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Tag: migrants

ALTERNATIVE THANKS FOR THANKSGIVING THANKS

ALTERNATIVE THANKS FOR THANKSGIVING THANKS

This week­end is Cana­di­an Thanks­giv­ing, six weeks before our Amer­i­can neigh­bours have theirs. We also beat them to the idea by 43 years. The Pil­grims feast dates to 1621. Sir Mar­tin Frobisher’s expe­di­tion to find the north­west pas­sage held one in present day Nunavut in 1578, to give thanks for the safe­ty of its fleet.Read the rest

CARING SHOULDN’T BE JUST AN AID PACKAGE

CARING SHOULDN’T BE JUST AN AID PACKAGE

“Com­pas­sion”, the 19th cen­tu­ry Pol­ish philoso­pher Arthur Schopen­hauer wrote, “ is the basis of morality.”
In a world sore­ly in need of copi­ous amounts of it, com­pas­sion is both high­ly selec­tive and hostage to a short atten­tion span on the part of the pub­lic and the news media, the inevitable con­se­quences of the way news is disseminated. Read the rest

WAR MADE THEM MIGRANTS, EUROPE MADE THEM WEAPONS

WAR MADE THEM MIGRANTS, EUROPE MADE THEM WEAPONS

Homo sapi­ens began migrat­ing from Africa to Europe some­where between sev­en­ty and 100,00 years ago. In rel­a­tive­ly short order they over­whelmed the humanoid species already there. The Euro­pean Union seems to see the migrant cri­sis on the Belarus-Poland bor­der as the mod­ern incar­na­tion, which begs the ques­tion: Why are they han­dling it so badly?Read the rest

WHEN THE ONLY CHOICE IS NO CHOICE

WHEN THE ONLY CHOICE IS NO CHOICE

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