Life is tough; there’s no doubt about it. I think a bit of wisdom I’ve comprehended is that what is important in life is the journey; we need to learn how to appreciate the journey and the people we share it with. There is no destination; it is here in the present. The secret to fulfilment is to let go of what we desire, and what we regret, and be present and love unconditionally the people who choose to be present with us and appreciate us for what we are right here and now. Help people when you can and love unconditionally.

Convenience and Carwash Canada, July/August 2020 issue

I miss you Dad. As Fathers’ Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on the wisdom you had and how little I took advantage of it. You exemplified commitment, to your family, to your values and to humanity. You showed me how to be an intellectual, but the most important education comes from experience, living a good life and caring for people around you. You taught me how to be present and work with your hands, but I was young and stupid and never realized all the wisdom you had to share until later in life. Now I’m trying to live up to the good example you set. I now understand why people throughout history have respected their elders; it is because experience forces you to learn, no matter who you are.

RESPECT to ALL the mothers out there. I was trying to resist posting to this, but my own family has relied on Barb, our mother, for so much lately, I could not let this opportunity to recognize her pass. I’ve been reflecting so much on my own mother, Violet, and what it means to be a mother. Violet gave up everything gladly for her family. It meant something; even as advanced dementia set in, keeping her long-term memory as Alzheimer’s victims do, Violet talked with pride about her career making engine parts during the war and working in the Bay downtown. She got called into the manager’s office one day and got fired because she got married, because they didn’t want to deal with maternity leave; how far we’ve come. But in Barb’s era, we had much better benefits. In our case, we made a more conscious decision to keep Barb home. She put her dreams of being a nurse, like her mother, on hold- in order to raise a family. We had four children, and we believe that keeping Barb home for 14 years, to be there when they had lunch, for extra-curriculars and just to be there helped them greatly. Barb stayed home, and also helped support my policing career and all the crazy overtime it brought, and later she helped me through my masters degree. For a person who quit school for work when I was 15, what are the chances I could achieve my educational goals later in life? When I was done my Masters degree, the kids were older and we put Barb through nursing school and she went to work part-time. This didn’t happen in Violet’s era, mothers just gave up everything for family. Once Barb was established in nursing, she supported me through my PhD, so we both actualized our life-long dreams. But the children and family always came first, and they still do. None of this happens without the self-sacrificing and supporting role that mothers play for all of us. To this day, I do not know how my friends and colleagues in policing fulfill demanding policing careers while raising kids. I certainly am bewildered how so many single mothers in all professions raise children successfully. HERE’S TO MOTHERS EVERYWHERE, ON MOTHERS DAY, FOR ALL THAT YOU DO TO KEEP FAMILIES AND SOCIETIES TOGETHER. 

Public Lending Rights Program (PLRP) is a Federal Government program, funded by the Canadian Council for the Arts, that pays authors for making their works available in libraries. Every year, they check seven libraries across Canada and pay authors about a set amount for each library they find your registered works in. You get the max amount if your book is found in all seven. Once you do, you have to nothing further except register new books in the future and they send a small cheque each spring.

https://publiclendingright.ca

Access Copyright, is a program that pays authors and creators (artists and writers) for the number of pages they create. Once you register, you receive a small cheque each spring.

https://www.accesscopyright.ca/creators/affiliating-with-access-copyright/

Just watched MUDBOUND for the second (or third) time, and totally immersed in the tragic racial divide of the American deep south, the divide that has tentacles that reach the far corners of continent. I can’t imagine the gut wrenching racial and economic oppression that so many people in North America have lived with/through. This movie captures the pain of war, the brutality of racial divides, and the humanity, anguish, and dignity of living with impoverishment.
It makes me wonder what we could each be doing more to eliminate poverty and racial injustice, and move towards reconcilation.

“Every day is a new opportunity to begin again. Every day is your birthday” (from The Book of Joy by The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Viking Press, 2016).
Both of these men lived through difficult times, and both are spiritual leaders with something to say about how to be happy in a changing and often difficult world. I sensed the love and compassion when I visited Tutu’s church in Cape Town, South Africa, and had the same feeling when I had the privilege of visiting the Dalai Lama’s home base in Dharamshala, India. I once stood in the cell that Nelson Mandela resided in for 27 years, at Robben Island Prison, South Africa- during Apartheid, and I visited Mahatma Gandhi’s home of many years in Mumbai, as well as the prison he was detained in for many years in South Africa- for his leadership in non-violent resistance that we’ve all learned so much from. Mandela and Gandhi remind us that principles are worth dying for, and they can guide us to rise above the challenges of everyday life.Continue Reading