Tag Archive "mark-pavilons"

Losing more than a shoe stuck in the mud

We all feel stuck at some point in our lives. Sometimes, this feeling is a signal that we need to change, or react differently to the challenges we’re facing. It’s been said the road to success and the road to failure are the same. It’s how we construct these paths that matters most.

Gambling is enshrined in our lives

It’s been said that everything’s a gamble in life. All the best gamblers quit when they’re ahead. It’s funny, this obsession of ours with gambling, playing the odds and the rush of winning. Does gambling imitate life?

Democracy impeded by unrest, conflict and politics

ur love-hate relationship with democracy is unique to the western world. While we find ourselves constantly at odds with government policies and decision-makers at all levels, we forget just how lucky and blessed we are. We’ve enjoyed ever-expanding human rights under our Charter since 1982. The anniversary was April 17 and every year we quietly (very Canadian) celebrate its anniversary. It solidifies the very essence of democratic rights – religion, speech, media, assembly and more.

Fate, choice, destiny or divine intervention?

People have said that we can control our destiny, but not our fate. Even Napoleon believed there is no such things as accidents, calling them “fate misnamed.” Terry Pratchett once said that most gods throw dice, but “Fate plays chess, and you don’t find out til too late that he’s been playing with two queens all along.” Nice analogy.

Losing a friend, a piece of ourselves

Our home is a bit quieter than usual. It’s a strange silence, where you know something isn’t right. Our 14-year-old Lab Marley is no longer with us. For dogs, that’s a heck of a life, roughly equivalent to 98 human years! We don’t really “own” our best friends but merely “rent” them. We all hope for a long “lease.”

Grocery ‘games’ continue to baffle public

George Bernard Shaw once said “there is no love sincerer than the love of food.” While George was spot on regarding our taste buds, he never faced paying $7 for a pound of butter. “Give us this day our daily bread …” the prayer goes. But God never ventured into a grocery store.

We need to be leery of human stupidity

“Never underestimate the power of stupidity,” Robert Heinlein once warned. Martin Luther King, Jr. contended that “nothing in the all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” And the late, great Stephen Hawking said we are destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity.

Necessity driving Canadians’ habits

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.

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