Downsizing

 Don slammed the door with a scowl on his face. He ripped off his boots and propelled them to the floor.

“Didn’t go so well, huh?” Julie ventured.

“They just won’t listen. They’re stubborn. Refuse to face facts.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sat down resignedly, his irritation losing steam.

Julie felt the old frustration welling up. “They give me the same hard time. Like you, I feel so helpless at times.”

“Your parents just can’t cope anymore,” Don added, “ and I guess deteriorating health blinds them to the risks of their isolation.”

He looked across at Julie, who stared at the floor. His resentment turned to sympathy for her. “The situation is taking its toll on you, hon.”

She looked up at him as he continued. “Daily trips to your parent’s house to check and run errands, and,” he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands gesturing openly toward her; “you have to cope with the demands of a teenage family as well.”

“The most difficult thing for me,” she explained, “is their complaint about me every time I try to help. My brother away in California is the golden boy who never does anything wrong.”

“That’s because he’s not available to do anything. He can’t do it wrong” Don gave her a grim smile.

That story can be told repeatedly. Parents in their own home try to maintain their independence while failing bodies and faculties make it increasingly difficult. The baby boomer generation faces increasing oversight of parents, yet not wanting to compel them into more suitable accommodation.

It’s been two and half months since Ann and I moved into about 550 square feet on the lower level of our home. Good storage space, absence of stairs, and a grade level entrance make this convenient. A large living space doubles as an office with desks at one end, and triples as a bedroom with a wall bed at the other end.

A previous bedroom is now a kitchen and dining room, the closet converted into a pantry. The piano is also in this room, giving the atmosphere of an English parlour. A full bathroom and laundry on the same level complete a cosy, comfortable, convenient home.

We have the occasional use of the two ovens upstairs. Two delightful sisters—who could be our grandchildren—rent the upper level and use our lower level laundry. Having someone responsible upstairs, means there is help available in an emergency.

The girls share the outside work such as gardening and snow removal. Ann is still free to potter in the garden she enjoys, but the heavy work is reduced. We still live in our own house and have the use of our car and garage.

Having less space to maintain is a freeing outlook, and we enjoy our writing and other pursuits with continuing independence and ease. 

Thanksgiving: Can We Say Anything New?

Perhaps we can if we live in Facebook. Facebook is the third largest nation on earth, population just over a billion, third only to China and India. Multi race and multi lingual, we can visit with friends instantly anywhere within its boundaries. Perhaps this is something to be thankful for on its own, but its citizens have a lot more to say about thanksgiving.

Here are some samples:

Thankful that the things I used to fear that have become the things I treasure most.

Thankful for the beauty that remains when we are purified by the trails of this life.

Thankful for the people God has given me.

Thankful for the freedom that comes from THANKFULNESS.

As we eat through this CANADIAN Thanksgiving weekend, we will thank God for each one of our loved friends and family members, ... just before dropping into a Glutton Coma. (It's nice to be blessed, but much better to be forgiven.).

The ability to think and reason and have interesting conversations with people. And the ability to write about my thoughts and feelings! Every time I write a new blog I think... "I should write more often."

Way too many blessings to count, yet family & friends to share them with day after day.

Celebrating 14 years of marriage to my best friend. Thank you, my friend, for loving me unconditionally. I thank God for you!

For the comforting thrill of waking to morning silence, instead of a beeping alarm . . . Thank You (for Saturdays).

Thankful for my family.

So very thankful . . . words cannot really express.

Cheers for all the quarter century birthday wishes, another year needing to grow up. I got to get onto dat.

For sisters to bake with . . . thank-YOU.

Join them with your own expressions of THANKSGIVING.

Defeat of Bill 312

Sunday, September 30, 2012

 

It seems to me that knowing when human life begins is a fundamental cornerstone of justice. The idea that this should be pursued was rejected in parliament this past week by a margin of more than two to one. This result clearly illustrates Canada’s decline in the preservation of human life.

Of course, the motion was rejected on the basis that it might interfere with the convenience of abortion on demand, clearly declared by a common media message that it was an anti-abortion bill. Discussion on abortion would certainly have been an outcome.

It’s common knowledge that a human must be designated a “person” to be accorded basic human rights. Personhood has always been denied to oppressed segments of society, most notably slaves, blacks, and women, to maintain a convenient status quo.

Maintaining the “freedom,” so valiantly fought for, to dispose of unwanted growing human life within the womb, will be defended vociferously as the Commons vote shows. It is a dreadful commentary on our deteriorating society that this procedure is so widely supported by our MPs.

Currently, no law exists in Canada to protect a child so long is he or she still has one toe in the birth passage. Thus Canada is the only western democracy not providing protection of the unborn at some point in their development. In this, we ally ourselves with nations like North Korea and China.

But nearly one third of the vote was for the motion. Clearly, abortion is still a major moral issue, and by all accounts I follow, the number and volume of voices against this horrific procedure are growing. And the majority of these voices are Christian.

Naturally, this gives rise to the cry that “we don’t want your religion stuffed down our throats.” But the declining value of human life in our culture loudly declares the failure of secular beliefs, while Christianity gains credence by its continuing voice for all human life.

Everyone Has Faith

There is a misconception in the general population and, unfortunately, among many Christians, that it is only religious people that need faith, because they cannot prove their beliefs. Certainly, without proof of one’s beliefs faith is necessary.

As much as we would like to think the existence of God, and our Christian faith is provable, there is only circumstantial evidence. That may be sufficiently supportive of our Christian belief, but if there was real empirical evidence, faith would be unnecessary.

The lie spread by those who claim God doesn’t exist, or is irrelevant to our life on earth, is that they base their values on what can be known, not on what cannot be known. Sounds logical, until we recognize the non-existence of God cannot be proved either.

Thus, their whole basis of belief is based on an erroneous assumption: God’s existence cannot be proved, therefore He is irrelevant to life on earth. But an unproven God is not proof He doesn’t exist—simply put: absence of proof is not proof of absence.

Any assumption that cannot be proved requires faith. Thus the secular mindset of our culture is as much a faith position as any religion, yet strikingly inferior to faith in God. The changing values and opinions of secularism betray its lack of substance and coherence.

Humankind has not changed since Adam and Eve. So human needs have never changed and the Bible has met those needs for millennia. It’s shadow will always threaten the shifting sands that undermine the secular mind.

Measuring Motivation

Violence around the world in the wake of a sleazy anti-Muslim video has overshadowed the rebellion in Syria against the Assad regime. Following the overthrow of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, the Syrian uprising has been largely cast as a Muslim sectarian conflict.

Sectarian violence in not limited to Islam. Historically, Christians have fought each other over issues of the faith, including the Protestant/Catholic violence in Northern Ireland. But that conflict was less direct religious opposition and more a political hijacking of differences in belief.

Much the same can be said of the rebellion in Syria against the Assad regime. Much has been said of Muslim factions fighting each other. But King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has stated: “Any sane Arab, Muslim, or anyone else knows that this uprising has nothing to do with religion, ethics, or morals.”

The uprisings across the middle east have been against totalitarian regimes that exploited and oppressed the population. The brutal repression of the Assad regime in Syria is simply an extension of that oppression.

Why are most of these uprisings eventually successful. Few doubt the ability of Assad to win. Some have suggested Assad’s brutal crackdown has sufficiently reduced his legitimacy to weaken him and bring him down. But Stalin survived his greater cruel regime.

The reason why the Syrian uprising will probably succeed is a simple equation: the oppressed have nothing to lose, the oppressors have everything to lose. Those with nothing to lose, are prepared to give their lives; those with much to lose, guard their lives for it. Eventually, the stronger motivation will win.

That is why Christianity stands or falls according to the depth of its believer’s devotion. Do we reckon ourselves devoted, for life or death, to His cause? Our answer may be the measure of the ability of Christianity to survive.