Necessity driving Canadians’ habits

January 31, 2024 · 0 Comments

Necessity has been called the “mother of invention,” and a host of other catchy terms. But we are all realizing – all too well – just how necessity is fitting into our current lifestyles.

Rewriting my ever-changing guide book

It’s been a while since I put pen to paper with my inner-most thoughts. I typically have a keyboard – virtual or physical – at my disposal for these things. It’s not always easy to come up with new, informative and enjoyable subjects for my weekly rants. But I try.

Staying connected to the ‘great mystery’

I recently urged my son to apply his somewhat green thumb to growing mushrooms. Not your basic fungi, but those thousand-dollar specimens sought by fancy restaurants. Truffles can cost upwards of several thousand per pound. That’s what I’m talking about! How hard can it be to raise and sell a fistful of these beauties? Turns out, very hard. But as they say, if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. It seems my boy is under pressure – to get active, busy and earn money. After all we westerners believe that generating wealth is some sort of gauge of people.

Dishing out failing grades to start the year

My cheeks, squirrel-like with an overabundance of cheese balls, marked my feelings ushering in the new year – tasty at first, yet ultimately unsatisfying. Attached to the couch, I searched for pearls of wisdom from old sit-coms like Frasier, The Big Bang Theory and Last Man Standing. Modern-day sages to be sure. Yet, my grasping at such TV snippet straws proved fruitless.

Internet habits reveal humankind’s weaknesses

It’s been said for generations that you are what you eat. Unfortunately, our North American diet is sadly lacking in nutrition and is laden with chemicals and substances not found on the periodic table. We’ve known about this for some time and in the last decade, there’s been a bit of a revolt, or resurgence in a more balanced diet and lifestyle. But of course, that comes with a cost and since most of us are keenly aware of the rising costs of food, our perfect choices may have to be curtailed.

Writing our own stories while we still have time

Time is a luxury that many of our fellow human beings just don’t have. For the rest of us, we’ve abused it, squandered it, and mocked it. But you can’t cheat it, just as you can’t cheat death.

Curiosity is one of our best qualities

Our lives are filled with questions yet ultimately, few answers. Sure, we make it through our lives the hard way – by making mistakes and discovering the answers ourselves. Few are given to us in advance. There are seldom any shortcuts, cheats or hacks along the way. And writing notes on your arm won’t do in this test of life.

We should all try to be as ‘authentic’ as we can

Merriam-Webster has chosen “authentic” as the word of the year for 2023. The popularity of the word is driven by online searches and people looking into artifical intelligence, along with culture and identity in a sea of fake social media. While traditionally meaning “not false or imitation,” people today see the wod as meaning “true to one’s owner personality, spirit or character.”

We have to combine resources and eliminate hate

Of all the beautiful emotions and reactions that our species is capable of, hatred reigns. It has been with us, like some unshakable callous, for millennia. It may very well be our undoing. Despite cries from prophets, seers and leaders of all shapes and sizes, this one aspect of humankind is most disturbing. And it seems it’s always there, like a dark shadow, right behind us.

Customer ‘disservice’ quickly getting old

In commerce, it was once believed that the “customer was always right.” To an extend that holds true today. Of course, customers are not always right, but to ensure good relations, customers are given the benefit of the doubt. They are treated well, to ensure a return visit. In most cases at retail and fast food outlets, customer complaints are quickly dealt with. I have witnessed many over the years, but few have ever escalated to full-scale shouting matches. That’s something we all want to avoid.

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