Author: mckillop_vfr@yahoo.ca

April 16: On this melancholy morning in the aftermath of the fire at Notre Dame, I am thinking of my visit to Paris in 2017. I stayed in Hotel Des Carmes not far from the Sorbonne. When I arrived I was given an upgrade to a room on the top floor. After what seemed like a 15 minute elevator ride to the 5th floor, imagine my pleasant surprise to discover a view of le Pantheon, la Tour Eiffel, and, of course, Notre Dame from a small balcony carved into the mansard roof. It was a bit surreal and I spent quite a while propped on a chair squeezed onto the balcony reminding myself that it was real.

One evening I went down to Notre Dame after the crowds of tourists had dissipated to see a video on the construction of the cathedral. There was a relatively small audience and it felt a bit like a private screening for invited guests. The video was thoughtful and thorough. It gave me new insight to the structure of the church itself, and the many things it has witnessed over the centuries as it stood in the centre of Paris. As I left, there was a sweet half-moon peeking over the rooftops and I thought of my Dad and how much he would have enjoyed being in France – being at Notre Dame.

I’ve visited Notre Dame many times and it has always evoked a strong emotional response. I know that I am not alone and, whether or not you have been fortunate enough to have visited her, I am sure that most were shocked and horrified to see her in flames yesterday evening. The sense of loss was overwhelming and heartbreaking. It was, as one observer noted, not unlike the 9/11 attacks in New York: at once tragic, symbolic and historic. There was another half-moon last night and it reminded me that while some things persist through the centuries, they can be affected by the events of history and change. They are not immutable.

Thankfully, there was no loss of life during the blaze and current reports suggest that many of the religious and cultural artifacts have escaped (if not untouched) at least in a state that will allow them to be restored. President Macron has vowed to rebuild within 5 years. Sadly, I fear it may take much longer – decades, perhaps – and that leaves me wondering whether I will ever again be able to sit inside Notre Dame to contemplate all that she has seen, and all that she means to us.

April 3: I recently attended the screening of a documentary that focused on the transition of Venice from a living, vibrant city to a tourist destination and investment vehicle for the wealthy and privileged.  The commentator for the evening was Shawn Micallef, urban affairs columnist at The Toronto Star and author of Stroll: Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto. During the evening, he said that calling Toronto a “world-class city” sounded sad and faintly desperate.

I shared that feeling for many years as I watched the city gradually slide into mediocrity and decay. Where once the city was known for its’ innovative governance, advanced planning and sound infrastructure, I now see a lack of vision, timid public policy and crumbling public assets. What is truly alarming is that many, if not most residents see this decline too, but there seems to be little or no political will to improve the situation.

A significant portion of citizens is largely ignored and disenfranchised by our politicians who are, for the most part, privileged and indebted to corporate interests. Property owners are protected at a cost to those who rent: while private equity generates the construction of condominium developments at a furious rate, public housing deteriorates and more than 98,000 households are waiting for affordable homes (Q3 2018). City-funded free programs become fee-based and only affordable for families with discretionary income. Improvements to public transit, which are well-known and desperately needed, remain a faint hope years from realization. Our roads, which spent many weeks under banks of snow and ice which the City was unable or unwilling to clear, continue to crumble into minefields of potholes and shards of lose pavement. Public parks and recreation facilities are tattered and deteriorating from lack of maintenance.

The thing is: If you are from that portion our population that has a good job, lives in a good neighbourhood, goes to the right club and sends your kids to the right schools, I suspect that you really don’t care all that much about the plight of those who are not so fortunate. The roads may be a bit rough, but at least you’re not on the subway. And our Mayor and Council will look after you by keeping increases to your property taxes to the rate of inflation. My Father always taught me that if you are not beating the rate of inflation, you are not making any money. You are merely breaking even. If the City is not increasing its revenue through greater taxes (or perhaps the faint hope of larger grants from senior governments), how will it ever deal with the exponentially-growing expense of making our city a great place to live ? It seems like Council is balancing the budget by selling the furniture to pay the mortgage on the house.

We are at a fork in the road. We need a Mayor with a vision for the future of our city, and a vision of what it will take to make it truly great once more. We need a financial plan to take us there. And we need the courage to make it politically palatable for all of that to happen. Sadly, I see none of that in our current Mayor and Council. And ultimately the City is “a creature of the Province” – it can’t make many decisions without the Province agreeing. We saw how well that works when Council decided to toll the expressways and the previous Liberal government refused to allow that to happen. Now that the Conservatives are in power, the provincial government has become malevolent, vindictive and prone to spontaneous ill-informed decisions. There’s little hope anything will improve for the next 3 years.

As food for thought, I offer the following article from John Lorinc who says many of these things much better than I.

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LORINC: How to reframe Toronto’s 2020 budget debate

March 13: Many years ago, I developed the habit of reading the obituary section in the Globe and Mail. Although the standard joke is that people of my advanced age do so to ensure that they are not listed, I likely started reading them simply because they were found between the sports section and the Sudoku puzzle. Over time though, reading them has become part of my routine.

In a somewhat strange way, they can be quite enlightening. Obituaries are now likely to be mini-biographies of the deceased. In my memory, those of years ago were much less elaborate, simply stating “so-and-so died on this date and will be buried here. Donations can be made to this charity.” With the passing of “the greatest generation”, many started to include references to the war or accomplishments in business or the arts. It then became de rigeur to include long lists of family members, dogs, cats and care-givers. Some expound on the hobbies of the deceased, or the personalities that made the deceased unique.

A recent obit remembered that the deceased was a practical joker of some renown. It cited his last wish – that his family honoured – which was to wear a red clown nose during the open-casket visitation. I think I would have liked that guy. On the other hand, I was recently sent this picture of an 82-year-old Ohio resident being buried on his Harley “so that his friends could see him on his last ride”. You can draw your own conclusions about that one ….

Obituaries have also come to mark important moments in social change. Many will remember the obituaries for the husband and wife who died on the same day. While their obituaries spoke of a life-long love, it did not emerge until some time later that they had requested medically-assisted death due to terminal illness, and had died together holding hands. I have also recently seen several announcements that directly reference suicide, addictions or mental health issues as part of the deceased’s life, rather than camouflaging them with language about “suddenly after a long struggle”.

All of these thoughts were triggered by the announcements shown here. I thought it was a really interesting snapshot of how obituaries have evolved both in form and in context. Two of the announcements mention same-sex partners. The third is a memoriam for a man who died in Vietnam in 1969. It’s remarkable to see these three together on the page as a reminder of how much things have changed since George Victor Jmaeff met his end in Quang Tri province, Vietnam, 50 years ago.

Over the years, the dates that bracket the deceased’s time among us have shifted from my parents’ generation to include my own. Where I once read about the passing of decrepit geezers, I now read about fine young men and women of my own age being struck down in the prime of their lives. On occasion there has been the adrenaline shock of recognizing someone I knew. Although reading the obits will undoubtedly continue to be part of my morning routine, I am now beginning to approach them with a degree of respect and caution as well as curiosity.

March 1: As the following posts may attest, the last few months have seemed to be an endless snow-globe parade of arctic cold and repeated blizzards. It has sapped my energy and enthusiasm.

But this morning, as I went out the back door headed for a short run, I found this guy sitting in the top of the maple tree in our courtyard, singing his head off. I have an affection for Cardinals, partly because of their flamboyant plumage, but also because they don’t migrate but endure the cold of winter with us. His song is a harbinger and a reminder that warmer weather is just around the corner – the long ordeal of the winter months that he has endured is just about done.

If I still lived in the Lakeshore, I would now be listening for Red-Winged Blackbirds. Unlike Cardinals, they migrate and return to the Lake Ontario shoreline within days of my Mother’s Birthday on March 8. The first time I heard their distinctive conkeree call, I thought it was far too early for a “summer bird” to be back on territory. But it happened every year that I was there and I looked forward to the day I first heard their call as a milestone on the road back to the summer sun.

The Weather Network is forecasting another couple of weeks of polar vortices before a sudden return to warmer weather. Frequent reader(s) know that I will only officially declare Spring has sprung when the Saucer Magnolia is fully in bloom. That occurred last year on May 9, with a note that the previous year’s declaration had been on April 28. Whatever; hopefully my friend the Cardinal knows something I don’t, and the cold weather will soon be done. It’s about time.

February 20: I recently watched a documentary called “Planetary”  about the many environmental issues facing our world. I thought it was quite well-done and raised an interesting perspective. It began with a brief meander through early space travel and concluded with Apollo 11. That mission was the first to land on the moon. It provided the first photograph of earth from another celestial body as it rose over the horizon of the moon. That well-known picture reinforced the notion that the world was a single entity; we were all part of one species existing in the blackness of space.

Since then, much has transpired to degrade the condition of our environment. The video provided a number of environmentalists who discussed the major threats and calamities we face. If you have been paying attention for the last few years, not much would come as a surprise. What was somewhat unusual was the inclusion of further commentary from experts such as a Zen priest, a first-nations elder and several philosophers.

Their viewpoint was somewhat different in that they did not discuss the environmental issues per se, but rather the perspective we have when dealing with them. They would suggest that as we have grown from smaller, agrarian settlements into more urbanized societies we have lost the understanding that we are collectively part of the environment. We no longer see ourselves as citizens of that little blue ball in space, but as individuals separated from the environment and, by extension, responsibility for its problems.

Our problems are immense and it’s easy and understandable on one level to adopt the view that nothing we do will change it.  Unfortunately, this leads to the attitude that global warming will not be affected one iota if I leave my Suburban idling outside Starbucks while I run in for my morning one-shot extra-hot low-fat Chi Latte.  I took the video to heart because, as frequent reader(s) will know, I love fast cars and riding my motorcycle around Europe burning dinosaurs for days on end. Shaming Suburban drivers while indulging my own passions is hypocritical. So what is to be done ?

The litany of issues we face is fundamentally not readily solved by individuals or individual activities. We need a collective view, as displayed by our governments, in order to begin solving some of these problems. While some governments are more pro active than others, there remains far too much yet to be done. Governments seldom do anything unless they are sure there is widespread support for their action – they want to get re-elected. Given that most members of government on all levels are entitled middle-aged white guys with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, change is unlikely unless – as was the case in the movie “Network” – we all get mad as hell and say that we are not going to take it anymore. As a generation, we need to move the need for environmental change to the top of the electoral agenda. We need to be prepared to pay – monetarily and in inconvenience – for the damage we have done. We need to show leadership and take ownership of the issue and push for solutions.

There is not a lot of time remaining for the environment, or for my generation, which will die-off just as things are getting bad. We will avoid the most serious consequences of our own actions, so it will be hard to motivate us to take responsibility for the damage we have already done. The generation which will be most dramatically affected by the ways in which the world is changing is too busy trying to find a job and raise a family to get involved with politics. So one thing we could all do is talk to our kids, and their children, to encourage them to become more involved in environmental issues.

The pessimist in me believes that it may already be too late. Case in point: this pathetic polar bear seen wandering near a hunting camp in the Arctic looking for food. Our environment has changed so drastically and so quickly that, even if we could stop further damage right now, it seems to me that the momentum of change would carry us far beyond any reasonable limit to the damage we have done. Species that are now extinct will not return, and the ice caps will not regenerate in the face of  continued warming.  We don’t have long ….

http://weareplanetary.com/

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PS: March 3: Today I attended I presentation of the first episode of a new Netflix series called Our Planet. It was very lush, with great photography and a sonorous narration by Sir David Attenborough. One of the themes they pursue is that the world is far more resilient than many recognize, so this episode at least, was somewhat more optimistic than my view stated above.

https://www.ourplanet.com/

February 12:  It’s snowing today. This is not really surprising given that we live in Canada and it’s February 12. This is merely the latest in a series of heavy snow storms and deep-freeze events that we have faced this winter. But I am warm and dry. I have enough food to survive a minor apocalypse, and various electronic media with which to reach the outside world should the need arise. My evening class has been cancelled and I have “nothing to do” for the rest of the day.

That is not to say that I’ll be doing nothing. Rather it is to say that I have no commitments today, and that I am free to do as I wish with my time. No deadlines. No interference.

Since I retired, time has become a luxury. It’s a resource that I can allocate any way I wish, on whatever turns my fancy on a given day. It affords the opportunity to explore what I wish, whenever I wish to do so. The problem I face is indolence.

I do not lack for things that interest me. I have been painting in acrylics for at least 15 years and have a huge stack of useless canvas to show for it. I have been pencil sketching off-and-on for some time, and have recently been doing a small bit of exploration in water-colours. I play electric bass for the New Horizon Band which rehearses on Mondays, and I have been trying ( with limited success ) to get in some more frequent running with my buds from the Running Room. All of these things take a certain amount of commitment and practice. Painting and drawing take technical skills and eye-hand co-ordination that has to be nurtured; playing a musical instrument takes practice. Even running requires some element of thoughtful training if it is to be done effectively.

When a day like today arises it’s not so much about having “nothing to do”, but rather having competing interests to be resolved. I could paint or draw, but that means getting the gear out and finding a place to set up. I need to practice some new pieces for the band, but I hate making mistakes – and practice is all about mistakes – so that’s not really a “fun” way to pass time. It’s too snowy and windy to go running. I have a tendency to postpone actually committing time in favour of doing things to merely pass the time.

I have an image of myself as creative and active, and yet I do relatively little to actually be that person. When I consider the amount of time that I have available to be creative, it feels wasteful to not be more aggressive in filling it with “worthwhile” effort. While time may be abundant in the short term, it is a finite resource that I don’t want to squander on idleness and indolence. At least for today I can say that I was motivated enough to write 500 words on avoiding indolence.

December 25:

December 12: For centuries, Canada has been a country which depends on its’ natural resources. The exploitation of this bounty was foundational for the country. Explorers discovered fish, furs, timber and, later, oil and gas. For decades our economy has depended on hauling things out of the ground or the forests and selling them to the highest bidder. The recent decline the price of dirty oil from Alberta has highlighted the risks in doing so, and once again, governments of all levels are being encouraged to prop up an industry in its’ death throes.

Canada also has a proud history of invention and advancement in fields such as medicine and technology. We are known for things like the Canadarm, the Blackberry phone and Imax films, yet we fail to adequately support innovation and technological innovation with may of our educational programs and financial incentives. As a result, a substantial part of our economy is a “branch plant” of American companies which only have their own interests at heart. The recent news of the GM closure in Oshawa is one case in point.

Yet these are but symptoms of change occurring on a global level: climate change, economic restructuring, and the re-ordering of superpowers are all rapidly evolving. In my view, climate change is the most critical issue that we must face. If we fail there, we all have nothing. And it feels to me very much like we have passed a point of no return for the world as we know it.

Even if we were able to stop CO2 pollution immediately, clean plastics from the oceans tomorrow, and stop destruction of the world’s forests, jungles and species next week, it would still be too late to avoid a catastrophe. Our children, and their children, face a bleak future for which we are responsible, and to which we continue to turn a blind eye. How will we answer when they ask why we did nothing to avoid something that was apparent and growing worse for decades ?

I am astounded at the apparent lack of interest shown by most Canadians, and the virtually complete inaction of our governments and politicians in taking the lead toward a better future. Instead of subsidizing Alberta oil with new rail cars and pipelines, why are we not transitioning away from oil entirely and moving to cleaner technologies developed in our own country ? Instead of wringing our hands over 2500 jobs in Oshawa, and listening to the 19th century clap-trap coming from the unions, why are  we not repositioning the economy for the future rather than the age of 4-door, CO2-belching sedans and SUVs ?

An answer comes in a recent quote from David Suzuki : “It’s as if many who are supposed to represent our interests either lack the imagination, foresight and long-term thinking needed to deal with a crisis as massive as human-caused climate disruption, or they have given up and decided short-term economic gain and positive election promises are more important than ensuring we and our children and grandchildren have a viable future. It’s time our governments started representing the interests of citizens over those of the fossil fuel industry.”