A memorial for the Canadian soldiers who died in Afghanistan was unveiled in private – even families of the dead soldiers were not invited — and is not open to the public. This is madness. Christie Blatchford has her say, though I think my late brother said it best when he called his blog “Life in a Silly Little Country.”
All posts by Rondi Adamson
Michel Bacos
A hero was celebrated in France last month. Michel Bacos was the pilot of the jet hijacked at Entebbe, the man who stayed – by choice – with the Jewish hostages, though he was not Jewish. What he was, was a veteran of World War II who had obviously learned the lessons of that nightmare. Hatikva, the Israeli anthem, was played before his burial.
Animals Nobody Loves
When I was a kid, my mum gave me a book called “Animals Nobody Loves.” I could not put it down – and now, as a getting-older lady, I wish I had kept it. Checked my library app and could not find it (though I found a book with the same title and probably in the same vein, written by someone else). Lo and behold, Amazon has it, and I still remember that cover (see link above)! Well, the glories of Jeff Bezos.
Why do I mention it? Because two days ago in the New York Times I found this column, which in my view is near perfection.
Epic quote:
World, world, forgive our ignorance and our foolish fears. Absolve us of our anger and our error. In your boundless gift for renewal, disregard our undeserving. For no reason but the hope that one day we will know the beauty of unloved things, stoop to accept our unuttered thanks.
One of those columns where I say, “Man oh man, I wish I had written that!”
Human Kindness
Australia, F*** Yeah!
Delighted to read about the (unexpected) results of the Australian election. Theory and media favoured the Left, but reality did not. Here are a few links: The Aussie Revolt Against Social Justice, from Spiked; …the Left’s Empathy Deficit Came Home to Roost, from Quillette’s Aussie founder; and A Climate-Change Drubbing in Australia, from the WSJ. (The latter might have a subscriber wall.)
Only Connect…
…as E. M. Forster wrote.
I am from a family full of addicts (food, alcohol, drugs) and issues – perhaps we are not so different from other families in that regard. I am also from a family which has always lacked emotional connections (unless you count vicious bullying as a connection). I am certain this is why Johann Hari’s Ted Talk about addiction caught my attention. It’s a tad simplistic, but his main point is a good one: “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.” But of course it’s a vicious cycle, because the worse an addiction becomes, the more the addict isolates from other people, either by choice or because friends/family can’t stand being around the addict. Addiction creates deep mistrust, deep guilt, and constant dishonesty. It is difficult to connect with those things in the way.
Not unrelated – a fun link and blast from the past about Ted Talks.
Queen Victoria
She was born on this day, 200 years ago. Here are 20 fun facts about her. A great quote – I hope she truly did say it:
The important thing is not what they think of me, but what I think of them.
I have finally learned to adopt this as my philosophy – though when I was younger I did indeed waste time worrying about what other people thought of me.
Miracles Happen!
Such as: pro-life and pro-choice advocates calmly discuss abortion. One could be forgiven for thinking this would never happen, especially given reaction to Alabama’s new abortion law, a law that will surely be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. One thing I keep reading and hearing from pro-choicers is that men shouldn’t decide laws about women’s reproductive rights – and yet it was an all-male Supreme Court that ruled in Roe v. Wade. And plenty of women are pro-life.
People just need to remain sane here, right? Fat chance.
The Clothes of my Youth
As a teen and young woman in her 20s, I used to absolutely live in Sarah Clothes. The latter was a store in Ottawa – in the Glebe, the ‘hood of my youth – where I used to shop when I first began to spend my meager babysitting earnings. I adored the styles on offer there – one part hippy, one part Victorian, one part British colonial India. I still remember a perfect quilted Sarah Clothes jacket I owned. It was in lovely shades of blue with a floral print and I wore it with jeans or dresses or skirts (Sarah’s made the most divinely perfect crinkly cotton skirts). The clothes were such excellent quality, as well – I shopped there in the ’80s, primarily, and I was still wearing a couple of their blouses in the mid-aughts. Seriously! I just loved that store. I applied for a job there once and they did not hire me. Sigh. A disappointment to my 18-year-old self.
For some reason I’ve been thinking about Sarah Clothes and I did a search on the internets, which turned up this link, as well as a link to the website of Sarah’s talented daughter, Andree.
Ah, nostalgia.
Tim Conway
Wonderful comedian. I was a great fan of The Carol Burnett Show when I was a kid, and I fondly remember Tim Conway as the old man, and Mr. Tudball, but I think this skit is one of the absolute best. So delightful to watch Lyle Waggoner try to keep a straight face.