Make the world go away

The old country and western song started Make the World Go Away. And unfortunately, in our modern world, too many people are thinking that way. They don't like people who are different. They see only problems in other countries. If only I was surrounded by people just like me, everything would be just fine. If only the others would go away.

We also have the same ideas about neighbourhoods. We believe that our neighbourhoods are perfect just the way they are. When something bad happens, we always hear people say, "I couldn't believe that that would happen here." If only all neighbourhoods were just like this one.

Well these two assumptions are wrong for the same reason. Yes other neighbourhoods might be troubled. Yes there might be some strife in foreign countries. But the thing is, we always seem to ignore the problems in our own spheres. In my own country, there are many people who are not getting treated fairly. Sad to say but it is true. Women still aren't considered for some jobs. People are discriminated against because of race. Not every boy and girl has a chance to become prime minister.  In my own neighbourhood some people are very rich and doing well. But many are unsure of how they can maintain their present lifestyle. They face crippling mortgages. There are within blocks of me families that endure domestic abuse. There are drug addicts. There are racists. Even my own neighbourhood is far from perfect. My own neighbourhood has as many problems as other places, we just hide it a bit better.

Some people want to erect walls. Keep the strangers out. They see the world as us and them and the us is always right and the them is always wrong. The only problem with this thinking is that no where is perfect. Gradually the walls keep getting closer and to closer to better. All westerners feel this way for instance quickly dissolves into all Australians feel this way when we find out our first assumption is not true and so on and so on till we find out that the only one who thinks exactly like me is me. The same holds true with religion. It is a dangerous assumption to think that all Christians think the same way, or all Uniting Church in Australia folk all think the same way, or even that everyone in a congregation all believes the same thing. To set up barriers with those who are different from us means that all of us live alone. And didn't God in Genesis say it was good that we were not alone.

I saw a poster this week that made me think. I will gentrify it a bit as its language was a bit strong. It said remember that at the heart of everything, we are all earthlings. No matter what language you speak, what faith you practise, what gender you are, or what football team you cheer for (but let's face it if you are from Canada and don't cheer for the Saskatchewan Roughriders you are WRONG!) we are all human. Whether we are Asian, married, Hindu, female, straight, old, European, celibate, athletic, gay, caucasian, Jewish, or whatever term we use to describe ourselves, we are first and foremost human. We need to remember this- we are all in this together- before we set up any more walls or establish more us's and them's.  Blessings.

A sad state of affairs

It was April 1st, some time in the early 1980's. A local radio station in my home province decided to play an April Fool's day prank. They had someone posing as the Minister of Agriculture in Finland. They gave him the name of Loof Lirpa (April Fool backwards in case you missed it). He went on the radio station to supposedly talk about this new development in crops in his home country that allowed wheat to be grown in the harshest winter conditions. This new wheat was not subject to frost damage, drought damage and could even survive hail. Many people could tell right away that this man was an imposter. His accent was flawed and sometimes sounded more British, or Canadian, or Chinese then Finnish. Then there was the whole premise of his story. No plant could survive the -40 Celsius temperatures of Saskatchewan in January. So many did not believe him.

But a few people were taken in by Loof Lirpa. Some farmers listening into the program phoned and asked where they could get such seeds. If it worked in Finland, surely it could work in the cold Canadian prairies. They wanted these sure fire seeds. And the provincial minister of agriculture- never a bright man at the best of times, phoned into the station wondering if Canada could improve it's trading relationship with Finland and import tonnes of these seeds into Canada. The cabinet minister and the foolish farmers were outraged when the radio station revealed this to be a hoax the next day.

Now don't get me wrong. I love good jokes. I am, as my friends and family will sadly attest, a punster. I also used to love to listen and to watch the wonderful satire programs on CBC radio and television. Being able to laugh at ourselves is something which is very Canadian. We even showed that at the Vancouver Olympic games closing ceremony when suddenly the obelisks which did not work at the opening ceremony were comically cranked into place at the closing ceremony. It made me laugh and I think God laughs with us when we laugh.

However, even though I like to laugh, I know there are times to be serious. Some things deserve solemnity. Life needs to be valued for instance. People deserve respect. Justice is important. Fairness is important. Dealing with serious issues such as sexism, abuse, ending violence, fighting discrimination are things which should be taken seriously.

I think politics is something that should be taken very seriously. Politicians make decisions that affect people's lives. But unfortunately so many politicians have become caricatures. They try to garner votes by taking outlandish positions on issues or merely finding blame in their opponents rather than offering new insights of their own. The media does not help our view of politics. The media looks at politic leaders debates not as a platform to raise different points of view but rather as a death sports where we look for the knock out punch. Politics is not entertainment. Government decisions change lives for good and for bad. We don't need a government that entertains.

All this being said, I have liked programs like the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Political satire has been around for decades and is one way for us to think about the issues in a non-threatening way. However it is becoming increasingly hard to separate real news from fake news. Because candidates for office are making more and more ludicrous statements, the fake news seems little different from the real news. People are crying out for justice, looking to escape poverty, struggling for economic survival in a global marketplace, seeking gender equality, fighting racism, and dealing with oppression. Their needs have not changed. Yet politicians have become more like Loof Lirpa and not fantastic statespeople. We need politicians who are willing to deal with reality and not entertain.  Blessings.

soap operas

irrational wife

I am what I am, and what I am is my creation- La Cage Aux Folles

Sitting with some ministers after 9/11, one minister, a man called Gary, said of the attacks, "How could I possibly do that?" No he wasn't saying that he had had anything to do with the attacks in New York and in Washington, but what he was pondering was that human beings have the ability to inflict such harm on one another. We can kill. We can fly planes into towers. We can do such evil things. We can hate. He was amazed at how hate can so take over a person that we can murder and destroy. Countless others looked for people to blame in the course of these attacks: muslims, terrorists, etc. But my friend Gary said no- it wasn't a muslim problem. It was not an issue of terrorism. It was an issue of humanity. How could we hate so?

I think we have all become rather numb to the violent attacks and mass murders since then. We have watched despicable violence happen in places such as Belgium, Indonesia, Paris, Palestine and Israel, Sandy Hook, London, Kenya, and countless other places since then. Our fingers are all to quick to point the blame at others. It is their fault. I think sometimes these acts quickly escape our notice. "Thank God it didn't happen here," we might say. But sometimes these attacks hit close to home. All of us grieved when the 20 school children and 6 adults were killed at Sandy Hook. So many hopes and dreams were cut short by a young man filled with hate. We were all left wondering, "Why this happened?"

As a gay man who has visited Orlando, I find myself filled with various emotions after the attack this past weekend: fear, rage, looking for someone to blame, seeking justice, sadness, loss of patience, and countless other emotions. As a gay man, I could have been easily have been at that club. It could have been me. I grieve for the 49 lives cut short. I grieve that someone like Omar Kateen could be filled with such hate to carry out such violence. What led him to such violence? Was it his religion? Was it mental illness? Was it internalised homophobia? Was it racism? Who knows? But how could he do it? And if he could do such an atrocity, that means that all of us have that ability to do something like that. How could I do that?

After the attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in France, many people placed on their Facebook profile the words Je suis Charlie, I am Charlie. They were saying that they stood with Paris. This past weekend, on Facebook, there was a picture of Donald Trump and other homophobic people with the words I am Omar Kateen. The idea of this was that these folks hatred of gay people led to the events at the Pulse nightclub. It made me laugh for a minute but then I realised it was totally wrong in another sense. It is wrong in the sense that again it divides the world into us and them. And as long as the world is us and them, there can be an excuse for violence.

It is easy to point fingers. It is easy to blame. It is easy to criticise. As long as we view the world as good and bad, saintly and evil, it is justifiable to draw lines in the sand and declare ourselves virtuous and others demonic. But all of us have the capacity for violence. If we allow ourselves to give in to fear and hate, violence will increase and more families and more groups will be suffering losses of lives cut needlessly short. And despite what the National Rifle Association says, guns are designed to do one thing- KILL. They are not a God given right. How many more children have to die before we realise that violence and blame is never the answer? As a human, I can be filled with love and compassion or I can choose blame and anger. I choose love. Blessings.