Open letter to Heather Malleck of the Tor-Star

Hi Heather, I am having the devil's own time of logging in to comment, but I want to make a point!

I am disabled, 63 in January, and unlike other's don't want a CPP Disability Pension, it will limit what I can earn at a later date, IF I am ever able to get something going.Ontario DSP, when I applied, replied that I wasn't disabled enough.I need to be under a nurses care.
My income is made up of 180 dollars CPP and the rest tops up to 643 with OW/SS benefits. The CPP is limited because of back injuries and surgery when I was in my 30's working in warehousing and have been forced in my work life to take either low paying, or non CPP deducting jobs, or be a stay at home dad; in the end, while I asked my ex wife to give me the years that she holds, for CPP, which I looked after the kids, she rightly refused; those were years she worked and contributed to the fund (btw we're friends); I am SOL; at 64 I will apply for the Old Age Supplement, to get it when I arrive at 65; but in the mean time, I jog along, making a bit of progress each month; life is not all beer and pretzels, but it sure is better than water and bread ;-)
Health wise I have deteriorated, but I am not giving up my dreams; I am not going to give the Scrooges that are commenting on your column the satisfaction of seeing my body on the DVP after a flying leap off the Via Duct; In this day and age, it would be easy to rephrase Scrooges reply to the men looking for donations for the poor, in modern terms; (see below)
Am I down Hearted?? NO!!! (Brit ex-pat) other than the occasional depression about being single, and that rarely, I am moving forward not backward;

Cheers

SW

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First Collector: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.
Ebenezer: Are there no prisons?
First Collector: Plenty of prisons and many more being built, with stricter sentences.
Ebenezer: And the Social Services and Ontario Works systems, they are still in operation, supplying cheap part time labour?? And the Food Banks, Thrift Stores and Soup Kitchens have not closed down?
First Collector: They are. I wish I could say they were not so necessary.
Ebenezer: Oh, from what you said at first I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course. I'm very glad to hear it.
First Collector: I don't think you quite understand us, sir. A few of us are endeavoring to buy the poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth.
Ebenezer: Why?
First Collector: Because it is at Christmastime that want is most keenly felt, and abundance rejoices. Now what can I put you down for?
Ebenezer: Huh! Nothing!
Second Collector: You wish to be anonymous?
Ebenezer: [firmly, but calmly] I wish to be left alone. Since you ask me what I wish sir, that is my answer. I help to support the establishments I have named through my taxes and support for the Conservative Party; those who are badly off must go there.
First Collector: Many can't go there.
Second Collector: And some would rather die.
Ebenezer: [firmly, loudly and dismissively] Then let them die and decrease the burden on the GDP!!! GOOD DAY, Gentlemen!!!

Making Christmas

I have been thinking this past couple of days about "Why am I hitting my head against the lack of Enthusiasm for Christmas traditions amongst my family and others??" only a few people are involved in Christmas, and other's are either expecting the Old Folks to Make Christmas, or are doing the commercial thing, of buying ready made products; to busy to be involved in the Real Spirit of Christmas

Some of it can be laid at the feet of Parents who have done everything, and not involved the kids; for others it is our fast paste lives, spread out from Family and Friends; while still more likely is the lack of any desire to get into a Seasonal Spirit of Past Traditions Handed Down, it's too much work and takes time, so not the quick fix that the Fast Food / Instant Gratification Society wants life to be;

My generation may be the last one to have grown up with and done for themselves the Christmas Traditions, at least as far as I know in my own immediate family; only one Daughter has any inclination to Make Christmas, and she married a man who is into that as well; regardless of his other faults, he is still someone that I am glad is in the family ;-)
This year we will have our first Christmas Dinner here at the house, with a Pot Luck, overly organized but still a start; then on New Years Day, we are planning another dinner Pot Luck, we will have more of the traditions of the family, with additions from my daughter's husband, mixing in; it will be a Made Celebration, not bought; home made beer, mead, punch, wines; puddings, cakes, and year old mincemeat I started last January; 4-5 traditional cookies, cinnamon buns, Christmas Tryfle and Jul log rolls; the nuts, cold cuts, cheeses, with home made sausage rolls, buns and breads; and of course The Real Music and Movies of Christmas !!


But Christmas Traditions are more than just food and partying; they are just a way of sharing and caring amongst the family; each one bringing what they do best, and making up the Celebration; for the religious or spiritual amongst us, it is a concrete way of sharing the Gift of the Messiah with the family and friends; by going amongst the houses and visiting, sharing a drink, cookies or cold lunches, along with chat and hugs, that is building relationships that epitomize the Spirit of the Season; whatever religion we belong to it is universal to people at this time of transition in the yearly calendar;

What to me are important traditions, won't be important to others, and while I won't do all their traditions, I will realize they are important to them and respect their doing and sharing; in the end we all grow and develop as people and friends; if I had not met the Wagners and other Northern and Eastern Europeans, I would not have the joy and pleasure of those traditions in my Christmas, added to my own families traditions; it is an evolving organic celebration that can and will change with each generation, but the core is always there; as my son said in November, Christmas to him now, would not be Christmas without the Weihnachten Lieder or German Christmas Songs to those who don't know the term;

Prettige Kerstdagen en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Noflike Krystdagen en in Lokkich Nijjier
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année
Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår
God Jul og Godt Nyttår
God jul och gott nytt år
Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo
Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo
Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo
Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou
Veselé Vánoce a Šastný Nový Rok!
Hyvää Joulua Ja Onnellista Uutta Vuotta!
Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
Wesolych swiat i szczesliwego nowego roku

The going, not the destination!!!

Space the New Frontier, to boldly ignore it, and grow fat and lazy, to go no where, and live the status quo; is that what we should do!! To listen to a lot of people, who complain that there are more important things to do here on Earth, and we don't have the Billions it will take to go into Space, we would think so. 

      Mr and Mrs Joe Nobody, and their kids, have more to worry about on a daily basis than getting into Space; that is a luxury they can't afford; what with the economy tanking and jobs scarce; petrol, food, housing, health and education costs rising as fast as the waters of the oceans because of Global Climate Change (whatever the cause) how can they possibly have time to think of the consequences of NOT becoming a Space Faring Species; 

       But we as a Species are stuck in a basement apartment, with all our basic needs met, even if it is getting crowded and the supplies are getting spread thin; it is a nice basement apartment and so we don't notice that things are getting a bit tight; but like for myself, it is a beautiful trap; 

         I live in a lovely basement apartment, with a full freezer, stove, 4 rooms including kitchen, toilet, workshop and laundry facilities; groceries and other supplies are delivered; there really is no NEED to go upstairs; but in the past 5 years, I have experienced a degenerating body; I can do nothing and stay in my lovely basement, but eventually I will be carried out and put in a Nursing Home, where a 20 something beauty, will change my diaper, while another one will feed me, another give me sponge baths, and I will sit in a wheel chair in front of a picture window looking out on the world that I would once have explored at will, but now restricted from for my own safety; 

           Or I can fight against the enclosing future, and exercise my body and work towards getting out of my basement, not that I need anything up there, but because to do so will free me from a future of dependency and degeneration;

           That is the choice that the human species has; the destinations, of Moon, Cis-Lunar, NEO, LEO, the Inner Planets and the Outer Planets, are not important, as we don't need what they have; we can live without them, but eventually we will degenerate and become a marginalized and extinct species, whether by global cataclysm, or just the degeneration of our society through war and pestilence; the goal is not as important, as it is the doing and going, which will exercise our species muscles of intellect and economy;  

            I have said nothing of the potential dangers that lurk in my basement; the possibility of a fire. quake, or heat attack, that could leave me trapped if I am unable to climb the stairs to the outside door, because my leg muscles have degenerated to the point that climbing the stairs is impossible; I already have one leg that last year was at that point due to an injury; by persistent use, I have brought it up to 50% strength, and perhaps I can increase that yet; but like the Space Industry, if I don't have that goal of doing, it will remain withered and useless; getting out of the house is not the goal, as the Moon is not the goal, the real goal is to be able to get up those stairs, or in the case of humanity, to develop the ability to go into Space where ever we wish;