Something green… Right in the Centre Ken Waddell

“just follow the money.” Universities get paid by way of grants to do research. Many grants come with strong strings attached and, unless the university agrees to toe the line, the money dries up.

We, along with our children and grandchildren, are being fed a lot of information. Some of it is good, some is sketchy and some is downright wrong. There is a backlash and it takes many forms. Because agenda pushers realize some of their agenda is hard to push, they are prepared to back it up with fear, control and intimidation. Dissent used to be encouraged. Logical thinking once was a good thing. Questioning and reasoning were encouraged. Nowadays, if you don’t agree with someone or some group, you may be subjected to anger and hatred. In contrast, Jesus said to love your neighbour as yourself. Pretty good advice I’d say.

Faced with serious changes in norms and beliefs, many people are coping by being part of the silent majority. Just swallow your objections and get through the day, the semester, the year, whatever! Just keep your head down and everything will be OK. Trouble is, everything won’t be OK. Some agendas being pushed our way lead to destruction and even death.

Many people just withdraw and get out from under circumstances.

The steady rise in home schooling and private schools is largely led by ideological differences with governments and their education department agendas.

But the day has to come when people stand up and openly state that some things are just wrong. White supremacy is wrong, so is hating Jews, Blacks and people of colour. Sexual deviation is wrong, but quite frankly is being promoted strongly everywhere from the education system to the news media, to the entertainment industry. In fact, it’s hard to tell the difference between news media and the entertainment industry.

Moral code as outlined in the Christian, Jewish and Moslem faiths is generally a good thing, but it’s hard to tell these days. It is often ridiculed rather than uplifted. But don’t get me wrong here, the methods used by the Christian, Jewish and Moslem to enforce the moral code that the holy books promote have not been right. Moral enforcement by coercion and violence is not right. Whippings, stoning and executions are not right. Open discussion is important and when that is stifled, nothing good can happen.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.

It is several years ago since I first identified my need to see green. Marie and I had just landed in Amsterdam, about to embark on another adventure. It was seven years ago, and to celebrate turning seventy we were about to undertake a bike and barge tour in Holland. We departed Canada Apr. 7, and that year it was still snow covered and bleak, returning Apr. 25 when the landscape had much improved! Truthfully, stepping off the plane it wasn’t simply the green, there was a welcome onslaught of colour, the tulip fields are unforgettable. I had just completed a fairly intense study course, and it was one year after Ed’s death. I recognise that I needed an infusion of life and for this farmer’s daughter, green is indicative of life.

I’ve recognised at other times my need for fresh growth, for signs of spring physically and spiritually. We are gaining a deeper understanding of the power of nature to bring calm and healing. Doctors in some countries are prescribing time outdoors, simply sitting outdoors if one is unable to be active. There is something in the warmth of the sunshine, the waft of a breeze or a gust of wind, that reminds us to breathe, simply breathe. There is hope, a promise of a future when we can simply stop and listen to creation.

This need for green is, in part, a metaphor. I recall a bleak time in living, driving through the Rocky Mountains, I saw a tree, twisted and stunted, growing bravely in a crevice in a bank of rocks. The evergreen was struggling to grow upright, struggling against gravity and wind forces. But growing it was. My first reaction was how dare it try to live in such an adverse condition. With reflection, my reaction changed to applauding that courageous, independent, defiant tree! That image of that tree, that spot of green against a bleak and foreboding background, helped me see green, to see life and promise.

Being human, I have a human nature. By spring the green of the evergreen, a welcome sight all winter long, has been too familiar and faded. Oh, I know, it is the same green it always has been and always will be, sadly, for me, right now, that’s not enough. Rather like when the fresh green of new leaves settles into to summer shade of green… I can almost hear the child in me whining, “I’m bored.” But it’s deeper than that. It is a call to growth, to living fully, to drink deep of the wonders of life. For me, the need for green speaks to a need for revival.

Like many people that I have spoken to this spring, I/ we find the winter has been long. It was never unrelentingly cold. It was never unending blizzards. It was never extreme isolation. It was simply a long winter. Perhaps a reflection of the past two winters with isolation… By the time you are reading this I will be surrounded by green. I will be tucked in a cabin at a waterfront. I will be surrounded by family and friends. All will be green.

Neil StrohScheiN chooSiNg good leaderS

Iwill be the first to admit that I am not an avid sports fan. I have favourite teams that I follow.

But you won’t find me sitting in my living room or office, eyes focused on a TV screen, analyzing every play made by the Blue Bombers, Jets, Blue Jays or Oilers. If they win, I’m happy. When they lose, I tell myself that they will win their next game.

But as each regular season ends, my interest increases. I focus on those teams that did not make the playoffs and start wondering what changes the owners will make and how quickly they will be made. Which coaches will be fired and who will be hired to replace them? What about General Managers, their assistants and other front office personnel?

Most of those questions will be answered within the first 72 hours after the season ends. Then we focus on the players. Some will choose to retire. Some will become “free agents” and look for a team that will pay them more than they could get if they stayed with their existing team. Some will

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be traded to teams who need players with their skill sets. Whatever happens, one thing is certain. There will be some new faces in every team’s locker room when next season’s training camps begin.

I often wonder how team owners decide who to hire as managers; and how managers decide who to hire as coaches and which players to recruit and sign.

I will never understand why a professional sports team will jump at the chance to hire a coach or manager who was just dismissed by another team. Sometimes coaches and managers who failed in one setting will thrive in another. But those instances are rare. They bring their bad habits with them to their new appointment and, sadly, it isn’t very long before they find themselves being ushered out of the front office door yet again.

I ask these questions for a reason. This fall Manitobans will vote in a provincial general election. Voters in each of the 57 constituencies in this province will elect one person to represent them in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly. By law, provincial elections are held on a specific day every four years. This year’s election date is October 3.

Two irrevocable principles govern Canadian elections. First, anyone who meets the requirements set out in the Elections Act can become a candidate. Candidates may represent a political party, or they may run as independents. This principle ensures that voters are exposed to a wide variety of views on the issues of the day and are able to support (with their vote) the candidate whose views are closest to their own.