Category Archives: people
Oh Canada!
I had to make a quick trip to my favorite country just north of the border. It has always amazed me, especially being this close, just how different Canada is from the United States.
I have known many Canadians (what a pleasure!) and their attitude to just about everything could not be more different from the average American’s – especially those conservative, upright, puritan citizens of ours. You have to look hard to find someone who takes life so seriously in Canada. At least, that’s the way it appears to me…
As soon as I land, I find myself in the actual land of diversity (especially true in the larger metropolis areas of Canada). Aah, so this is what a diversified population in the West really looks like. America, are you listening?!
And then I experience something else that tells me what “liberal” really means.
I am to introduce a provincial minister (read U.S. Senator or Congressman) to the audience at a very focused conference – not a large one but there are probably a couple of hundred interested people in the audience. Given his portfolios (he has two) and the province in question, this Minister is quite a powerhouse, controlling several billions of dollars of spend each year, and he has the additional onus of having to show visible progress that makes a difference to citizens’ lives.
Definitely a well-known icon in the public there!
This Minister was quite a personality, and I say that in the most positive sense. He was passionate about his vision and goals for the province, and he was convincing in his articulation of these to the audience at this particular conference. Interestingly, he was not playing at a popularity contest but instead laying out the challenges he faced while he worked towards his objectives.
As he was making his speech, he said something that to my Indian-American mind, was quite amazing. Amazing because I would be hard-pressed to hear anything close to this in public, either in the US (or India – well, fuggedaboutit). What’s even more amazing to me is how casually he said what he did. The thing is that it probably didn’t even register with those liberal Canadians. It did register with this liberal American because I had never heard anything like it. In public. By a politician no less.
As he made his speech, he started on a story in order to make a point. And then he slipped in a comment that didn’t even make the audience blink (that’s really what is so remarkable!).
He said (and I paraphrase) –
I was telling my 86 year old mother that we needed to go to a wedding. I’m gay so my mother asks me – is this wedding boy-boy, girl-girl or boy-girl? Pretty nice for an 86 year old, eh?
How many politicians do you know who would even admit that they are gay? Does your culture and society even allow it?? Gay rights? Nah, I call it human rights.
I aspire for a time when American and the world treat this just as naturally and freely. I hope that, notwithstanding a strange tea party dynamic that has entered the scene here, we can say it’s on the horizon finally. I hope. We can even say the pope agrees now! [Well, almost].
But oh Canada, I do admire you so!
:
:
Violated
With all the travel that is an integral and necessary part of my life these days, I am always saying hello and goodbye.
I am also constantly either leaving home or returning to it.
I know I’ve said it before, but there’s really nothing quite the same as coming home!
And the more I travel – whether for business or pleasure – the better it feels to come home. Of course, even home is coming to mean multiple locations now. But the “real one”, my long time base in small town USA, that’s where I feel best, where I feel safest and mentally at peace. Always have, always will.
Or at least that’s what I thought.
The last homecoming however threw me for a loop. It was not a pleasant one!
The time was just after 8 pm and even on a summer night, it was dark.
I came home from the airport, parked my car in the garage and took whatever bags I had with me, getting ready to unlock the door to my house from within the garage. As I was unlocking the door, I happened to look down.
What I saw was a solid wooden door that had cracked. It looked like someone had taken a lead foot and tried to kick it in.
I thought quickly, should I go in? But the door was still locked and bolted. I thought that whoever tried to break-in did not succeed. [That was a stupid conclusion to draw even if it did turn out to be the correct one. At that particular moment, that’s what I thought, probably because my brain was partially disengaged…].
I went in slowly and carefully, turning on lights wherever I stepped. Looking around, I did not see anything that had been disturbed in the laundry room. From there to the kitchen and then on into the dining area and living room. Everything was undisturbed. Upstairs, same thing.
I took a deep breath and talked myself out of feeling afraid. I was alone and only had myself to talk to.
After I had assured myself that no one had gotten in and that nothing had been disturbed I some how, eventually, went to sleep. After leaving on a whole bunch of lights in the house first, that is.
The next day as I was filing the police report, they told me in not so many words how reckless I had been by walking into the house like that. I should have called 911 and had them walk through to ensure that no one was in there.
“Ma’am”, the young cop said, “that’s why we’re here and that’s what we do”.
Yes, I deserved every bit of that lecture!
I was too busy telling myself not to be afraid, that I missed what could have been a real danger to me. Fair warning!
Since this happened – just a few days ago – every time there’s a noise, even a small one, I get startled. I look outside often to see if anyone is around. I watch. I wait.
This is all new to me; I’m finding that I’ve never done any of it before. 😦
The feeling that my home was a safe haven has been breached. I need to take my time and build it back up, there is no other alternative, is there?
I just feel so violated. And for such a little thing! I mean, it’s not like I was attacked. I didn’t lose a limb, I wasn’t subjected to chemical weapons for heaven’s sake, nor was anything valuable taken from my home.
Yet, I can’t forgive the person who did this. They may not have been able to take anything from my home, but whoever they are, they stole a very precious belonging from me. They stole my peace of mind.
Temporarily.
Now, I’m working on getting it back. One way or the other, I will.
:
:
The Yin and Yang of Life Anywhere 