Personal Imperative

"The best thing for being sad, replied Merlyn, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may see the world around devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.

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What is the relationship between animal welfare, human welfare, local economic development and buying locally? It is deep and binding, if you read the attached article entitled, What you Get When you Mix Chickens, China and Climate Change.

This is a simple guide to the Paris climate change talks being held, November 29th to December 12th, why they matter and why you should care.

As we vote today for the incoming federal government, there has been a lot of missing dialogue in one of the longest campaigns in Canadian history. Why? Why has there been so little discussion about our health infrastructure, so much debate about the economy and no talk about poverty?

Every time an election rolls around, we end up hearing the same question: How do we get the youth out and voting? Voter turnout by the youth demographic has been described as “dismal”, “sparse” and even “non-existent”. Many claim this is due to a general apathy amongst young people in general, or a lack of understanding of the importance of the democratic process as a whole.  I would argue that this is not at all the case, but that younger people just aren’t connecting with the unchanging voting process, which is still very much analog in a digital world.

Memories and grief have their own time lines, today is my beloved son's birthday, who died tragically in 1998, but maybe all deaths are tragic to those who love them. When my cherished mother died over two years ago I started another blog series called Living Well while Dying.

I haven't seen the picture of the child yet, the young refugee lying dead on the beach, but I just heard it on the CBC news. It brings back the picture of the young girl in the Vietnam war. I hadn't thought of this myself, but I am now going to to look into sponsoring a Syrian family. As my research shows, we seldom act until we perceive a crisis, well, we now have a human crisis, and boomers, let's get moving. Each of us could sponsor a family, so what are the next steps to galvanize a Canadian humanitarin response?

Those of you who know me, know how very important animals are to my life, especially my dog companions. I would not be who I am today without their unconditional love and friendship. This video, beautiful both because of the story but also the remarkable cinematography, is a must watch. 

When you’re depressed, anxious or overwhelmed, even the most accessible resources can feel a million miles away. Young people are more prone to dealing with the aforementioned issues, since they’re under constant pressure and tend to feel a lot of social pressure to just ”deal”. Sam Fiorella lost his son Lucas to depression in October 2014. He chose to honour his son’s memory by getting together with two partners to create the Friendship Bench.