“There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will ACT like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

Lets see, Syrian refugees in the news and the debate rages across the world on whether they’re coming or going… mass murder on the rise in the US, Christian Terrorists busy bombing Women’s Clinics all over the US, Muslim’s being attacked like Jews in Nazi Germany throughout Western Countries, em, am I missing anything?

Just another day on my newsfeed in Facebook. Yesterday I sat in front of that screen, again, and scrolled thru, to see what may be new… and ended up unfollowing more shite.

I suppose we all have our limits. My need to know has dwindled. I really don’t need to know any of that stuff; least not in terms of my own personal sanity. I am confident anything of significance will be shared by one of my many well informed friends and family, one can never completely have their head in the sand these days.

You know Mom, I just want to read more inspirational quotes, laugh at cute animal memes, and just fricken vegge. Smile, wave at co-workers, walk Irish at The Coves, write, take photos, laugh more, read more fiction, care more, see more, do more…enough of this fractured sense of obligation to be “in the know”. Cause I DON’T need to know; I really really don’t.

I will say this though, Dad surprised me last month when he was up with MsBrenda. In regards all the shootings in the US, I was shocked to hear him say…“but I’m sick of all these killings, all these damn guns”. I thought…like WOW…my Dad? I guess there’s hope for the US yet. It actually encouraged me alittle. Dad’s not a dumb guy, his silence sometimes, his character I suppose, is often mistaken for ‘simple’, but that Man is a tangled mess of dichotomies… I often wonder how you … well never mind.

Anywho… coming from a Trump lovin’ Republican, it does give me hope for the rest of the US. Though, Dad did have the advantage of spending almost 50 of his 70 years in Canada. So there’s that.

On the Syrian Refugee front, I was offered a glimpse of the true beauty that resides within humanity.

The Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi (I know eh? He’s awesome too…go CALGARY), said he felt hopeful, as he relayed his thoughts after an Open Meeting he held at City Hall. Saying he had been nervous before hand, concerned with what fellow Calgarians would have to say about the refugees arrival. In attendance were members of Mosques, Churches, Synagogues, with members asking how they could help, what they could do.

And at the end of the meeting a Native Elder arose, and Naheed said be became worried, as the native community in many parts of Canada is, well, quite frankly treated shamefully, and would have much reason to criticize the money that will be spent on the refugees…but no, she wanted him to promise that they would be notified of the time of their arrival…

And what she actually said was, I need some help. Because I need to understand how and when they’re coming because I want to make sure, and many of my First Nations colleagues, want to make sure that when these people come, we have an opportunity to have the elders there to drum them in and to do a smudge ceremony so we can welcome them to this land. I might have lost it at that point. Macleans, November 20, 2015 ‘Interview: Naheed Nenshi on Syrian refugees and anti-Muslim attacks’

And so did I. How beautiful is that? That man is a gift, a blessing. He is a genuine good person, and really defines the best of what leadership should be. Can be. Many experts are now saying that the only way to fight ISIL is through kindness to these refugees, cause that will give ISIL nothing to offer. Right now, with so many countries choosing (or having to) close their borders to them, more make the decision to be ruled by the only leadership on offer…ISIL. When you have no options, you do what you have to do to survive, and just hope someone gives a ruddy shite about you, I guess.

“[I]n Africa I was a member of a family—of a sort of family that the people of your culture haven’t known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillas—but there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

So that’s my stance I suppose Mom; to look for the good. Seek it, hunt for it, share it, and spread the seeds of those who know we can do better. Who see the light, the good, and the truth behind the lies and facades put up to trick the eye, and thus assuage our worries with fire and brimstone reigning from the sky. Nope… not I. I will not participate any longer.

That is my new way to be, to use a little Ishmaelian Quinnism.

“There is no one right way to live.”
― Daniel Quinn, Ishmael

Oh, and almost forgot, strangest occurrence last week. Every day at 5:55pm the clock on my tablet would freeze…did it three days in a row…and then would all of asudden it would be 6:02pm. Weird, eh?

Well, so I googled the meaning of triple 5’s…and it was rather illuminating. Basically, it signifies a major life change, or that the changes your making are validated, possibly even divinely guided. Not sure what to make of that exactly, but nice to know I’m on the right path.

On the work front… well, hot diggity, I’m out of my comfort zone, and loving it.

Life is like a box of chocolates…as cliché as that is.

So lesson for this week I guess is maybe you can’t pursue happiness, because happiness is just something that is all around, and you just have to notice it, share it. Happiness just gets lost sometimes amongst all the shite that life throws at one.

Miss you, love you,