Word Prisms

As an almost lifelong Albertan who is somewhat left of centre, one would think I would be accustomed to contrary points of view. Yet, recent events have left me perplexed. The election of Donald Trump and then, after his COVID ignorance, the closeness of the 2020 election. And now, the no-masker movement. What gives?  Lately, I've been listening to Fareed Zakaria's book, "Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World." Basically, his thesis is that the pandemic has highlighted many problems with the American system of government. In Chapter 3, "People Should Listen to the Experts - and Experts Should Listen to the People," Fareed talks about the power held by experts and lack thereof left to the plebeian masses.  Fareed calls experts the new ruling class. He quotes Michael Lind in his book, "The New Class War." On one side, we have the experts. On the other, the general public. Fareed says that "Advice by experts is part of the domination of the new r

Certain events recently have made me “take stock.” Taking stock being “to think carefully about a situation or event and form an opinion about it, so that you can decide what to do.” The COVID 19 pandemic made me take stock like many other people on the planet. Those who refused to take stock have caused harm to both themselves and others. Part of taking stock is wearing a mask, social distancing, washing your hands and avoiding crowds and by extension, not travelling abroad as has been recommended by the Canadian government. With these warnings in mind, my wife and I took stock but we still decided to visit our daughter and her husband in Greece. Not impressive, right?   You may wonder, why Greece? You see, my daughter and her husband live in the U.K. If we were to visit them there, we would have to quarantine for 2 weeks which was about the length of time we planned to be away. A visit in their apartment for a few days would have been nice but two weeks? Maybe not. Greece is also rea

We have two dogs, a West Highland Terrier and a Cairn Terrier. They look the same and act somewhat the same. That is, they’re terriers and they’ll bark at anything, a dog, a person, a deer, a bear (that can be helpful), and a black garbage bag waiting for pickup which can be of particular concern because it can’t be identified, like a creak in the night. They’ll chase anything and, upon threat of death, will not return. Squirrels and rabbits are favourites, other dogs, even large scary dogs. They especially like to put the run on a dog. It’s like the killer instinct has taken over their beings and I’m left yelling like a banshee while simultaneously apologizing to the other dog owner. They’ve chased deer which really isn’t a good idea because a buck will toss a dog with its antlers. Pippa and Baby Finian They’re the same but also different. Pippa, the Cairn Terrier likes to cuddle and lie on the backs of the couch and chairs. Finian, the Westie, doesn’t cuddle and only sits beside you