Not often do I not find the time to do what I usually like to do, but this week happens to be one of those times that lack the prefix of ample. I have been busy, busy, busy for all of seven full days actually enjoying myself doing something I also like to do, which is our annual winter-break birdhouse workshop, with oodles of kids, moms and dads, and grandmas and grandpas, who have come from far and wide to Greenway Blooming Centre at Breslau.
But it has left little time for me to pick and choose an article of choice for this weeks hasty deadline. As usual, when that happens, I delve deeply into my chuckle bucket and here is what I have come up with. Sometimes it is nice to hear the opinion of someone from outside our own little circle, so here it is
It was probably missed in the local news, but it was reported that someone in Pakistan had advertised, in a newspaper, offering a reward to anyone who killed a Canadian – any Canadian.
An Australian dentist wrote the following editorial to help define what a Canadian is, so they would know one when they found one. So, word for word, here it is:
“A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.
“A Canadian may also be a Cree, Metis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians. A Canadian’s religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, or none. In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan.
“The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses. Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
“A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
“A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best service and the best minds. But they also welcome the least – the oppressed, the outcast, and the rejected.
“These are the people who built Canada. You can try to kill a Canadian if you must, as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could be killing a relative or a neighbour. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian.”
So there you have it, folks. In words that I don’t think could have been better said, even if I had so said it myself. In the meantime, in between time, in the wee small hours of the morning, I have just met, by the skin of my teeth, another deadline.
Take care, ’cause we care.
