our mandate to be fruitful and multiply, ignoring many other mandates that God gave us in that small, often misquoted passage in Genesis. That if a couple chooses to be childless, then they are ignoring and disobeying the command upon their lives and living selfish and self-centred lives.
What particular blew me away were the very humanistic "arguments" given for having children as well: The tax credits (what?? Just the speaker mentioning that made me decide I cannot vote for the Conservatives in the next election (not that I would've anyways), if these are the wingnuts that they are appealing to), the "fact" that we need to have more children in order to help support the baby boomers in their old age (I'm sorry; but if they didn't prepare adequately for retirement, then that's their own problem), the point made that children keep marriages together (I'm sorry, but having a child for the sake of keeping the marriage together is a VERY VERY VERY BAD reason to have a child), the reasoning that you women have to have a lot of children, otherwise men, whose hearts tend to stray, will not have a strong compulsion to head for home (Excuse me? If a husband doesn't want to come home to his wife alone, again, VERY BAD reason to have children).
We were also told that we shouldn't stop at just one or two children, oh no! In "fact", it was the Devil's LIE that the world is overpopulated and that there aren't enough resources on the planet to sustain the, oh 6.5 billion of us on the planet, that we should counteract all evidence to the contrary, and have a gazillion children apiece.
What I found particularly interesting was how the speaker, in another part of his sermon, pointed to Jesus as our example as to why we should do some other thing, not related to this subject that I'm speaking about. I did note, however, how he was silent on Jesus' example on this issue: namely, that He had ZERO children. Obviously, Jesus was not living out His God-given mandate.
I'm pretty sure the women sitting in the pews this morning weren't wearing kerchiefs on their heads and unadorned in jewellery and braided hair, but really, for all intents and purposes, they might have as well been...

FFT - really

These are a few articles published in the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star this morning; this is a critical issue that really needs a lot of pondering and prayer about our own consumption patterns... it's actually starting to frighten me, at our complacency in the issue...
"Why Food Costs are Rising"
"The Coming Hunger"

Housekeeping

OK, now that I'm a bit post-rant (geez! Who would've thought I would've become so attached to a possession, for crying out loud!); I haven't really had to deal with much in the way of flooring, as I'm currently baby-sitting a house. One thing that I've become aware of is: I don't really like being in a big house all by myself, all the time. I suspect this is partly due to my urban upbringing, so the 'wide open spaces' likely tugs at the subconscious insecurities of being but a wee speck in the entirety of the cosmos. I find it odd, though, how we humans kind of like being in our small rooms, in our small houses, and find it a bit ?scary?intimidating?frightening? in being exposed to the vastness of nature. There are exceptions of us out there, of course, but for the most part, we tend to like being nestled, coddled, snuggled into our spaces rather than launched out into the grand vistas...

Stuff White People Like... (or don't notice)

So, one thing that continues to astound me is how people somehow think it's OK to be walking all over people's floors in their shoes. It's really starting to drive me nuts; I have a small patch of granite tile at the front door - a very logical place to leave your shoes. But oh no! Somehow people think it's OK to be walking over the hardwood with their grimy boots, which makes me want to scream, "Where the heck does it look like it's OK to be walking on wood floors with your shoes?"
It's really making me reconsider if I ever want non-Asians in the house again, or at least people I don't know very well, if at all. I couldn't believe one person recently who walked all the way into the house, despite the mounds of shoes at the door demonstrating that shoe removal was not optional, it was compulsory. Again, someone I didn't know at all, but in trying to use my house hospitably, was at my house anyways.
Obviously, by the title of the post, this is a particular crime of white people. However, I have noticed it transcending many different cultures and ethnicities. The other thing I've noticed is that a lot of white people don't find Russell Peters funny, but every single ethnic minority person I know does. Weird.

Arg! Still wishing for a Joseph...

The dreams are re-occurring again... this time, they've been a mish-mash of being accused, and brought to trial as a terrorist, alien abductions and brainwashing, kangaroo court-type scenarios, being black-mailed into doing something distasteful or illegal... it's really odd, and, of course, cutting into my sleep again...

FFT

Food shopping drives me crazy. I find myself standing behind my grocery cart paralyzed by all the voices in my head: buy local, buy organic (what does organic mean?), don't use plastic bags for produce (not even for bean sprouts), don't buy anything in a package, don't use gas to drive around to different stores for sales, be economical so that you can give more money away, just be thankful you can buy any food at all since people in Africa are starving, never mind whole wheat because you should be baking your own bread, rice is healthier than potatoes, brown rice is healthier than white rice, but don't buy rice 'cause it comes from so far away....
-Donna-Jean Brown

Here, here... and I do hear... the same voices are in my head too...