The Epistle of Q — Chapter Two

There are two Questions today that are on my mind, and not because this is Chapter Two. That kind of logic could lead to some very long-winded diatribes within a couple of weeks…
Q #!:
Why do wise people persist in doing unwise things?
A medical doctor friend of mine, a long time ago, cautioned me against too much self-diagnosis regarding my health. There was no doubt a bit of self-interest in his advice — not a great money maker if all the patients simply stayed home and opined as to what was wrong and then how it might be fixed. But even if the self-interest were the dominant motivation, it is wise to ask at least occasionally the advice of those trained to give rationally applicable answers.
Recently, during the move, I fell lifting a file cabinet up the front steps — actually I slipped on some ice that had built up over night due to the eavetroughs not yet being in place on the new house. While the pain seemed rather minimal and the only real bruise was on a part of the anatomy that is not seen by the public, there was a slight ache in my heel and Achilles tendon area. Subsequent hauling of stuff throughout the house with my feet clad only in hotel-issued slippers seemed to aggravate the issue. But I could ski yesterday so it seemed all was on the mend. It was at that point I decided to ask my good friend Sandy — a retired eye specialist — if he had any rehabilitative advice. He thought a hot bath would be good.
Well, if a warm bath is good and that will happen in the evening, my thinking went into warp-speed. Why not give the body a workout before the bath so that all the limbs, etc. are in gear? Now the outside temperature had not risen, so it was obvious that there would be no consecutive days on the ski hill. Ah ha, but I have a membership at a local gym. Why not get up early and go and resume my normal two-a-week workouts on the machines? So I did, making sure the senior coach of the early morning crew did not see me limp nor did I ask any advice about what things I might do differently, due to my Achilles tendon pain…
Things went very well — until the leg press. Now I’ve always been able to do leg presses at a fairly high weight level. And this has been very true at the local gym. In fact my coach has given me a four part/fifteen repetitions each routine that has been very effective. The first three parts went well, except the one with the right leg only did evoke a moment of pain. Not to be deterred. I started the fourth part which requires only the front part of the feet to be used — instead of beginning in a cautionary way with my left foot, I decided that the best way to test things would be to start with the problem foot — any way, as Dave Broadfoot used to say on Air Farce: when I awoke from the pain-induced heart attack… Well it wasn’t that bad… I actually completed the rest of the routines and while the final three minutes on the speed bike was rather pathetic, I felt I had done ok.
I got through most of the day, but I had to go to the post office to check on my Christmas Cards as well as go to the Brick to look for a stereo rack/cabinet. I noticed that I was walking with much more pain. When I returned home, the suggestion was made that if I wasn’t going to take a bath before supper, perhaps I should use a heating pad to add more heat to the foot. That I did — it felt very good — and then I tried to stand up. Obviously the pad contained special chemical emulsions that melted the bones in my heel and lower leg because now I could hardly stand let alone walk up the stairs for dinner. I have just taken my warm bath now, but the foot has not returned to normal… I can sort of walk, but I resemble one of those Chinese dragons in a Tet parade — wondering from one side of the path to the other, occasionally bowing to the ground, at other times, leaping and screaming as if I was Puff trying to emulate a magic Mexican jumping bean.
By the way, in the midst of it all today there was a suggestion that I go to a walk-in clinic. HaHa… why would I do that when I already had been given good advice, and had tripled the applications…? The fact that I can hardly walk is of no consequence to a strange doctor… what if he were a surgeon and has a fetish for sawing legs off?
Stay-tuned!! But rest assured in the meantime, I will not be going skiing in the morning (or in the afternoon for that matter!!)

Q #2:
Are we all that different from our neighbours to the south?
I am becoming more and more concerned with the prattle in our media (social and print) about how good it is to be Canadian and not like the country below us on the atlas. I fear that the political classes no longer are in touch with the concerns of the majority of citizenry — in many ways they actually don’t want to be in touch, but rather want to tell us how to be, how to live, how to behave. There is no dialogue that might be construed on the best of days as an educative conversation helping each other better understand the world that is unfolding.
Did we elect as leader a person that different that the US electorate? He had little real-life political leadership experience, loves to have his picture taken, talks about making Canada great again, and uses jargon to disparage those who disagree with him. He managed to win the most seats, but only a plurality of votes (actually not much more than the previous leader did when he won). And he has become very big on telling us what kind of health system we will have, what kind of pension-world we will invest in, how peacekeeping will be different (primarily by going into a different continent), etc.
I’m not saying he is a bad prime minister. In fact, when he reads his speeches he is very self-assured and gives the listener a sense of comfort that the world will unfold in his way which will be the right way. But is he really listening to all those young people that came out and voted for him? Is the government investing much time actually explaining and then seriously conversing with that community what electoral reform should/could be? Are the millennials gaining a deeper appreciation for the Aboriginal fact in Canada? And, most of all, is there really any dialogue with any sector of the population on the issue of climate change and the ability of our country to significantly due anything about it?
While not in the majority, there are significant scientific voices that are not certain that 2 more degrees will spell the end of the world. And there is considerable evidence that one major volcanic eruption can do more to alter climate than shutting down all the coal-fired plants in the world. And what about El Nina…? And how would a world without petroleum actually look, let alone work? BC already pays a premium at the pumps because a lot of fuel has to be imported (by tanker) from the USA.

And if we are worried about sea levels rising, why are we not investing in desalination plants in a mega-way? These could be built to run on alternate energy (wind, solar primarily) so that when the energy is available, tremendous amounts of water is cleansed of its salt. When the energy is not as prevalent, the attention could be re-directed to shipping, bottling and even piping the water to all the more drought-impacted areas. At the same time, sea salt could be packaged for export around the world to satiate the cooking desires of peoples without the problems of salt mines.

As for youth unemployment, why hasn’t the federal government decided to invest in twinning the TransCanada all across the country? While most of the prairies is finished, Northern Ontario and parts of Northern Quebec, the mountains of BC, almost all of PEI and Newfoundland, remain… Give kids out of high school a real option to learn basic skills, in tough environments, but with good pay. The project would likely take five to ten years, but in that time many of these young men and women would save enough to return to school and most would enroll in technical and trades education leading to even more productive job opportunities. It was done to great success in the fifties and early sixties. And it is a grand venture that actually would reinforce the idea that Canada is a great and vast country that cares about its young gaining some real work experience — a good way to start the celebration of our 150th year.

Yes, urban transport is needed. Yes, we need to diversify our sources of energy. Yes we need to do a better job protecting and enhancing our environment. But let’s not get caught up in sloganeering and selfies. If we truly are different than the USA let’s show it by being different — not with different sermons, not with different posters, not with different haircuts — but with different mega-projects combined with dramatic and profitable uses of our current resources. Strike now while the iron is hot is a good piece of advice. Strike forward in distinctly new directions at the same time might also help us believe that we are being listened to…

The USA is already great, but it might become greater — I don’t know. Canada is already great, but it has to become greater — that I do know!

g.w.