Thoughts on Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day….
I was lucky.
I was raised in a house where love was the norm, and tolerance was expected.
Not only for those in the house… but for others, outside the house… and beyond the borders.
Anger or threatening behavior was not acceptable, and were dealt with and put aside to be forgotten.
Our dinner table, when I was growing up, was filled with all manner of artists, writers, radio folk… people from all walks of life, and levels of society.
As long as the person was similarly tolerant… all were welcome.
Many nights, my Mum would scramble to be creative, in order to make 4 porkchops stretch to feed five or six… as someone unexpected came to dinner
I think I have written before about the discussions around the dinner table… that were far above my understanding… but always, despite the fervor and passion that people often brought to these discussions, never with a trace of anger or malevolence towards someone with a different view or opinion.
I was lucky.
I think about how lucky I was, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I grew up in a household where my Dad would cue up reel to reel tapes of speeches that were stirring. I remember Churchill’s “We shall never surrender…” speech being played at considerable volume down in the basement… my Dad reveling in the eloquence and passion of the speakers… the rise and fall of the cadence… not unlike the music he also loved so much.
I don’t know for sure, but must believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have also held a position on several reels of tape… having a similar command of language, and understanding of rise and fall… whisper and shout… that all good speakers are able to bring to bear.
But better than a good speaker, Dr King was a great speaker… easily as able to captivate his listeners today, as he was many years ago.
The only thing jarring to my ears is the now rarely heard word “Negro”, which Dr King used, to refer to people of colour.
But it is STILL worth a listen, and every bit as true today, as it was then.
Invoking the words of the Constitution of the United States, and stripping them bare to the essence that the writers intended.
Below, is a segment of Dr. King’s “American Dream” speech.
The speech, in its entirety, is just over 30 minutes, and a wonderful investment of time… as ‘Freedom’ and the fight for equality are just as relevant today, as they were when Dr King first spoke these words.
You can purchase the complete “American Dream” speech, and others, through the iTunes Store: Martin Luther King, Jr. – The Best Of The Speeches
The dream is still out there, and we are still searching for it… but I believe we shall get there.
Making Tracks In Pitt Meadows…
One night last week, my wife and I heard some cats having a major tussle, about 2 am.
Being alarmed that my cats might be upset by the ruckus, I ran downstairs and noted with alarm that the noise was getting louder.
On the main floor, I could now hear that it was coming from the basement, so I ran down, and found our two cats throwing themselves at the basement window, at an attempt to get at a large furry thing, outside.
Having a number of neighbourhood cats that get put outside at night, I thought it was a cat, but as I knocked on the window with the palm of my hand to scare it off, for a moment it looked at me, and I thought I saw the mask of a raccoon face… but it was a split second in the dark, and I wasn’t sure.
The next day, I went outside to look, and while there was no evidence of any animal transgressing our property, there was a gap in the gravel underneath the deck that I was certain had not been there previously. It didn’t look big enough to accomodate an animal as large as i had seen the previous night… but I know from past experience that a large mouse can fit through a dime size hole, and a rat can squeeze through a gap the size of a quarter… so it follows that larger rodents can pass through gaps that look too small to accommodate them.
I took a plastic watering can, emptied out the accumulated water, and placed it in front of the gap under the deck, with the thought that if there was an animal under the deck or one that wanted to get back into the burrow, they would be able to push it out of the way.
And, then the weatherman smiled on me, with a half inch dusting of snow.
In the overnight accumulation, I could see a set of large pawprints, definitely bigger and different than a cat’s paw, defined in the snow. 
It circled around the yard, pausing to look at the watering can, before moseying over to far side of the yard, over the fence, and pausing only to rough up my garden gnome, before going on its way.
Now that I know we have a something… (presumably raccoon) 
…I will have to do some more research to find out what the appropriate steps are.
If it is just a wayward traveller, and passing through, then vaya con dios.
If it is living under my deck… not so much.
That’s the latest going on in the neighbourhood… more updates as I get ’em !!!
Marathons Are Tough…
I just finished a marathon.
My legs are rubbery, and I’m exhausted.
My back is sore, my head aches slightly, and I need to move around to loosen up the stiffness that is forming in my joints.
Perhaps having greater impact, is the emotional path I followed, on the way.
Moments of unexpected laughter… moments when emotions welled up from nowhere… moments of quiet reflection.
I know there were times when I drifted… my thoughts a million miles away… taken there under the influence of something I had seen or heard.
We have all taken quick trips, and for 20 or so minutes, we venture into a different world.
This time, I dove in, and for six hours I travelled, toiling down roads I dared not travel before… each step taking me further along the way, and every picture that flies by, gives me another chapter, a deeper insight into the sights that are now becoming familiar.
Rarely have I come so far, so quickly, and, exhilarated, I know I shall do it again.
This must be the Runner’s high.
However, I know there has been some cost.
I have missed hours of conversation with my sweetie, and my cats are looking at me as if they do not know who I am.
Yet, I am compelled to continue.
Motoring on, as only an automaton can, I feel no pain and will not stop for any reason.
In the words of Simon & Garfunkel… I am a rock. I am an island.
My fluid intake has been substantial, but with my focus intense on my goal, I was blissfully unaware of my need to pee.
My food intake has similarly been substantial, largely consisting of salty and sweet carbohydrate-loaded morsels.
Bowls and bowls of morsels.
Focused on my task, I have remained unaware of my environment, and am only now becoming aware that the sun has set.
I have come full circle, and yet because of the ordeal, have some dis-orientation.
Not dizziness… just a re-acquiring of complete control over my faculties as I depart the world I have been intensely withdrawn in, and acquaint myself again with the real world at hand.
I have come a long, long way today.
Tomorrow, I will do it all again.
Having completed The Big Bang Theory marathon, our nieces have loaned us their copies of the first three seasons of How I Met Your Mother.
Love watching a complete series all at one sitting… it’s awesome !!!
Merry Christmas !!!
Wordless Wednesday: A Painted Guitar
Supporting Charities and Facebook…
I’ve always been a bit leery of Facebook.
Maybe it is the Farmville thing… but I have never found it as connected an entity as Twitter.
It might just be that you get out of it, what you put into it… but I do most of my Facebook communicating through my Blackberry, so I don’t see all the “other” stuff.
This last week, there was a “thing” on Facebook:
Change your Facebook profile picture to a
cartoon from your childhood and invite your friends to do the same.
Until Monday (Dec.6) There should be no human faces on facebook, but
an invasion of memories. This is for violence against children.
Yeah, I changed my profile pic.
(And, before you start squawking about delusions of grandeur, Mighty Mouse was the subject of the Essay that got me into University, after I wrote the Province-wide English Placement Test in Grade 12.)
But, regardless, as I changed my icon, I thought about this “awareness” campaign, and how it, like LIKING something, usually does no benefit to the cause itself.
(The obvious exception would be a program, like WE Day, where a corporate sponsor steps up, and makes a donation per click or LIKE.)
You should like my OTHER Blog:
It won’t do anything for either of us… but THAT’s my point.
In an economy where people are struggling, let alone Charities… it is becoming common to SHARE or LIKE something, and have a sense of accomplishment.
If an individual is having a struggle, or a tough time, it can be wonderful to have anyone acknowledge your situation or give supportive comments.
But other than an emotional lift or acknowledgement… at the end of the day, it gives no tangible benefit.
Now, to be clear… To an individual, that acknowledgement can be a huge lift.
But to Charities and Organizations, (what I am REALLY writing about here) LIKING or changing an icon only gives an illusion of support.
Most of my friends, who are technically savvy enough, changed their icons to Cartoon Characters.
In a Vancouver Sun article today, it talks about how Canadians are giving less to Charities.
Now I’m not saying that Facebook is 100% responsible… not at all.
Certainly the economic downturn probably bears the greatest portion of the blame… but… it is VERY easy to feel like you are involved, or helping something on Facebook.
I have a few “FRIENDS” who seem to have nothing to do all day but find different pages of Facebook, and suggest it to their connections to LIKE.
The sum total of their day’s efforts, will not benefit any Charities or Organizations in any tangible way, at all.
So, this season, as we get ready for another Holiday Season, keep on changing your icons, and LIKING things… but also be aware and give to the poor soul shivering outside, ringing a bell by the Salvation Army kettle… Buy a Kiva Gift Certificate, and help someone with a Micro-loan… Buy a toy, and put it in the local toybank donation box…
But mostly… be aware that giving a show of support, and actually supporting these Charities and Organizations, are VERY different.
(Oh, and I LIKED this posting on my own Facebook page, for what it’s worth !!!)