The Evolution of Creation Stories

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Skid

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In the Beginning, Man created god.

That's how I began an English lesson in essay writing to support a point of view. The week before I had started with, "In the Beginning, God created man," with no complaints, Little did I know my second statement, based on an age-old rabbinical teaching style of offering opposing points of view to students, would bring in a flood of Biblical proportions from concerned parents who felt I was challenging the faith of their children.

I hold fundamentalist religious beliefs in the same category that I hold the military/industrial/agribusiness/pharmaceutical/energy complex, so I admit to a certain bias. As an English teacher, I celebrate the stories of humanity, creation stories being the most amazing. As a Science teacher, I respect the quests for answers to the deepest questions of who we are, from where did we come, and to what future are we travelling.

In one York University presentation I gave on the State of the World, a student came forward at the break to express her concern that I had only told the Western science perspective and had not told The Creation Story. I reflected on her concerns, and after the break, I apologized to the class, and told my favourite creation story. It featured a great turtle island, an otter, beaver, muskrat and a Great Spirit That Loves Life, and mud carried up in the paws of a creature that would not give up in the quest for life. The class sat mesmerized, and my fundamentalist student was not amused.

"So," I asked the class, "Pick your favourite creation story and celebrate it. It is based on geography and the wonder of human imagination. In the beginning, we were, and still are, the storytellers. If you base your life's direction on a story, choose it carefully."

If there is Intelligent Design, humans need to start applying it.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Legacy

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Skid

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I never want to forget the stories of our parents who fought for our freedom, who lost the innocence of their youth in battles not of their own making, but in defence of something far greater than themselves, following the clarion call of leaders to whom they entrusted their honour. A quiet conversation at a curling game revealed that my teammate had a father who had served in the Juno Beach D-Day landing in 1944; I had a father who was a Hurricane pilot and a POW for 3 1/2 years in the infamous Stalag Luft III prison camp of The Great Escape fame. One story led to another and we slowly resurrected each other's photos and war logs from our parents. I had the privilege this last week of reading of the journey of a father and his son taking part in the 50th Anniversary of the Juno Beach landing on June 6, 1944. The album was filled with wonderful photos of family and friends sharing a unforgettable trip through history.

But the most moving story of all was his personal reflection when he and his dad visited the graveyard of all of the fallen. He recorded in his journal that he simply couldn't believe the number of white crosses, and the young age that marked their passage. His father had gone one way through the rows, he through another. When they met again, he learned his dad had found the name of a friend from Craigleith, and was too overcome to speak.

We should all be too overcome to speak. But their stories must be told ere, as Wilfred Owen warned us, we must not inflict the great lie upon our children: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." No more will ideolgical fanatics sacrifice the youth of their countries for the good and glory of their ambitions.

So, to honour their stories, what do we do with their war logs, our journals, their stories when we pass on? Who will be the storytellers for our veterans? I do not want my father's or my friend's father's sacrifice to end up in a dumpster, or a government shredder. I want a veteran's library.

There are fewer and fewer left to remember – we pass the torch of their memories – someone, please, hold it high.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

The Gilmore Junio Factor

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Skid

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Gilmore Junio, you are my Olympic hero. You have exemplified the best of the Olympic spirit – a true competitor who gave up his place in an Olympic final to a team mate he felt had a better chance of competing for his country. You share fully in the Silver Medal that was won, and deserve a Gold Medal for sportsmanship.

Like the coaches who gave out ski poles and skis to opposing Olympians so that they could continue to compete, that is the even field of competition upon which the Games should be based. Now that, more than any country's medal count, is truly inspirational.

I would like to propose that the official Olympic motto be changed to: "Higher, Faster, Stronger, and more Honourable."

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

Pipelines, Profits and Bad Fantino Karma

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Skid

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Well, well, the truth will out. It is no wonder that "Our Government"™ wants to gut CBC – if it were not for some of their excellent investigative reporting, we would still be in the dark about the nefarious schemes afoot in the governance of our country. The latest northern exposure comes from the revelations that "Our Government"™ and the National Energy Board buried a damning report on Trans-Canada and their pipeline safety transgressions. Shame. That wouldn't have had anything to do with the "no-brainer" over approving Keystone, would it?

No, how foolish of me. We know "Our Government"™ always has the best interests of hard-working, tax-paying Canadians at the forefront. It would be almost treasonous to suggest that they are really working for the corporate profits of big business and the upper 10% of Canadian society. Why, that kind of thinking could end you up on the CSIS watch list. Like Justin Bieber.

Forget Julian Fantino, who does not like finger pointing, and his shaftng of our Veterans; forget Pierre Poilievre and the hypocrisy of the "Fair Elections Act" which will crack down on the election fraud violations "Our Government"™ created; forget the Omnibus Bills that decimated environmental reviews; forget the millions of dollars spent on false advertising for a "Canada's Action Plan"™ job creation program that didn't exist; forget the $90,000 Senate expenses cheque and a PMO that does not have a clue (wink) about what is going on in the top office of Canada's government.

No, we do indeed get the government we deserve, and the generations of accounting, both social and environmental, that go with their decisions. Me, I'm going to be lining up with the Veterans in Julian Fantino's riding in 2015. This one's for you, Dad.

*****

Skid Crease, Caledon

A Tale of Two Teens

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Skid

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It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. There in the deep dry heat of Australia, 19 year old Eugenie Bouchard made Canada proud, becoming only the 2nd Canadian tennis player to make it to a Grand Slam semi-final. With personality, poise, professionalism, and skill, she won the hearts of "Genie's Army" and Canadian fans alike.

On the other hand, in the humid wet heat of Miami, 19 year old Justin Beiber made the Ford List of Most Stupid Canadians by driving drunk, high, and prescriptioned, street racing and speeding twice the limit in a residential neighbourhood, driving with an expired licence, and resisting arrest. With arrogance, entitlement, ignorance and irresponsibility, he lost the hearts of "Beilibers" and Canadian fans alike.

For every Justin Beiber or Rob Ford, there is a Eugenie Bouchard or Naheed Nenshi to balance the forces of dark and light.

Choose your role models carefully my children.

*****

Skis Crease, Caledon