Celebrate the defeat

Le Gouvernement du Québec is debating its participation in - even its acknowledgement of - this summer's 250th anniversary celebration of the battle of the Plains of Abraham. The Péquistes are of course horrified and territorial - heh it was the French Army that was defeated so what has that to do with us. Jean Charest's Liberals are attempting to avoid the issue by asserting that the Government of Canada is responsible for the fête - the Plains are after all a National Park.

I like the straightforward assertion by ADQ MP Éric Caire that the Battle is part of our undeniable history - and that only those that have been truly colonized would refuse to celebrate the event. Those of you who are fans of the comic strip character Astérix will love Mr. Caire's allusion to the much celebrated Battle of Alésia in 52 BC when the Romans defeated the Gauls - the international renown Astérix is based on the defeated (and later executed) Gaul leader Vercingétorix.

http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/01/23/228870.html?fe=5951&fp=246595&fr=128699

Whose story?

Loss of autonomy, theft of identity - security is increasingly a virtual issue. How auditable is our daily life on the Internet? Le Monde reports the recent publication by the Parisian periodical Le Tigre of its first Google biography - "grâce a toutes les traces - les milles details" left by a young employee of a French architectural firm.

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2009/01/17/un-internaute-piege-par-ses-traces-sur-la-toile_1143123_651865.html#xtor=EPR-32280155&ens_id=824668

Observers have remarked on it as a further confusion of public and private spaces - such as video surveillance privatizing public space, and the Facebooks publicizing private space. Others label it a group exhibitionism, and mutual narcism.

Whose story is our life anyway?

Do no Harm or feel the Pain

Continuing to ponder the ethics of my work - what should I expect to achieve and at what cost? Mary Anderson's famous treatise on the interaction between aid and conflict - "Do No Harm" - recounts how people chose even criminal actions in the pursuit of justice. Humble, small incremental changes in a few lives within a framework of honesty and caring is probably the most realistic expectation I should have.

Nonetheless I still idealize that we could measure our impact in the feelings and experiences of those with whom we work. Perhaps "feel the pain" is the "do no harm" analogy - a bottom line without which we do not have permission to operate. A young woman at Mirwais Girls School in Kandahar Afghanistan - one of 15 victims of a recent acid attack - is succinct in her analysis of the perpetrators. "The people who did this do not feel the pain of others."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/world/asia/14kandahar.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Luxury of SIN

My mom was assessed last week by le Centre Local de Santé Communautaire - the gate keepers for admission to Québec's assisted living facilities. It was a very friendly process - too many questions perhaps but providing a pretty honest picture to all concerned. Well I did have to go home and find my mother's Social Insurance Number to complete the paperwork.

The Canadian health system - its personnel and institutions - have served my family well in the recent years that we have felt the impact of Alzheimer's. Will I have the same luxury to look forward to in my aging?

Foregiveness - and tough choices

Healing a hurt world involves forgiving those who have hurt us. It is an intentional and thoughtful act. We should aim to forgive those with whom we have a relationship, or in whom we have an investment. That is to heal the hurt we should acknowledge the damage done to both parties, and the value of taking some responsibility for the damage, and the reparation.

Forgiveness is therefore an emotional and selective endeavour. Hence we should aim to merely forget those about whom we cannot honestly say "I care."

Tough choices? How about today's report from BBC Mundo on the environmental impact of a Google search. "Two Google questions use as much energy as a cup of instant coffee"….

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/science/newsid_7823000/7823918.stm

There is no free inquisition.

Right Livelihood

The New Year's resolution testing is in full swing and I am in my Xmas wonderings about work ... eager to return to the field ... a respectable employer checklist in hand. The Buddha's admonition for right livelihood will weigh increasingly heavy in these upcoming times of financial hardship for the North American class moyen. Can people be compassionate, and collaborate on mitigating the enormous suffering which is immient?

The snowshoe hills around our house in rural LaPêche are a good place for such ponderings. Much as we Canadians lament snow the undisturbed white hillsides create a powerful mantra - crunch crunch puff puff fly fly.

Full moon at 2227 .... the sunset hunt for exploding skies is about to start.