Category: Motivation

Over the years, there has been a slow decline in some of the verbal freedoms that we’ve always taken for granted. The best example would be the fact that when I was growing up, saying “Merry Christmas” was the expected greeting you gave people during the holiday season. But in recent times, it’s become almost anathema to some people, bordering on the rude, to wish someone a Merry Christmas.

For the most part, this decline in the use of a time-honoured holiday greeting has been attributed to a difference in background and religious beliefs. I’ve lost count of how many times someone has told me, “I’m not Christian and so I consider it offensive for you to offer me greetings based on a religion I don’t practice…”

I’m paraphrasing, of course. But my question to these people has always been simple and straightforward: why? This trend has reached most branches of society, going as far as retail and business locations forbidding their staff from giving a specific greeting in favour of a generic and dry greeting of “Happy Holidays”.

That’s all well and good, but doesn’t restricting someone from using a greeting based on their own beliefs violate the same freedom the ones complaining about it are trying to maintain? Seems a tad on the hypocritical side…

I was baptized into the Catholic faith when I was a child. I was raised in an environment where my family celebrated Christmas and the birth of Christ (although most scholars have indicated this didn’t ACTUALLY happen on December 25th, but that’s for a different post). But given the changes in my life and faith since then, I consider it a sign of respect for someone to use the greeting associated with their faith.

For example, if someone from the Jewish faith were to say, “Happy Hannukah” I would respond with, “Thank you so much. And Merry Christmas.” In Canada, we have the significant freedom to exercise the faith of our choice; a choice not everyone in the world gets to enjoy. So why butt head’s against each other to try and “have it our way?”

There is room enough in this world for everyone’s faith. One of the beautiful things about faith is that it doesn’t take up any physical room. So why take up room exercising it or restricting others? Let’s take a moment this holiday season to see the beauty in everyone’ faith and appreciate the fact that time has been taken to wish us well. After all, the holidays should be about family, celebration and freedom. Merry Christmas! ☯

December is almost always recognized for the celebration of Christmas. This is due in part to the fact that the Western world was populated and is heavily composed of people who follow a Christian faith, although those numbers are steadily being matched by varying faiths, even here in Canada. What many people don’t realize is exactly how many important holidays are celebrated in December.

For example, even Buddhism has a day in early December in which we observe Bodhi Day, which is historically believed to be the day that the Buddha achieved enlightenment.

One of the most popularly known holidays is Hanukkah, which is a holiday of the Jewish faith. This holiday is also called the Festival of Lights and incorporates 8 days of gift-giving. However, this holiday doesn’t always fall in December and can be observed sometime in late November and as late as January.

There are a number of holidays in December that are also not necessarily attributed to any religious faith, such as Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, Human Rights Day and the Winter Solstice.

One of the most interesting non-religious holidays is Kwanzaa. This is a week-long celebration held by people of African descent, to honour the African heritage and is usually celebrated by way of a feast and gift giving.

December is a busy month, on top of last-minute shopping and travelling to see family! Take the time to enjoy all celebrations. Even someone who isn’t of a particular religious background will be invited to celebrate in most circles. And the opportunity to learn and better know your fellow man and woman is best taken when the opportunity knocks! ☯

I received some sad news this morning. My Grandmother passed away at 6 am local New Brunswick time. If you recall reading a blog I posted less than a month ago, this would be the grandmother who fed her whole family by putting potatoes, carrots and beef cubes into a huge pot and boiling it all until it became mush. Such is the Acadian way…

Dorina Poirier (Robichaud) was born as a U.S. citizen in the state of Maine. She moved to Canada with her family and settled in Northern New Brunswick sometime in the early decades of the 1900’s. She eventually met my Grandfather, who ironically was intended to marry my Grandmother’s sister, Doris.

My Grandparents got married shortly before my Grandfather shipped out to serve with the military in Europe during World War II. Upon his return, like most military families, they grew a rather significantly large family. They had seven children, the second oldest was my mother.

As a child, I had a very turbulent love/hate relationship with my Grandmother. As was the way of the times, she had been a harsh taskmistress on her children during their youth, some of which carried over onto her grandchildren years later.

I was also left in my Grandmother’s care a great deal as a child while my Mother looked after my brother’s medical care in Montreal. Although I’m certain this was greatly appreciated and was very cost-saving to my parents at the time, as a child I couldn’t help but feel some resentment at being left with this woman who was not my mother. Ah, kids…

My Grandmother’s family has spread like wildfire, considering that she happens to be a Great-Great-Grandmother with four generations of children below her, and counting.

My Grandfather also sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of 98. My Grandmother has missed him ever since and has been waiting to take that final journey to join him. She was my last remaining grandparent.

The irony is that besides the rigours of age, my Grandmother had nothing medically wrong with her. She lived a full life, built a huge family and left her mark on the world. She was 95. She goes now to join those who loved her, to await those she loves. She will be missed. ☯

I received this statue of Buddha as a gift, more than twenty years ago. It’s a solid piece of brass, and as such, tends to tarnish and turn black over the course of a long period of time.

The last time I polished this statue was over ten years ago. It had started to turn black and I bought a small bottle of a product called Brasso. I followed the instructions to the letter, pouring a small amount of the product on a clean cloth and buffing the statue until the tarnish got cleaned off. Unfortunately, the statue has enough detail that a cloth couldn’t get into all the nooks and crannies. It left enough tarnish to bother me.

Ten years later, the statue tarnished enough that it was almost black. I wish I had taken a before photo… I contemplated how I would clean it, this time around. I went to a local store and found some Brasso, but it was almost ten dollars for a tiny bottle. I don’t use the stuff often enough to make it worth that price.

I found a homemade solution online that simply involved one part vinegar and one part water. Scrub the statue with a toothbrush or clean cloth then rinse under warm water and buff.

I filled a glass measuring cup with the mixture of vinegar and water and submerged the statue for about an hour. As I was doing other chores around the kitchen, I would occasionally check on the statue and noticed the tarnish progressively disappearing. A quick wipe down and a buff, and the statue is almost cleaner than the day I got it two decades ago. ☯

This afternoon, I went to an eatery of the fast-food variety with my family. For liability reasons, I’ll be a good boy and not name the establishment but suffice it to say that I spent almost a decade working at one, during my late teens and twenties. During our visit, I noted a number of changes to this establishment from when I used to work there. And in the face of those changes, I can only say this: I’m disappointed.

Back in the day, everyone had to order their food from a front counter till, handled by a live, flesh-and-blood human being. At my location, we had a general rule that no person was to stand at the counter for longer than thirty seconds before being approached and helped. This meant that even if you were in the middle of doing something else, you HAD to approach the customer, even if it was to tell them that you would be right with them. There was a face-to-face requirement when you ordered and received your food, and as such, there was a level of service that was only bested by the old days when girls would roller skate up to your window. The customer was the top priority! After all, without the customer there would be no need for me. Oh, how times have changed…

These days, one is usually expected to walk up to a touch screen terminal to place one’s order. Once done, you have the option of paying at the terminal or if you’re told school and have cash you can pay at a till, although there will likely only be one available. Then you either have the food delivered to your table (which I’ll admit is kind of nice) or you wait for your number to be called, something akin to being at a butcher’s counter.

I can’t say that any of this is really of any benefit, as I’ve noted that there always seems to be at least four of five people who return to the counter to complain about something amiss with their order. I can’t help but feel that this lack of human contact at point-of-purchase plays a significant role in this lapse. In fact, on the few occasions where I’ve been missing an item or required something extra, such as a fork or spoon, I’ve often been left standing at the counter while several employees ran back and forth. Even when calling out, I’ve rarely been acknowledged and usually make do without the item I was looking for.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not trying to bash fast-food establishments. They aren’t unique in this phenomenon and this kind of automation seems to be evolving into the expected norm for most establishments. And if it weren’t for the availability of play structures at some of these locations, I’d probably lose my mind trying to get Nathan to burn off excess energy.

The point I’m trying to make is that face-to-face communication is fast becoming a dying custom in modern society. The advancement of our technology is eliminating our need to directly interact with people and if you pay attention, you can feel its noticeable effect.

The human condition is still as such that we need that interaction with one another. Our humanity depends on it. Although technology can have some fantastic benefits to how we live, we shouldn’t let that technology be our only contact with the world. ☯