Posted on July 18, 2016 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

 

Flashbacks.

Every now and then something happens that immediately teleports me to my youth. It’s usually a song that I’ll hear on the radio. When I hear the opening bars of “Whiter Shade of Pale,” I find myself stumbling around the Parish Centre at a high school dance begging for a waltz with that special someone. Ask me how that went!

I was out for my morning walk yesterday and it was simply the most wonderful morning of the summer. Saturday evening’s rain shower cooled things down and the air was deliciously fresh and clean. Part of my walk took me on a short trail that many people aren’t aware of. Shortly after you turn off Hawthorne Street onto Vincent’s Way ( across from Brendan’s ), if you veer to the right, you will notice what looks like the start of a roadway. If you’re an old timer like me, you might remember that many years ago, there was talk of a road that would connect upper Hawthorne Street to “the interval”, to alleviate traffic entering the downtown. That roadway is now a path that takes you through the interval and exits at the bridge over the Wright’s River near the former dairy.

Shortly after entering the pathway, I was hit with a sensory explosion. It was incredibly still and silent save for the birds that were chirping . The warmth was starting to emanate from the ground and I could see a few bumblebees and the odd grasshopper. The powerful and awesome smell of several wild rose bushes greeted me. There were buttercups galore and endless bunches of clover.

And, “bam”, just like that, I was a young lad on Hillcrest Street, wandering through the back field on my way to distant lands… the woods up behind the cemetery! In order to get there, I had to walk through the woods behind the old Antigonish High School ( now the Annex ), cross the Bishop’s Bowl, pass through the graveyard and re-enter the woods near what is now Church Street extension. Most times, you would travel this route with a few buddies but occasionally you walked alone. Yesterday’s walk so reminded me of these solo walks where all your senses are on high alert. Sorry, Disney, but nothing can capture magic like a solo walk with Mother Nature. Her “magic kingdom” is right in our back yards… and free!

I am spending much of my summer hanging out with my 8 year old granddaughter and her friends. I am happy to report that when they get together, there are no computer games played. There is a great deal of making crafts, walking down to explore the Brierly Brook, trips to the water park at Columbus Field, sojourns to the library and the occasional ice cream at one of the ice cream stands. It is nice to know that kids can still have “unorganized fun” without staring at some electronic device.

Have a great week.

Posted on July 14, 2016 under Faces in the Crowd with no comments yet

 

“Through our travels, we redefined the meaning of wealth. It is not about acquiring possessions. It is about collecting experiences.”

Meet Kathleen Moran and Chris Cairns.

Kathleen grew up in Judique, the youngest of three siblings. She loved small town life and became a devotee of Highland dancing. Chris was raised in Charlottetown along with his older brother. He loved the fact that P.E.I.’s capital had all the amenities of a bigger centre, but was safe enough to play outside unattended and build forts as a child.

Kathleen decided to begin her academic journey at Acadia where she knew no one. “I wanted to push myself and extend my boundaries.” She then transferred to Dalhousie to pursue her studies in pharmacy. In her third year, she travelled to Tanzania as part of a multi-disciplinary team of medical people working with AIDS/HIV. She officially contracted the “travel bug.”

According to Chris, his family consisted of a “herd of pharmacists” so it was no surprise that his dad ferried him to Dalhousie in his freshmen year. He took some sage advice from his father who urged him to get 50% of his learning inside the walls of academe and 50% outside. Chris did two educational trips during his university career including a stint in El Salvador, helping a team build an extension on a school for children with special needs.

Even though Kathleen was a year ahead in the pharmacy program, they ended up going on a class trip together to the Dominican in 2011 where they struck up a relationship.

After graduation, Kathleen took a one year contract in Pictou. During this time, the urge to travel bubbled to the surface. She decided that when the contract was completed, she was going to hit the road for a while… destination unknown.  She issued an ultimatum to Chris who was about to graduate: “You can come with me or stay at home.” The challenge came with a sweetener. “You can pick anywhere in the world to travel.”

And so, in early September of 2013, they headed to Bogota, Columbia with a pair of one way tickets. They had been so busy leading up to the trip that they had done almost no planning. Upon arrival, they suffered immediate culture shock and wondered how they would find their hostel with a dearth of English speaking people.

On the second day of their adventure, they returned to the hostel to find the place surrounded with sirens blaring and police wielding AK 47’s. Their place had been ransacked and robbed. Virtually everyone in the hostel had their passports and other valuables stolen, items that were secured in padlocked lockers. Kathleen and Chris were two of the lucky ones and only lost one of two cellphones. A few weeks later, that number was reduced to zero, much to the chagrin of their parents who wouldn’t be getting regular updates (to make sure they were safe!).

They learned a valuable lesson from the experience. “We realized that nothing was insurmountable. It was the best thing that could have happened. We learned to roll with the punches and take things as they come.”

They returned to Halifax and suffered a dose of reverse culture shock.  It took them a couple of months and a ten minute conversation to decide on a year-long trip to Europe, Africa and Asia. Towards the end of the epic journey, they started to look for work and chose Antigonish as their headquarters for the next while.

And what are the future travel plans for these young adventure seekers? “We want to explore our own province and the rest of Canada. Other travellers we met at hostels raved about Canada and we realized that we hadn’t spent much time exploring our own country

And what were the major lessons learned? “Acquiring possessions can be a burden. Travel taught us to be minimalists.”

“And I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.”  

The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost

Posted on July 11, 2016 under Storytelling with 3 comments

Old Glory

 

If this happens to be your very first trip to my Week45 website, let me assure you that this is not a typical post. Far from it.  My columns are generally non- political and non- controversial. They are usually upbeat, optimistic and tinged with humour. But occasionally, something  just sticks in my craw and I have to get it out.

Pardon me while I rant.

Are we witnessing the unravelling of the U.S.A. in real time?

America is deeply divided along political lines, and racism is rearing its ugly head again. Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s not that it ever went away, but we see it more openly and instantly with the advent of social media. It would be too simplistic to point the finger at one person or one event, but disenchantment and disillusionment are rampant.

Politics is gridlocked. Even when reasonable policies and new initiatives make sense, the two major political entities act like children in a playground when things don’t go well.

Guns.

Sorry, but I just don’t get it. Yes, Americans have the right to bear arms but the ability of just about anyone to arm themselves with guns, rifles and semi- automatic weapons defies logic. Why should any ordinary citizen be given the right to purchase an AR 15, or its derivative to gun down defenseless people?

Hostage taking is ubiquitous. It sometimes seems that politicians are being held hostage by the NRA.

The carnage in the past week has been plain awful as it was in the previous week, and the one before that. We are becoming inured to the devastation due to the sheer frequency of these events. We are keeping television networks’ ratings up along with advertising revenue.

Pathetically and almost inexplicably, gun sales soar after each incident.

According to a study conducted in 2013, the U.S. has an average of 88 guns per 100 people and there are 10 gun related deaths per 100,000 people. Japan has less than one gun per 100 people ( .6 ) and has .6 gun related deaths per 100,000 people.

( http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/09/19/u-s-has-more-guns-and-gun-deaths-than-any-other-country-study-finds/ )

More guns do not make America safer.

Sandy Hook. 20 Elementary school children…

Guns and Politics.

George W. Bush went to Iraq in 2003 on an ill-advised and ill- fated mission, looking for weapons of mass destruction (WMD).  He could have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars by looking no further than his own country.  There are over 300,000,000 guns in the U.S. with a population of roughly 325,000,000 people. The WMD are on every doorstep and nothing, not the killing of innocent children, innocent black people or innocent cops seems to stop the carnage.

Racial profiling.

I am not an expert on racial profiling, but it does appear that an inordinate number of black people (mostly male) are subject to treatment by law enforcement officers that would never happen if the same person were white. This is not uniquely an American problem but when it occurs daily, we sit up and take notice.

Income inequality.

The gap continues to widen between the haves and the have nots. Something has to give. This phenomenon is not restricted to the U.S. You can feel the frustration smouldering.

Hatred and fear.

Some presidential candidates are preying on fear, leading to a rise of nationalism, homophobia  and xenophobia not seen in a very long time. Very scary stuff. Xenophobia is described as an intense and irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries. Funny thing. Most Americans come from immigrant stock, the last time I checked. Canada is not perfect but we are welcoming immigrants and refugees in record numbers.

The mortar is crumbling on a once proud country.