Paddling a kayak across a pristine lake provides not only solace for the soul, but often as not, unexpected lessons. Early one morning this week, I came upon a cluster of male merganser ducks frolicking, fishing and preening. It occurred to me that the lake I love is populated with migrants.… Read the rest
The “new normal” of protecting everyone from anything and everything has reached the level of social media inanities like the ‘TikTok’ challenge. The National Football League is imposing penalties for “baiting or taunting acts or words that may engender ill-will between teams”. Experience makes me doubt 350-pound linemen are in imminent danger from gestures or name-calling.… Read the rest
While on an early morning paddle this week I watched a pair of young white-tailed deer lock antlers and shove each other, practising for the upcoming struggle to find a mate. It made me glad I’m not a deer. In the random way that thoughts progress, it also brought to mind the question of whether “boomers” (like me) have had it better than subsequent generations.… Read the rest
It never ceases to bemuse me that would-be leaders of countries where peace and personal security are pretty much the expected norm, reflexively vow to fight on behalf of voters, as opposed to work, which is what we actually pay them to do. The upcoming Canadian election is a case in point.… Read the rest
Thus far, I’ve used my “perch” to ponder and comment (OK, pontificate) on strife, conflict, suffering and human folly. Now it’s time for a break, to follow the dictum of “Desiderata”, the idealistic poem we ‘boomers’ taped on our bedroom wall: “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste…”.… Read the rest
In conventional warfare, cultural awareness ranks considerably lower than superior firepower. In unconventional conflicts, it’s the opposite side of the same coin. The U.S. military has ignored it three times in the last thirty years, with a variation of the same negative result each time.… Read the rest
Among the many remarkable inhabitants of the lake where the photo for this blog site was taken are weasels.
Resourceful, fast nocturnal hunters, weasels avoid humans. They also have the misfortune to be a synonym for cunning or deceit, which unjustly associates them with the kind of people trying to “weasel” their way out of their share of responsibility for what is happening in Afghanistan.… Read the rest
“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”
Had Sir Winston Churchill coined his famous phrase with the Afghan debacle as a benchmark, he could have added that the learning process invariably includes tuition fees paid by those with no say in the curriculum.… Read the rest
The 19th century struggle for dominance in Afghanistan was dubbed “The Great Game’.
The 21st century version is looking increasingly like ‘The Grotesque Game’; summed up neatly by an Afghan proverb: “While the butchers were arguing, the cow dropped dead.”… Read the rest
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.”
Nelson Mandela’s words on the day he was released from being the 20th century’s most famous political prisoner have been shredded by his successors.… Read the rest