One…maybe two… for the road

Two news items on the AM news this morning caught my ear, and then my heart, and then my brain, and finally my emotions. One item was about a two-year old accident in Red Deer, in which a drunk driver killed a couple and left their five children orphaned. The second concerned an accident last year near Grande Prairie, in which a drunk driver hit a car load of high school football players, killing four of them and maiming the fifth.

In the first case, the driver was given a three year sentence, and released after having served 18 month. Life in Alberta is, apparently, quite cheap. The accident tore apart the lives of five children, and their aunt, who gave up her career in Vancouver to adopt and raise the children. The driver's needs were cared for carefully; he even got last Christmas out of jail to spend with his family!

The slaughter of the high school football players is just entering the preliminary hearing stage, to see if the case is worthy of a trial! There seems to be no guarantee that the perpetrator in this case will even get a jail sentence!

All of this hooks my emotions, specifically, rage. I cannot fathom a system that is able to overlook the actions of an inebriated person while operating a vehicle, and allow them to return to their life with no responsibility for the support or compensation of the family shattered by their actions. Defraud someone of money, and you will definitely do time; kill a group with your car while bombed, and you'll serve a minimal jail sentence, with no ongoing responsibility for the wreckage left behind your accident.

I had assumed that the Canadian justice had caught up with community values regarding the operation of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. I was certainly wrong about that! Now I am wondering who to contact to support efforts to pressure legislators to change the laws regarding penalties and compensation in drunk driving convictions. Since the lives of victims are affected for the remainder of their days, it seems reasonable for the life of a perpetrator to affected long after the event as well. Jail sentences are one thing, and probably should be more severe, but a family left to struggle without parents needs financial support for twenty years at least. Chad Olsen, the driver in question, should be coughing up big bucks monthly to care for the children whose lives he ruined.

I'm sure this last bit sounds pretty draconian, but it seems reasonable to me that since the effects of an action carry on for many years, the effects of that action - a chosen action (driving while drunk) - should be extended over time to assist recovering victims. Maybe I'll call M.A.D.D. Perhaps I'll write to the Premier, or my MLA. No use trying to reach my MP. He's on vacation, or in a committee, or otherwise occupied. He hasn't answered the letter I wrote him 8 weeks ago yet!

Any thoughts out there on this matter? Any useful proposals?

Today marks the official end of summer for me. I am back at wor part time, beyond orientation, engaged and planning...and Emma returns to Manitoba this evening. Angus left a week ago, and Emma finished work at Tim's yesterday . She is presently completing her final singing a lesson for the summer, and the it'sload up and head for Edmonton International.

Having the two of them for part and all of the summer has been a treat beyond description. Conversations and banter with intelligent and informed adolescents is wonderful! both were willing Tao help with anything a hey whereas,Ed to do, from harvesting rhubarb to hanging out clothes. Emma isan expert "cinephile" and Angus was willing to go for walk with me, or to the pool for exercise withy bunch of decrepit -  izing adults. On occasion, with a wicked twinkle in his eye, he would "explain" the endless game of monkeys and balloons to me until I screamed for mercy. Both of them read voraciously - Emma, too much Stephen King - Angus, whatever he could lays hands on.

I'm sure hey can't be typical teens; no. Antrums, no insults (beyond returning the ones they received). We had, we figured, one evening of mild attitude, and that was just enough to make us look a one another and say, "really? Was that IT?"

Whatwas so marvellous about this experience was the opportunity to be allowed into the confidence and thinking of Nellie at young people. We got sage responses to sermons, analysis of feminism today among the young, about the education system....and on and on. Analysis and enthusiasm around movies and how they are crafted and made was a special treat. Watchingfilms will never be the same....dull is what it's will feel like.

We got the chance to really be grandparents without reservation, and to appreciate the extremely fine job Joe and Caley are doing as parents. I have developed such respect for them! Wow! And of course, I cannot wait to see the kids agai, and to have them back in our home as part of the family. That's an important distinction; they were guests in our home; they were family. Nothing was put on for he. hey ate what we ate, they changed their beds and did their washing, they helped prepare meals.

I am hopeful that. Next summer they will rerun on one basis or another. They will always be welcome, indeed, there is a place already waiting for them. My visits to Tim Hortonswon't be the same for awhile.

Nothing is working....

I have written this blog TWICE on this iPad, and the man thing has dumped it at the moment of publishing. I'll try again later at home. Some days, I just won't happen...

New Moderator

Recently, an article in the Vancouver SUN advised the United Church of Canada - my denomination - to "stick to matters of religion," rather than commenting on the virtues and vices of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, or the Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank. Perhaps the SUN journalists should be required to take a course or two in New Testament theology, where both human misery and care of the earth are considered matters of "justice," which is a decidedly Biblical concept, and word heard on Jesus' lips now and then, not to mention the words of the Hebrew prophets!

In The Sun Media Corporation is critical of United Church policies, perhaps that means that we are doing something right! Sun media, whose major radio mouthpiece is Chuck Adler, whose musings make Newt Gingrich sound like a liberal, is a beacon for the political and social right. It would seem that the theological right also comes under their purview!

I can imagine the thunderings that will emerge in tonight's or tomorrow's editions of Sun rags. The United Church has elected a new Moderator, an openly gay man from Vancouver, Rev. Gary Patterson. We my even see scripture misquoted in the SUN; certainly hellfire and brimstone should be evident.

Since 1988, the United Church has declared gay persons to be eligible for ˆfull membership" in the Church. We have gay ministers, and now, a gay moderator. The fact the Rev. Patterson is gay is not nearly so important as is the fact that he is one of the best pulpiteers in the Church, and a man of huge integrity and skill. Rev. Patterson's election signals to the world, as well as to the whole Christian community, that the United Church embraces all humankind, not just those of particular gender or sexual orientation. Many Churches proclaim that they are not anti-gay, but they are opposed to gay marriage. I wonder, will they find reason to decry the election to the Moderator's chair an inappropriate selection for an individual who is embraced as a person, rather than as a straight person?

Many times, the speaking of justice is a good deal easier than the doing of justice. In this case, the United Church has acted out of its commitment to the whole of humanity, has lived its understanding of justice. I wonder how Chuck Adler will respond to such an action?

Underground…a novel

I've had not much reading time lately, what with part time work and interaction with grandchildren, but one volume that I found particularly intriguing was a new novel by Antanas Sileika, a Lithuanian, now Canadian.

In his native land, Sileika discovered and read the Journals and records of the Lithuanian underground from the late thirties until the 1950s. From these Journals, he produced a novel - Underground - about the life of those who were strong nationalists and thus fought first, the German Nazis, and then, after the Soviet occupation, the "Reds" as they called them. This underground resistance went on until the last of the resistance fighters died in the mid-fifties!

The story is gritty and violent, but maintains a thread of humanity through the central character, Lukas, a former scholar, now an underground legend. We follow him through the forests, into Sweden and then France as he attempts to raise money for their cause. Along the way, he marries Elena, who supposedly is killed in a Red raid. After moving to France and after some time has passed, Lukas marries again - to Monika - and they have a child. Lukas returns to Lithuania at the urgent request of his former leader. In fact, the invitation is a lure to allow the Reds to catch and eliminate him. In the process, Lukas discovers that Elana is alive and has had a son, Jonas. Lukas surrenders himself in order to conceal his family's whereabouts. Much later, after Lukas' death, Jonas and Lukas' son by Monika, Luke, find one another, half brothers through war, and begin to piece together their father's life.

I think this book touched me so deeply because it carried me back to the days of WW2, when I as a child, remembering the chaos and terror of those days, and of the sacrifices people made for their families and for their country. In the face of the frantic right wing screams from south of the border, and the increasingly conservative values being imposed on our country by a government demonstrating its heartlessness again and again, Sileika's book is a potent reminder of what it costs individuals to maintain their freedom in the face of oppression of whatever kind.

I watch Romney and Ryan and fear for democracy as we know it in the US. I listen to Harper, Toews and Baird and harbour the same feelings about my own country. Dissent is being choked off, critique is buried or crushed economically. The vulnerable are threatened, and the young brainwashed about the importance of "conservative Canadian values." The country I grew up in, and matured in, is dissolving before my eyes. And I feel helpless to do anything.

A recent McLean's article on the Dieppe Raid assisted in this process of seeing things again through the eyes of a wartime child. General make stupid decisions, and privates lose their lives because of it. I remember my Dad saying, during the Viet Nam war; "They shouldn't send eighteen year old kids to fight. They don't know anything yet, and they need to live. Send the old farts, like me (he was in his 50's at the time). We'd march a bit, and then sit down and have tea - ask the locals where the good tea was. And if we got killed, so what? We've had a chance to live!"

I think it would be a similar parallel if we asked our leaders to live on a welfare cheque for a month or two, in order to feel the squeeze down at the bottom of the pile. Decisions might get a bit more real…and perhaps a lot less frequent. At least that's how I feel today.

Who decides?

Just watched the Canada-USA soccer game. Overtime, US by one goal at the last minute. The Canadian team pushed the US to the limit and could have won if the gods had been with them, and the ref hadn't called so many Canadian penalties. Gold in my heart, whatever. Go, Japan!

The deomocratic process in canada took another hit the other day when the Conservative government changed the rules regarding the Northern Gateway Pipeline. Previously, the National Energy Board, reviewing all the data, including local views, was to make the decision. Suddenly, its the Cabinet who makes the choice. This means that the pipeline is a certain "go," and the will of the BC folk and the Aboriginal communities aganst it, will be ignored. Slowly, we are becoming an oligarchy, a subsidiary of US interests, with Canadians having virtualy no say in our resource development.

Too hot today to think. Enough for now.

The Games

Lately, I've been watching a lot of 'jock TV,' aka The Olympics. Some neat moments, demonstrating the commitment and dedication that so many youthful competitors put into the thing. Some shameful moments, such as the badminton cheating incident. Started watching female beach volleyball for the babes, and began to appreciate the effort it takes and the skill they develop. I felt for the Russian woman with the heavily taped shoulder, who kept it up until the last ball had dropped.

Of course, my pet peeve is with the designation of M.Phelps as "the greatest Olympian."Nonsense. I'm glad they changed that to "the most decorated" Olympian. Many other could qualify as great. Fanny Blankers-Coen in '48, running and wining in four events, just three years after having been in a world war. Or Emil Zatopek, the runner with such dogged determination. Of course, I think that almost any medalist in the male Decathlon, or the Women's Pentathlon would be greater than Phelps. They must be competent and superior in multiple disciplines, rather than just in one venue.

Dumbest comments from Olympic TV: "She finishes a solid sixth in this race…" An attempt to put a bit of shine on a near-to-last-place finish by a Canadian cyclist in the sprints. At the moment, I'm feeling a bit more up, as Canada currently leads Great Britain in soccer, 2-0. Ready to cheer if it lasts. Got to see Christine Sinclair 'bend it like Beckham' for the second goal in a penalty shot.

Reflecting on the Games always produces ambivalence in me. Such courage and determination on the past of some, such cold-eyed killer instinct on the part of others. Such beauty and power, and such egotism and pettiness. I also shudder to think of the cost of the Games, while multiple millions starve because of a dearth of funding for food aid.

It's weird how I flip-flop around. I enjoy many events, and then one comes along, like Phelps with his umpteenth medal race, and I think, "Why doesn't he just take the pile of medals and get on with the endorsements and the ads?" As I watched the heats for the Women's 100 Metre race, I was touched by the beauty, regalness and power of some of these ladies. One or two look like they could rip up the field wit their teeth - lionesses, really! But they managed to do the whole thing with such class.

I admit to being a hopeless homer as I watch. "Go Canada!…" But I guess we don't spend quite enough money on their training, for they so often miss by just a hair. (Should make Harper happy: few Canadians beat the US and thus piss off his best friends!) See how small I can be when the flag is flying and the legs are kicking?

I will enjoy the track events, especially the longer distances. That's where GREAT athleticism comes to the fore. Training, ability and guts does it. I can hardly wait to see another fleet African roar home in the 5000 meter or the marathon. Or perhaps it will be an Egyptian or a Tunisian. Somehow, this sort of thing seems symbolic for me. The long distance people are those who have learned how to suffer and who can turn that into success. I believe our own Clara Hughes does that. Training for her final Olympics with a broken bone in her back because she just wanted to be in it again. She looked as pleased with her fifth place finish in the time trials as if she had won She was there! She was in it! I'm so glad she embraces Right To Play. And I'm so glad she's a Winnipegger! (See how small I am?) More after the races.