Butterflies

As I walked to the bus this morning, I noticed that the butterflies are out today in great numbers! Splendid monarchs and delicate little white ones. I do not know what has been drawing my attention to the traces of nature in the city of late, but I have been greatly cheered by the sight of butterflies and of squirrels chasing each other across patches of grass, and especially by the chirping of birds both morning and evening. These are little touches that make life so beautiful, almost without our even noticing them. It was strange to pause and consider a world without life teeming everywhere. Even the daffodils are trumpeting the glory of the day from neighbours’ front lawns when I go out now. The delight of spring never grows old.

To my great surprise, there are no butterflies in my stomach as I face my exam in two days’ time! I have never been so good at managing my stress levels. It’s almost eery. There is, I find, no room for anxiety, however. There is too much beauty around me, lifting my gaze from my little worries.

Even the material I am reading seems to point me in the direction of recognizing the beauty of being alive. I confess I haven’t had to look very hard for that direction, since the medievals seem to have a worldview permeated with the perception of beauty and truth. For them, simply the colour white can be a reminder of some sort of joy beyond human comprehension. Everything has meaning; everything has direction. I wonder if the world today has quite had enough of its existential and nihilistic outlook. When I read the medievals, I taste a freedom that contemporary society seems to have forgotten. I’m not sighing over the “good old days,” for I can’t deny there were things wrong with medieval society as well, but I do think we could learn a thing or two from them about fostering a positive and truly humanist philosophy.

~~~

My attention has recently been brought to Stella Marr’s blog. Earlier I had been looking for universal reasons to support my gut feeling that Ontario’s legal revisions regarding prostitution is a very bad move for Canadian citizens. Stella Marr (whose beautiful name reminds me of the Latin stella maris, meaning “star of the sea,” a title given by the medievals to their Queen, the Virgin Mary) is able to give the most acerbic reasons against legally enabling prostitution, for she escaped from the world ten years ago. A beautiful and educated woman, she has made it her mission to speak out against this horrifying abuse of humanity and sexuality. When you read her story, any traces of sympathy the rhetoric of Terri-Jean Bedford & Co. might have evoked are instantly shattered. Their attempts to put a fair face on the world of prostitution is, as we all suspected, an elaborate deception: it’s bad and it’s ugly. I am deeply saddened by Ontario’s decision to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear upon the cries of the weak, the vulnerable, and the inevitably exploited.

Yet there is hope. Stella’s story shows that evil does not conquer and that humanity is capable of good. What it also points out is that we must fight for the good. We must fight for truth. As it has been said before, All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

The World is a Wonderful Place

Apart from a kind bus driver who did not mind at all that I couldn’t find my wallet as I was travelling back to the grocery store to look for a library book I’d left in a shopping basket, I’ve found a number of marvellous things about the world on the news tonight (I could also say a thing or two about twelfth-century Paris after this afternoon’s labours).

Let’s start with the heart-warming stories of unexpected human success:

A nine-yr-old boy’s cardboard creation leads to fame and fortune. My favourite part of the video is when he explains that his security system works by entering the numbers of his special “fun pass” into the calculator and then pressing the “check mark” button. Ah, Caine, what joys await you when you discover the concept of square roots!

A 30-yr-old man is reunited with his mother after he stepped onto the wrong train at age 5 and found himself alone in Calcutta. Of all cities to find oneself alone and helpless in as a child, Calcutta would probably rank at the bottom.

The fascinating:

Ibogaine, a hallucinogen, can help crack addicts get off their addictions, but it is dangerous.

French schooling has changed A LOT since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

The interesting-inasmuch-as-I-like-to-keep-a-finger-on-the-pulse-of-free-speech-issues-in-Canada:

A Canadian university stands up for free speech.

The sort of news that provokes snarky comments from me:

Brangelina are engaged to be married. The most anticlimactic celebrity marriage of the century?

A four-yr-old joins Mensa. You poor, poor child. Calcutta might be preferable to this.

Canadian Justice

I really have no time except for cramming for my exam these days, but occasionally I check in on the news. Recently, two stories have caught my attention, both to do with recent modifications in Canadian law. Both make me wonder if we have as a society an understanding of what justice is and what its purpose is.

The first regards penalties for Canadian aboriginal criminals. Apparently last Friday the Supreme Court ruled in favour of differential sentencing for aboriginals. As I understand it, this means that whereas sexual assault might earn a non-aboriginal Canadian three years in prison, an aboriginal Canadian should only be sentenced to one year. The reasoning behind this is that aboriginals are less culpable than non-aboriginals seeing as they typically enjoy considerably fewer advantages, have a rougher upbringing, have had real difficulties adjusting to the prevailing Western culture.

That the aboriginal communities of Canada truly do face many sufferings is a tragedy that should not be ignored. However, is this justice? Is it justice to neglect the fact that such leniency in law may put other citizens at unnecessary risk? Is it just to lower moral expectations for aboriginals? I suppose we could consider it just insofar as it is equally racist both towards the aboriginals in lowering moral expectations and towards non-aboriginals for demanding a more severe punishment from them….

The next day I discovered that I am not the only one to react adversely to the news when I read Jonathan Kay’s response. While I hope for rehabilitation of the individual, I am of the conviction that one of law’s primary functions is to protect the public. I don’t like saying no to anyone; I don’t even like telling a student flat-out that certain aspects of his or her paper are of unacceptable quality. However, there are times when “kindness” is cruelty.

The second big story (which seems to be receiving more attention, for I can find it in all three Canadian media sources I typically consult: CBC, G&M, and NP) is concerning Ontario’s prostitution laws, several of which are to be struck down. National Post appears to be giving it the most coverage, and in addition to the article I just linked we also have a couple of opposing social commentaries by Jonathan Kay and Raymond de Souza. This appears to be a more complicated issue for Canadian society, although the readers’ online surveys at CBC and the Globe and Mail appear to indicate that a good three quarters of Canadians are in full support of the legal change (although I have noticed that articles with a certain bias do seem to curry the most support for their bias, which makes me wonder about the average Canadian’s interest in critical thinking).

This change in legislation doesn’t make much sense to me either. Once again it seems to be a cruel “kindness.” Almost everyone, regardless of their position on the legal decision, agrees that prostitution is not a desirable career. Is the only reason that it is undesirable and dangerous for women the fact they didn’t enjoy legal sanction? Is it really something we want for our daughters, our sisters, our friends? Yes, there will always be prostitution regardless of laws, but should law bend to accommodate misfortunes or rather work to reduce them as much as possible? The defeatist logic that is so often employed in our judgments determining justice is entirely contrary to justice, which is supposed to be a standard of integrity.

I don’t have time to ponder this in depth or formulate a good argument, but I have a bad feeling about it. Still, the experiment of history will tell in time. I only hope it is not at the cost of too much unhappiness and harm to individuals and society.

No Joke

So here’s some great wool to pull over foreigners’ eyes (reminiscent of the time my sister sent some tourists off pronouncing Nanaimo as “na-nye-EE-mo), but the comment about walking from Vancouver to Toronto being faster than the postal system is… no joke. I get post from the UK arriving at my door in three days. I get post from Western Canada arriving at my door in seven days—if I’m lucky.

h/t http://uppercanada.wordpress.com/

We Eat Pemmican Straight from the Can, eh?

I’m a Canadian and I’m ok…

 

Don’t worry, guys: it’s totally PC. That is to say… President’s Choice! Lol.

Also… Recipe to Riches? wtf?

Apologies for the blurry picture. I was almost embarrassed to be taking a picture of this in a local grocery store. Who takes photographs in grocery stores anyway? Ahem…

Canadians who live in ice houses

shouldn’t neglect to add hinges to doors.

Braving the Great Canadian Winter in Yorkville.

Merci, David H., for taking photographs though unwilling to make an appearance.