I'm not mom but I am DAD

So this morning I took a personal day from work (which I have to pay a portion of...really ticks me off) and spent the day with my family. On Wed. mornings my little girl has dance lessons. I dropped the family off at the studio and ran an errand. When I came back and as I was walking to the parents waiting room I had to pass Zoe's dance room. As I was walking past I could hear Zoe excitedly speaking to her dance teacher, "Miss Dana, my daddy is here, he came to watch me dance, he didn't go to work." Then she turned around and saw me at which point she screamed out loud to her teacher, "Miss Dana, that's my daddy, the daddy is here." Then she looks at me and says, "Daddy, I love you."

Given the events of last weekend, I may not be mom, but damn, I am "the daddy"! If ever I needed affirmation of me as a parent, that was it.

I'm not mom

This past weekend I was a single daddy while my wife had to tend to some business. It was among the hardest times of my life. I had to take care of my kids all by myself. It is incredibly hard work. How my wife is able to stay sane while mothering I don't know. I do know I have come to respect my wife even more than I do now. I truly believe that the hardest job in this world is being a mother.

This is what my wife does, she takes care of the kids, she clothes them, she feeds them, she educates them, she entertains them. In the midst of all this she cooks, she cleans, she runs this house, and she remains in tact. Meanwhile, my goal with the kids is that they stay fed and alive while I am taking care of them. Getting dressed for the day is optional.

So lets talk battle of the sexes...women win hands down, no contest. They are better than men. Perhaps that's why God created them second. Man was the prototype but the woman was the complete product.

spring cleaning II

I am so amazed at the human body, moreso I am amazed at what comes out. I'm not trying to be gross and disgusting but You have got to see this. Yesterday, before going to bed, I spent time cleaning my ears (come on really how often do we as people regularly clean our ears) anyways, this morning chunks of ear wax were falling out of my right ear. The above is one of those chunks. Its hard to believe that was lodged in my ear. Can you believe the size of that thing?

Click on the picture to enlarge, seriously, look at the enlarged picture...

I tried to show my wife but she just didn't share that same incredulous feeling.

It's finally spring I think

So this morning I spent time outside cleaning my front yard. To me that's definitely an indication that spring is here. It was somewhat strange raking and and clearing the detritus from last year because there was still patches of snow and ice on the grass.

I think I'm beginning to understand this concept of spring cleaning. I never really understood it. Why is this season so important that we have to totally upheave the house and clean everything from the inside to the outside. As a child I hated it...it was a disturbance to my life and my routine. I probably hated it more because my mother was an absolute nazi about the whole spring cleaning thing.

Anyways, as I was cleaning the yard, what made sense to me was that I wanted to do this to break the monotony of what winter is and let new life flourish. Remove the ice and snow of winter and let the grass and flowers of spring grow.

Staying focused

You know, I started this whole blog thing because I thought I could do it...share my happenings and thoughts. I think I can do it, but I just don't do it. It's not that I can't share my thoughts and happenings because I'm insecure or not sensitive or crap like that...it's just that I'm somewhat lazy... but to my defense I'm also somewhat not lazy.

So once again, I'm going to try again. To do this whole blog thing. I don't know who's out there reading this but if you are, thanks and thanks a lot.

I'm motivated at times by people who make goals and actually achieve them. For me, perhaps I don't officially make goals because then I don't have to worry about keeping them and if I don't keep them I'm not letting myself down...complacency, you got to love it, can be a wonderful thing...kind of like ignorance. Just kidding.

This blog thing is now one of my goals. And, that's all I have to say about that.

I'm in Nashville

I'm in Nashville. It's really hot and it's really humid. I'm here on a convention and here's something that I have noticed.

In 1954, segregation was supposedly done away with. But, what I have observed is that segregation is still very much alive down here. Sure, there is no separate facilities for Black folk and White folk. And, sure they walk around freely with each other down here. But, they do not hang out with each other. Everywhere I walked I saw groups of White people and groups of Black people but I did not see groups of Black and White intermingling and hanging out with each other. I don't get this.

I suppose you can make laws to change physical action but you sure can't make laws to change a person's belief.

This is another reason that makes me appreciate being a Canadian. We are all culturally unique and in Canada there is so much more harmonious interactions among the cultures. We can hang out with each other. We can celebrate each other's diversity and be friends with one another.

I blame Stephen Harper

This new Canadian gov't is really ticking me off. Perhaps, it's just my dislike of the way Stephen Harper is dealing with things that I just want to blame him with all that goes wrong. It really troubles me that the stance that Peter McCabe and Harper have taken on this Israel - Hezbollah aggression is so in line with the US stance, "It's all Hezbollah's fault, Israel is only defending itself." While that may be true what about the flip side to that, it's all Israel's fault and Hezbollah is only defending itself. Harper and his gov't had no right to pick a side in this matter. Their role was to unbiased and neutral.

Enough with that...I just read an article on CBC.ca about a Pakistani family (Shia muslim) seeking assylum in a United church in Winnipeg. The Canadian gov't is rejecting their refugee claim and deporting them back to Pakistan. It seems that since this Harper gov't has been in power I have heard more stories about families being deported. I can accept that this conservative gov't wants to control and crackdown on those that misuse our immigration laws...but why deport families that contribute to our society? If they want to deport people why not deport those who will not contribute to our society, why not deport those who committ violent acts of crime. Personally, I don't think we should deport anyone.

There is a reason that people escape to this country. Canada is truly a free country. People want freedom. It is in our very nature to want it. Just consider this family seeking assylum. (It's interesting on two fronts really, 1., a muslim family seeking assylum within the confines of a Christian church, 2., a productive hard working family being deported.) Canada has a rich history of saving people and granting freedom. Why then would we break our own history and send people who are escaping tyranny and bondage only to send them back to it. Is that fair? Is that compassionate? Consider the American slaves, they escaped slavery from the deep south, the Underground Railroad led them to Canada. Canada was their haven. At one point the northern states would have been enough, but the US congress passed a bill allowing slave owners to chase down their slaves in any part of the country and bring them back. Therefore leaving them only Canada as their only option. This is where they found their freedom. What would history have said about us if we would have sent these slaves back to their "masters" in the deep south of the US? If Canada would have sent those slaves back to the US to their "masters", this country would have been no better than those American states in which slavery was lawful.

Canada is an open and tolerant country, it is a just country. In these matters of deportation are we being just to these people?

Why am I so lucky?

I don't understand my world. At one time I thought I did, but I know now that it is more complex than ever I thought imaginable. (Perhaps it is more complex because we make it that way.)

Presently my thoughts and prayers go out to the many innocent people caught in the crossfire of a war that is not their own. I speak of the current Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflict. What have these innocent people done to deserve such a torment? Who have they sympathized with to deserve having their families killed, homes destroyed, country in despair? What grave injustice have they done to Israel? What grave injustice have they done to Islam?

This sickens me knowing that far too many innocent people have to suffer. This current mid-east conflict is nothing new to the region, I understand this. This current conflict is nothing new to the history of this world, I understand this as well. I also understand that this is not the only conflict in this world. My heart aches for the millions suffering in the Sudan, for the countless children left orphaned in many countries in Africa because of HIV/AIDS, for the thousands left in despair because of natural disasters, for the many homeless people in the "civilized" cities of this world, for the thousands of children that will die today because of poverty, or war, or famine. I understand all this.

What I do not understand is why am I so lucky? What is it about me that spares me from suffering of many in this world? Don't get me wrong, I am very and eternally grateful that it is not me that has to endure such hardships. But, why am I so lucky?

I don't understand the American mentality.

I am not American, but I am a North American. For the last several years I have been trying to understand the collective American psyche, personality or whatever you want to call it. I want to know why American do the things they do, especially American Christians. I want to know what it is about George W. Bush that the American Christian loves. Is it because he calls himself a Christian or is it because he says he will push (perhaps protect, becuase apperently he does that very well) the Christian (traditional) way of life? Having asked that, what is the Christian(traditional) way of life? Is the Christian way of life to wage war so that the right to profit from it can exist only for the greedy few that most Americans (mainly the right of center, Christians)seem to elect? I thought Christianity was about loving people. I thought Christianity was about salvation. When did Christianity become about politics? When did Christianity become about legislating a set of spiritual beliefs? Have not Christians learned lessons from history? The Spanish Inquistion, the Holy Crusades, etc. Did these events in history not teach Christians that Christianity is not about forcing your beliefs on others. Christianity is not of a Taliban order.