Word Prisms

For those interested in helping with the hurricane relief, there are a number of efforts in place and the best way to support them is with money. The Center for International Disaster information  encourages people not to send food, clothing and household items. They say Sorting clothing - Slave Lake that it causes problems with transportation and logistics that actually interfere with more urgent needs.  I know we spent hundreds of man hours sorting clothes in Slave Lake after the 2011 wildfire with very little benefit. In the end, we had truck loads of clothing left over that could not be disposed of in the community. Much was sent to landfill .  To donate money, the Hurricane Irma Relief Fund  has been endorsed by the New York Times and Newsweek  magazine with a 4/4 star rating from Charity Navigator . Donations first go to the survivor's needs for food, fuel, clean water, hygiene products and shelter. Once those needs have been met, funds will be use...

The dictionary defines pride as “ a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements.” Pride can also be associated with “the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated.” In this way, we can feel pride for being associated with a business or a professional organization or a volunteer group or religion or race. Pride can also be associated with being of a certain nationality. For example, my wife and I were up at 4:00 a.m. to watch the hockey final in the last Olympics. We found bar on Stony Plain Road that was just packed. I wandered through the bar looking for a seat and found nothing. We were just about to leave when a group of people at a table by the door made room for us on the bench where they were sitting. Would I be racist to say that none were of European decent? I’ve rarely had so much fun watching a hockey game. Canada took control from the start and the crowd struck up their own renditions of “Oh Canada” throughout the game....