Crisis creates opportunity. We should never waste a crisis.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Opportunity is everywhere. The key is to develop the vision to see it. Jeremiah Say

Crisis creates opportunity, and even if we don’t take advantage of the opportunities they are still there and someone else will take advantage of them. How often do we look back over our lives and think I was there but didn’t see it? Many of us have been waiting for opportunities but only looking back do we see the opportunities that came our way.

I look at other lives and think why didn’t I see what they saw, what was I thinking when X was happening, why didn’t I jump on board?

How big of a life can we live if we are opportunity seekers and opportunity takers?

It’s time to start thinking about planting seeds, in our gardens and lives. The seeds we plant, like the thoughts we think will bear fruit. Are we planting for one season or for years to come? Are we planting something that will bring a blessing to generations?

My son tells me we are the worst generation; he thinks we haven’t been very interested in the legacy we leave behind. We haven’t been the builders but instead the users, not the conservers of what we inherited.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston Churchill

How do we look at what is happening in the world without fear? If it is possible, we have to have faith we can deal with what is coming, that embedded in chaos and crisis is opportunity. We need faith in our traditions that have helped build lives based on courage, fortitude, and trust.

We know if life is to be better for us, it has to be better for others. What does better look like, is it one more big purchase, one more memorable holiday, or is it building for the next generation? What choices need to be made as individuals and society to build better? Do we trust life can continue to improve for coming generations?

What would our grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents think of what we’ve built? Some of the good is very, very good, but some of the bad is very, very bad. How can we build a society with less of the very, very bad?

Why when we have an array of choices do some of us choose the very worst of what is on offer and others choose the very best, while still others muddle somewhere in the middle?

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon

Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat. Napoleon Hill

Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you. John C. Maxwell

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Competition and national interests.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

In almost every case, whenever a tariff or quota is imposed on imports, that tax is strongly supported by the domestic industry getting the protective shield from lower-priced foreign competition. The sugar industry supports sugar tariffs, textile mills lobby for tariffs on foreign clothing. Stephen Moore

Who gets to weigh in on this conflict between America and the rest of the world? As a common person, I’m throwing out my two cents. What if what we are most afraid of will make us stronger and more resilient? What if we grow from adversity and become complacent with ease? What if all the angst can be harnessed for good and we will all come out better on both sides of the border?

What if self-reliance is needed because reliance on others means we can’t always get what we need? What if the price of a bargain is too expensive? What if fair trade and not free trade is what we need? What does fair trade look like, and is fair according to whom?

What if this trade war with America costs my household, but Canadians start doing things we should have been doing, we might all prosper in the end. We finish the pipelines to export our oil and natural gas to the world. We secure our borders.  We build houses, build up our country, and make things work. What if the kick in the pants we need comes from South of the border?

I listened to an interview with Jean Chretien, who served as Canada’s Prime Minister from 1993 – 2003 and turned 91 on February 1st. He tells us this is nothing new, we’ve always had trade wars with America, and he started dealing with America in 1968. What we sell to America they need.

There’s no such thing as a genius in politics, or at least I have never met one. There are only human beings, some better than others, who rise or fall on the challenges they meet. Jean Chretien

This might be a glass half empty, half full moment, and we choose to look at it either way. We have good people to negotiate for Canada, we have to trust they will do their best, and we also have to trust that America does not want to throw a wrecking ball into the parts of our joint economies that work tightly together. We must stay calm, Canada is not going to be the 51st state. Will we end up better because we get our house in order?

Let me tell you, my fellow countrymen, that all the signs point this way, that the 20th century shall be the century of Canada and Canadian development… For the next 100 years, Canada shall be the star towards which all men who love progress and freedom shall come. Sir Wilfrid Laurier October 14, 1904

A weaker currency is a national tariff. After we get a weaker currency, we have to take advantage of that. Or else, we will waste it once more in inflation and in the inability to raise competitiveness. Uday Kotak

Everybody talks about tariffs as the first thing. Tariffs are the last thing. Tariffs are part of the negotiation. The real trick is going to be increasing American exports. Get rid of the tariff and no-tariff barriers to American exports. Wilbur Ross

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Is it the best of times, the worst of times, or does our attitude make it so?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare

Today a new President of the United States is sworn in and the world trembles, or will these next four years pass with some good and some not so good happening, with unexpected consequences benefiting some and harming others?

Do we have faith we can deal with the challenges ahead? No one knows what is ahead, but we all know it will be different. We see change is coming, but what if changes weren’t coming? Would life be better? Better for whom?

In the game of life, there are winners and losers and no one minds being on the winning side, but when we think we might not be on the winning side we’d like to stop the changes.

My parents lived through a lot of change, some good, some not so good, but they rode the roller coaster of life to the end. My parents lived through one world war, and my grandparents lived through two. We will live through the changes coming, some we may fear but never face, and some we aren’t worrying about will hit us with a force that brings us to our knees.

Is faith what will get us through, faith in ourselves, our countries, our fellow citizens, and our governments? Do we have faith in a higher power? We often don’t know what the ignition point of a powder keg will be, and we feel a powder keg building up with inflation, immigration, the rich getting richer, wars, and rumors of wars.

Is it possible to live in a precarious world with faith to deal with what comes? Hasn’t it always been a precarious world? What can we do in our own lives to make life less precarious? Being part of a strong family is a safe harbor in times of trouble. If we are resilient and able to see what is still possible and make the best of what is, life will be better than if we feel we are victims of circumstances.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. Johann Wolfgang

Victimhood does not build a good life, what is the difference between facing hard challenges and feeling like a victim? When we face hard challenges do we have to find the courage to deal with what is, and when we feel like victims do we not take advantage of what we can do to make our lives better?

We are told we always have a choice, sometimes the only choice is our attitude, sometimes our choice is between two goods, and sometimes we have to choose the best of the bad. Our choices might be for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Is what we stand up for, rail against, and support, for the greatest good? Do we even know what the greatest good would be? We always come up against the unexpected consequences of our decisions. Sometimes we get good consequences from bad policies and bad outcomes from what we thought would be good.

What are we reaping today because of policies that seemed good? Are we too short-sighted to know what the best policies are? What does a fair and just society look like and are we closer or further away from one than we were years ago?

Policies are in place and many were made with the best of intentions. When we see policies not working do our governments have the strength to turn things around? Will there be unexpected consequences for every change we try to make?

We might think we know the obvious direction we need to go. But we don’t know, we can’t know what the unintended consequences of our best intentions will be.

Even if we fear what the future holds can we be grateful for what we have? Building our country and making life better for our citizens is the government’s job. We need to trust the leadership we’ve chosen, and as we choose new leadership make the best choice, and have faith that they will do their best.

Is it best to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst?

Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Choose to stay positive and be the strong person that God created you to be! Unknown

No one else can choose your attitude for you. Your perspective and choice of attitude gives you the power to be in control. Irene Dunlap

Choose the positive. You have choices, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. Bruce lee

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Canada an American State or America a Canadian Province?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Canada-American relations for many years did not develop spontaneously. The example of accord provided by our two countries did not come about merely through the happy circumstances of geography. It is compounded of one part proximity and nine parts goodwill and common sense. Harry Truman

Donald Trump is having a moment at Canada’s expense. He might not be able to unite Americans, but he’s bringing forth a rallying cry in Canada. In four years we might thank him for the greater unity we experience because we often don’t appreciate what we have until we think it is threatened.

America has always wanted more territory and felt its manifest destiny was divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America. Of course, North America was all one at one time, and America left and became the prodigal son. They got rid of a King and yet have always seemed to want one.

They even have the hubris to be insulted we don’t want to be a state, yet we are not insulted they don’t want to be a province?

America is not our enemy but they have not bought our goods because they are being nice to us. We have relied on them, they were an easy market, and now it is being thrown in our face. America is not our problem, we are our problem, America spurred us on before and perhaps they will spur us on again to become what we can be. Not poor little Canada beside the great America which is how some of us, and some of them, see us.

We’ve prided ourselves on good government and must return to that. We need to trade with the world, and we need to protect our borders. Our Prime Minister said we don’t have a core identity, is it any wonder the Americans want to give us one?

If I had influence over the minds of the people of Canada, any power over their intellect, I would leave them this legacy. Whatever you do, adhere to the union. We are a great country, and shall become one of the greatest in the universe, if we preserve it. We shall sink into insignificance and adversity if we suffer it to be broken.  John A. Macdonald

We may not like Trump for his views on Canada, but we are stuck with him for the next four years. We can live with him and like it, or live with him and hate it, but we can’t change him or America. He got elected to do what is best for America, not what is best for Canada. We need to elect someone who will do the best for Canada, a leader who sees a great destiny for Canada. We are a lot more than just not an American State. We have to build the Canada we want, and have the potential to be.

There is another way to look at this; Trump has upset many with his tempest in a teapot with Panama, Greenland, and Canada. He isn’t even the President yet, why is this being mentioned now, and how is this going to serve him? We don’t know what his reasons are, and some might think I’m giving him the credit he doesn’t deserve, but are we supposed to be upset about this, so we aren’t upset about something else? When he is President, and none of this happens, will what he does want to do seem reasonable?

Is he playing chess while some of us don’t know what we are playing? It’s good advice to not underestimate your opponent, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Interesting times are ahead, each country has to do what is best for them, and with adept leadership, Canada will remain the true North, strong and free.

When I’m in Canada, I feel this is what the world should be like. Jane Fonda

Our country has everything required to be a global leader in physical, food and energy security. We have an incredibly rich resource inheritance. We have a diverse, educated and peaceful population. We’re located far from most conflicts and we’re next door to the world’s richest nation. Perrin Beatty

We are the second-largest country on Earth, which means that we have the second largest, or perhaps even the largest, stock of natural resources on the planet – an enormous source of strength and responsibility if we would only recognize it, capitalize on it, and make its future development and stewardship a national priority. Preston Manning

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 Happy New Year! What a year 2025 will be!

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. Joshua J. Marine

Today is the day we take final stock of 2024 and set our goals for 2025 if we haven’t already made them. Some of us have had many dinners and gatherings with friends and family and need a bigger notch on our belts! Normalcy will soon be here and fun, frivolity, and overeating will be over.

We catch up over food and drinks about how life is unfolding. Yesterday we saw two great nephews who have grown into men, each with a girlfriend. How time has flown and the years are kind to some and cruel to others. Keeping a positive attitude and a merry heart in times of adversity is a huge challenge and it seems as we get older, harder. Perhaps that is because we don’t have time to improve things, opportunities lost are truly lost, and we are beset by what could have been if only…

I wonder as I see people I’ve known a long time or known about, how some relationships go through the ups and downs of life and some disintegrate. We can’t spend our lives trying to make someone happy, nor expect them to spend their life making us happy. Happiness is our challenge and we find it amidst the humdrum of daily life, or we don’t find it at all.

Some new mothers find the demands of new motherhood demanding without fulfillment, and some find it the most fulfilling time of their lives. Being grandparents is one of the happiest times for my husband and me, we can’t imagine the void in our lives, but we wouldn’t know what we were missing.

Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict. William Ellery Channing

There is sad and happy news all around us. Some families have fallen apart over what seems like small things, and some have stayed together when we don’t see how they could get through it.

Even a big challenge like cancer, some people will talk about, and some people won’t. Does what we are willing to talk about define us? Should we keep everything close, but when we do, are we alone in our struggles? Does sharing our burdens lighten our loads?

Isn’t one of the problems in our society, the embellishment of so many lives on social media, and thinking so many people are better off than us? We are comparing the worst or at least the reality of our lives, to the embellished version they put out into the world. This isn’t new; people have decorated one room in their house to look opulent when they had almost nothing in the rest of the house. They roasted fat to make the neighbors think they were eating better when they all had hardly anything to eat.

Is there a point where putting our best foot forward, is aspirational until it becomes a lie? When we can accept ourselves the way we are, the good, the bad, the richer, the poorer, happy, and the sad, are we better off? Isn’t adopting a positive attitude a bit of a lie, or is it finding the silver lining in adversity, and we get more of what we focus on?

As we go into a New Year are we at peace with who we are, the life we’ve lived, the mistakes we’ve made, and the choices we still have? Pretending we are more than we are, is not the same as becoming more, can we be happy and grateful for where we are, even as we aspire for more? Can we embrace who we are, where we’ve come from, the choices we made that worked out, and ones that didn’t, accepting everything about ourselves while still harboring hopes and dreams for tomorrow, believing we can deal with what comes?

Our attitude, diligence, habits, and decisions shape our lives. Successful lives deal with hard things, and unsuccessful lives deal with hard things, there will always be hard things to deal with, and how we deal with them might be the deciding factor. It might mean success if we can get through the hard things, and keep going when we want to quit.

Whatever this New Year holds, I hope we have the strength to get through it keeping the good things in our lives intact.

Happy New Year!                                                                                             

It is not good for all our wishes to be filled; through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food; through exertion, the value of rest. Greek Proverb

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:24

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them. Phyllis Bottome

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Choices change the trajectory of our lives.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes you do to accomplish it. This will always be far greater value that what you get. Jim Rohn

If we told someone our highest priority is our family, would they think it by looking at us? It makes sense everyone’s priority is their family, what is there to prioritize above family? A lot of us know a better diet and exercise would make us healthier, but we can’t quite integrate it into our lives. We might know we could do something to create a stronger family, but we have to do more than think about changes we need to make, we have to take the chances and opportunities when they present themselves and build on what we already have.

What if we are trying to think too big when a small decision in the right direction is what we need? In Hal Elrod’s book, “The Miracle Equation” he talks about asking his son what do you want to do, we can do anything at all. His son said, “I want you to play with me in my room.”

Someone said if we want happy kids, “Spend half the money, and twice the time on them.” Our little grandson at two-and-a-half wants to go wherever we go. “We go lunch,” he’ll say. We won’t always be able to spend this time with him. My parents didn’t live close so they couldn’t do little things with my kids, and by moving far away from home I robbed them of the chance to know their grandparents well.

Grandparents are a luxury some of us never get, we live far from them, or they’ve already passed. If we are lucky enough to live close to our grandchildren we can play a part in each other’s lives.

I’m thinking these thoughts as this week would have been Mom’s one-hundredth birthday, I lost her but gained a granddaughter this year.

If we are part of a family we will experience the pain of loss, but if we don’t build a family we face empty years. If we are the architects of our lives, we don’t have complete control, and many would have liked to build a family that never could.

Wherever we are in our lives, we have choices to make, and those choices will change the trajectory of our lives. A small change can make a big difference. If we don’t have enough people in our life we can join groups of like-minded people, or people who aren’t like us we want to learn from.

The world we live in – the life we perceive – is a perfect reflection, a mirror image, of our internal reality. Patrick Connor

We can take a class or even a one-night workshop, learn something new, or get back into something we did years ago. Our lives contract and expand, we need to figure out what cycle we are in and make the best of it.

Is it time to bring some form of creativity into our lives, or time for a new companion to walk with, perhaps a four-legged friend, or connecting with a neighbor who also would like a walking partner? Maybe we have too many activities and need to cut back. Life is about choices at every age and every stage. We need to be willing to widen our horizons if we want change in our lives, to get out of our comfort zone even if it is just an overture of friendship to someone we meet.

Is there a change we know we should make, and could make without upending everything in our lives to make it better?

Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream. Peter McWilliams

In all human affairs there are efforts, and there are results, and the strength of the effort is the measure of the result. James Allen

It’s a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself. Muhammad Ali

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Being creative is its own reward.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Sylvia Plath

What an interesting weekend! On Saturday I attended Breakthrough To Writer’s Success put on by the Mississauga Arts Council and hosted the last event of the day, the Self-Publishing Panel.

When we are part of things where we feel out of our league but others think we belong is intimidating, but wonderful. The keynote address was by Eric Walters, who has written 120 books, won over 100 awards, and presented to more than 1.5 million students worldwide. He is a writer who does a lot of research for his books. When he talked about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, desert sand storms, and co-founding a children’s program in Kenya we were inspired to reach higher.

A woman asked if she could have the seat next to me. She has had the most incredible life as a singer, and event planner, and now wants to write a book. I was amazed sitting beside someone so accomplished I had a little advice to offer as a self-published author.

If we call ourselves writers but haven’t written anything in four years, can we still call ourselves writers? It’s a good question and the woman who was asked this returned to the questioner and told him she started writing again. We have to watch we don’t talk about our writing more than we write.

We can spend our time going to events, book clubs, and writer’s groups without getting any writing done. I’ve done this with art and writing, often I would find myself going to bookstores, buying books on art or writing instead of doing art or writing. It is great to have a library of art and writing books but unless we practice the craft, we don’t progress, and that idea was pushed throughout the day. Writers write and thinking about writing is not writing, it is a faster or slower process for some of us, but persistence is important.

To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it. Kurt Vonnegut

Life is a journey, and where it will take us we cannot know. Inspiring his students by writing about them and where they lived started Eric Walter’s writing journey, and what a journey it has been. The singer I sat beside started as a cast member of, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” It isn’t so much where we start, but where we end up that inspires others. What people overcome, what they learn, and what keeps them going is inspiring.

We are where we are, we’ve done what we’ve done, but the future spreads before each of us, and what we do with it is up to us. Serendipity, luck, and faith play a role, but if it is to be, it is up to me, is also important. Twenty or thirty years will go by whether we do anything or not. We are told, “We can do anything,” but do we believe it? Are we willing to get out of our comfort zone?

If there is something we want to do we haven’t done yet, what is holding us back? If we don’t have what we want and someone tells us no; how is that worse? What if it takes ten no’s to get to yes? What if it takes twenty? What is the worst thing that can happen if we work hard to make our dreams come true? If all our dreams are on the other side of our comfort zone, don’t we have to get out of our comfort zone if we want them to come true and lead a more interesting life?

I’m not advocating giving up day jobs or security, family is still the most important thing, but we still need to grow and develop. Creativity feeds our soul, and finding ways to bring it into our lives is worth it.

Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen. Oprah Winfrey

A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Elizabeth Gilbert

There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. Edward De Bono

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Inspiration, perspiration, and determination shape our society.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

What you do today can improve all of your tomorrows. Ralph Marston

The world wasn’t simple during my childhood, we had the Cold War going on but it seemed like a wonderful safe place. Living in this world is safe where I am, but listening to the horror other people are going through I wonder what is it for? What is the end game, I understand some of it, but some of it I don’t understand. But, perhaps war to some is an economic driver and not the horror others see it as. Do we have competing interests, some wanting peace, and others wanting war, and we can’t always understand who is who?

We say our people are our strength, and people from other countries are giving us strength, but what are the people leaving their countries doing to their home country? Who will build and rebuild Haiti with so many people leaving?

Even in my household, we don’t agree on what is going on in the world, who is best to lead America, and what policies will heal our society. But, even if we don’t know how to heal the world, (and who does) we get along building our life.

What a job it would be to run a country. Knowing what policies to bring in and what the consequences down the road will be. There are always unintended consequences it seems. Things we mean for good don’t always work out that way because the hardest thing to figure out is what help that heals looks like.

Yesterday I was listening to a YouTube talk and someone had money they were giving to help a community and someone representing a church group spoke up asking if the money had been allocated. People erupted in anger because they didn’t like how religious charities operated in their communities.

You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it requires people to make the dream a reality. Walt Disney

We need to talk about what is happening in our societies and what we want to happen in them. But, we have such diverse views, that we think help should look different. We think some help is enabling, some is too harsh, and some gets gobbled up by those who don’t need help.

I’ve wondered for a long time what real help looks like, and how to build a good society. How were cities, towns, and communities built? How did we manage to have towns that worked? What principles are behind building them, and were the people different? Could we build the National Railroad now, and why not? If we built a good society, we should be able to sustain a good society, and if we can’t, why can’t we?

One of the problems we have is looking at everything we’ve done, and everything we’ve built through a negative lens. I don’t think the Canada we’ve built is perfect, but it’s pretty good, maybe we can make it better, but we know we can make it worse.

Personal responsibility was one of the things that built Canada, America, and probably everywhere that is good. Are people responsible for the lives and societies they build? If not, why not?

It is necessary for us to learn from other’s mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself. Admiral H.G. Rickover

The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation – a force for construction and destruction. Jonathan Haidt

Brick by brick, stone by stone, every great thing was built by those who believed they could. Tom Mitchell

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Thank you for your service, what if thanking people for what they’ve done instead of reviling them for what they haven’t done, works better?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert Schweitzer

What if we made thank you a bigger part of our lives? Do we thank people enough who make a difference? My sister-in-law hosted a birthday party for her granddaughter and she invited extended family my husband and I haven’t seen in a while. If no one hosts these events we lose touch and years can go by without seeing people we love and care about.

How thankful are we for our politicians who we love to revile, criticize, and condemn? Of course, they have clay feet, we all do. We don’t always make the best decision, we don’t always put other’s interests ahead of our own, and they don’t know what the unintended consequences will be for their hard choices.

It surprises me people are willing to run for public office, it seems a thankless job, and all the skeletons in their closet get trotted out for public ridicule. None of us have led a perfect life, and as we armchair quarterback elections and argue with loved ones over the shortcomings of our preferred candidate and policies, are we missing the big picture? Democracy is messy, capitalism has inherent faults and the rich do seem to get richer, we hope the poor get richer also but the pace is so slow and the rich are so rich it feels like three steps back to every forward one. Throw in the fallout from covid, rising prices, environmental concerns, and people across the globe migrating to countries they feel are more successful, safe, and secure than their own, without asking if they can come, and you have what we have in countries across the globe.

Gratitude is, however, more than just an emotion. It is also a disposition that can be chosen and cultivated, an outlook toward life that manifests itself in actions – it is an ethic. Diana Butler Bass

We are the lucky ones if people want to migrate to our shores, it means we are one of the prosperous, safe, and secure countries. We are victims of our success, and hard decisions must be made. If we had to choose between being the people looking for somewhere to go, or living in a country with opportunity, safety, and security I think we’d all choose opportunity, safety, and security.

Being a good steward of what we have, and choosing our leadership is one of the big responsibilities. No leader is perfect; each leader will be better in one area, and worse in another. We will be impressed by some things they’ve done in their lives and maybe even horrified by other parts.

Life is not about perfection, there are unintended consequences to our best intentions, and nowhere is this more apparent than in politics. Mistakes will be made by those we least expect to make them, and trying to help others, and make things better is our biggest challenge, but also where we find the most unintended consequences.

Experts are often only experts when their expertise is an idea, when the idea is put into operation we see the weaknesses, and the unintended consequences. Some of the greatest governments we never had loom large in our imagination, because reality didn’t tarnish their vision. Some ideas are looming large that have been tried and failed, but the vision still lives on. The thinking is that they didn’t do it right, but if we do it, we’ll do it right, and we’ll end up with a fairer and more just society.

Can we be thankful for the visionaries, those who talk and write books about what should be done, and those who have to try to run our countries the best way they know how?

Anyone who is a parent knows there are theories, but once we have children the theories go out the window. If we’ve run a business we can scheme and plan and be millionaires on paper but real life often doesn’t work out that way. My parents always said, “Anyone can be a millionaire on paper.” I’m pretty sure it works the same in politics.

Are we thankful for those willing to dedicate their lives to public service, those who build a life to be envied, and willingly set it aside for public service? If we get the politicians we deserve, then we all have to work together to create the society we want, and we can’t blame the society we end up with only on the leaders at the top. We are the ones who choose them, and if we don’t choose, we live with the choices others make. We need to decide whose vision most aligns with our own, what vision will create the best outcome, and who can deal with the biggest issues of our time.

What if, thank you for your service, should be how we think of everyone that makes our society work, from the great to the small?

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. Ralph Waldo Emerson

If lack is the root of injustice, then gratitude is at the root of justice. John Pattison

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. Melody Beattie

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Asking questions should never be illegal; we must ask hard questions.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Building community is to the collective as spiritual practice is to the individual. Grace Lee Boggs

What if asking questions on social media becomes against the law? What if wanting to know what is happening and why it is happening is said to be none of the citizen’s business? This might be happening in Great Britain with the riots happening over the stabbing of three British girls.

The more the truth is repressed, the more people believe they are not being told the truth, the more distrust reigns supreme, and how do we rebuild trust in our institutions once it is lost? What is being hidden, what isn’t being told, what is the hidden agenda they don’t want us to know? There is probably no hidden agenda or big conspiracy, but there is a tinder box of animosity and fear. There is nothing to see here; let the authorities deal with it, and when the authorities have dropped the ball on other issues, this won’t work.

Whether injustice is true or only perceived it has the same effect, and we don’t all see things the same. Justice has to be done, and be seen to be done, and even then everyone is not happy with the outcomes.

We are living in a time when we are told things we don’t believe, men can become women, and women can become men. Societies should get along; there isn’t a problem with mass immigration, migration, asylum seekers, and refugees. If anyone complains they are hit over the head with an “Ism”.

Society needs a good image of itself. That is the job of the architect. Walter Gropius

We don’t live in utopia, and we won’t ever live in utopia, but we do live in a great country that has fewer problems than a lot of other countries, does it make me a bad person to want to continue to live in a country with fewer problems than most countries? Is it selfish of me to want a high standard of living? Is it wrong of me to believe if countries can’t solve their problems then the people who leave those countries are bringing their problems with them?

Is it wrong to believe that in the “West” we have some things right that make our countries desirable, and we want our countries desirable for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren? Is it wrong to believe that all ideas are not equal, all change is not good, and perfection is the enemy of the good? Is it wrong to believe, we will never all get along, we will have differing ideologies, religions, and ideas about what will make society better? Is it wrong to disagree with where our leaders want to take us? Is it wrong to believe that the elites don’t face the same challenges as the common people and that common people are bearing the brunt of changes they do not want? More people for fewer jobs is not a recipe for harmony and hope. Are we creating people who have nothing to lose, and how can we guard against this?

We are creating the future our children and grandchildren will inherit, a good society doesn’t just happen, we create it, and we will be judged by the society we create.

The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose. James Baldwin

I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Margaret J. Wheatley

Whatever good things we build end up building us. Jim Rohn

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.