Before you read on, let me make it explicitly clear that this post is not meant to endorse or validate any person's choice to commit suicide. It is simply a reflection that I hope will, in fact, have the opposite effect by expressing my empathy towards those enduring deeply felt emotions. Maybe if you only … Continue reading Suicide as an Expression of Extreme Mental Wellness
From a Frustrated Voter on Election Day
Dear Western Democracy - I think you misled me. I was under the impression that my vote mattered, that my vote was my own, that my vote was my choice: voluntarily given, free from compulsion or coercion. But I was misled. You’ve taken the world and divided it into two, gave each side a color, … Continue reading From a Frustrated Voter on Election Day
Refugee on Native Land
My family found refuge on Canadian soil in 1983. I was still an infant (that's me on the left!), and completely unaware of the drama that would mark the opening act of my life. At the time, my young parents were oblivious of the fact that they had arrived in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded … Continue reading Refugee on Native Land
Yearning for a Good Canadian Stew
Internationally, the Canadian identity elicits feelings of trust, kindness, and equity. Canadians are seen to be uncontroversial, cooperative, polite to a fault, habitually apologetic, and reliable in times of need. Some might say that at our worse we are uninvolved. Maybe complacent. Never violent, except when we are, in which case – we're truly sorry. … Continue reading Yearning for a Good Canadian Stew
That’s What Happens in a Tolerant Society
The only people who should be surprised by the chaos kicking off the 21st century -- the surge in religious fanaticism, right-wing nationalism, and populism -- are those who mistakenly conflated relative peace with an emerging unity. But the root causes of intolerance were never addressed, so why are we surprised? Let's not be naive. What's … Continue reading That’s What Happens in a Tolerant Society
