Tired ...
Greetings .. I return from blogging limbo, to the adulation and uninhibited and unrehearsed cheers of my many minions, and millions of massed, er, masses.
Speaking of mass .. I just got back.
From mass that is.
I'm Catholic, and have been since I can recall. Faith has always been an element of my life, and even during the years where I didn't attend mass with any regularity (I was what we used to call, a 'C and E Catholic' .. Christmas and Easter), I tried to live by the lessons and ideals taught as I grew up.
Now, this could lead to a whole long, and round-about discussion on organized religion and its influence on the, er, masses .. but it won't. Because I said so. So there.
In recent years, though, I've returned with renewed enthusiasm (though with still less-than-stellar regularity), in great extent due to our local pastor.
Fr. Joe is a remarkable guy. He was called to the priesthood relatively late in life (in his early 30s), and having grown up in small-town Prince Edward Island (like there's any other type of town there .. Kidding!), he combines the simple joys and unpretentious friendliness of the maritimes, with the deep and philosophical teachings of the Catholic Church. He doesn't lecture, he doesn't dictate .. if anything he offers his perspective and thoughts, along with the teachings of Catholic scholars and the Vatican, and tosses them to the congretation as a challenge.
'What do you make of this? How will you use this in your daily life? How can you use these thoughts, and ideals to be better Catholics, and better people, and to create a better world?'
It's a daunting challenge, at times almost superhuman, and often can be terribly wearying.
Hence my roundabout introduction to the heading for today's post.
Tired .. is how many people seem to feel nowadays. Tired of winter, tired of stress, tired of uncertainty, tired of life. Fr. Joe offered the question today 'Does the Church ever get tired'? And the answer, given that it's the people filling the building, and not the building itself who are 'the chuch', is obviously 'yes'. He referred to the ailing Pope as an image of the church, how one man, 84 years of age, weakened from years of fighting cancer, Parkinson's and now, the flu can persevere. Pope John Paul was orphaned at an early age, was nearly killed in an accident at the age of 19, saw his country invaded, first by the Nazis, and later by the Russians, stood up to the Soviet military through his support for the Solidarity movement in the early 80s, and has visited more nations than any previous pope. Fr. Joe likened Pope John Paul's wearied, hunched figure to one man carrying the burden of the church on his back, and it's a powerful image, to be mulled over, in these wearying, challenging times.
This past week for me, has been tiring. I'm recovering from a back injury, which fortunately has proven to be not nearly so serious as I'd thought. A week ago, I was barely able to stand. Walking, even getting dressed, was an exercise in agony. I wound up in the emergency room at the Civic hospital just over seven days ago, fearing that I was experiencing the beginning of some dreadful illness. I have never experienced pain as I had that day, and quite frankly hope never to experience anything like it again.
Fortunately, the diagnosis was relatively benign. 'Severe lumbar strain' was the official word, delivered from a friendly, very young-looking doctor who seemed genuinely empathetic towards my discomfort. A recommendation to rest, take ibuprofin for pain and to stop the inflammation, and a prescription for Tylenol 3s, and I was eventually on my way.
While I sat in the waiting room, though, I had the opportunity to see once again what our health system has become, and overall, it was a good image.
Public health care, much like many of our public institutions .. from education, correction, environment, broadcasting, have been under attack for years. There are many people in Candaa who seem to feel that privatiszation .. the total withdrawal of public money and public oversight for these and other institutions .. is the only way to maintain a functioning infrastructure. That by creating a motive of profit, whatever inefficiencies that may currently be present will suddenly be removed, and we will all be blessed with smooth-running, profitable and high-quiality institutions. Sounds great, in principle .. the only problem is, that it will never work, and nearly every instance where this has been tried, the results have been less than spectacular.
Unrestrained commerce is a powerful thing. It has the capacity to benefit a great number of people by generating wealth and improving livelihoods. Unfortunately, unrestrained commerce also has a tendancy to ultimatly concentrate a great deal of wealth in the hands of relatively few, and to exist on the backs of a great many people of lesser power.
Competition is a great thing, and often does generate new ideas, businesses, even entirely new industries. However, this typically is a fleeting, transient state. Just was water seeks its lowest level, commerce too seeks to establish a state where as much revenue can be generated as cheaply as possible. Software become Microsoft, retail becomes Wal-Mart, food becomes McDonald's, entertainment becomes Blockbuster or Cineplex, coffee becomes Starbuck's or Second Cup, bookstores become Chapters, home renovation becomes Home Depot or Rona .. and on it goes.
And this, to me, is the danger of opening up our public institutions to the influence of private enterprise.
Do we really want our health care system to be viewed as a profit-making enterprise? Do we really want our school systems to view the bottom line, and their profit margins with more concern than the quality of education of their students? Do we really want our environmental policies to be driven by financial gain, rather than long-term preservation?
I don't know. I know how I feel about these things, but have no idea if I'm simply a voice in the wilderness, or one of millions of others who value these things, and view our funding them as an investment in our future and the futures of generations to come.
I don't know these answers.
And sometimes, thinking about them, I get tired.
Speaking of mass .. I just got back.
From mass that is.
I'm Catholic, and have been since I can recall. Faith has always been an element of my life, and even during the years where I didn't attend mass with any regularity (I was what we used to call, a 'C and E Catholic' .. Christmas and Easter), I tried to live by the lessons and ideals taught as I grew up.
Now, this could lead to a whole long, and round-about discussion on organized religion and its influence on the, er, masses .. but it won't. Because I said so. So there.
In recent years, though, I've returned with renewed enthusiasm (though with still less-than-stellar regularity), in great extent due to our local pastor.
Fr. Joe is a remarkable guy. He was called to the priesthood relatively late in life (in his early 30s), and having grown up in small-town Prince Edward Island (like there's any other type of town there .. Kidding!), he combines the simple joys and unpretentious friendliness of the maritimes, with the deep and philosophical teachings of the Catholic Church. He doesn't lecture, he doesn't dictate .. if anything he offers his perspective and thoughts, along with the teachings of Catholic scholars and the Vatican, and tosses them to the congretation as a challenge.
'What do you make of this? How will you use this in your daily life? How can you use these thoughts, and ideals to be better Catholics, and better people, and to create a better world?'
It's a daunting challenge, at times almost superhuman, and often can be terribly wearying.
Hence my roundabout introduction to the heading for today's post.
Tired .. is how many people seem to feel nowadays. Tired of winter, tired of stress, tired of uncertainty, tired of life. Fr. Joe offered the question today 'Does the Church ever get tired'? And the answer, given that it's the people filling the building, and not the building itself who are 'the chuch', is obviously 'yes'. He referred to the ailing Pope as an image of the church, how one man, 84 years of age, weakened from years of fighting cancer, Parkinson's and now, the flu can persevere. Pope John Paul was orphaned at an early age, was nearly killed in an accident at the age of 19, saw his country invaded, first by the Nazis, and later by the Russians, stood up to the Soviet military through his support for the Solidarity movement in the early 80s, and has visited more nations than any previous pope. Fr. Joe likened Pope John Paul's wearied, hunched figure to one man carrying the burden of the church on his back, and it's a powerful image, to be mulled over, in these wearying, challenging times.
This past week for me, has been tiring. I'm recovering from a back injury, which fortunately has proven to be not nearly so serious as I'd thought. A week ago, I was barely able to stand. Walking, even getting dressed, was an exercise in agony. I wound up in the emergency room at the Civic hospital just over seven days ago, fearing that I was experiencing the beginning of some dreadful illness. I have never experienced pain as I had that day, and quite frankly hope never to experience anything like it again.
Fortunately, the diagnosis was relatively benign. 'Severe lumbar strain' was the official word, delivered from a friendly, very young-looking doctor who seemed genuinely empathetic towards my discomfort. A recommendation to rest, take ibuprofin for pain and to stop the inflammation, and a prescription for Tylenol 3s, and I was eventually on my way.
While I sat in the waiting room, though, I had the opportunity to see once again what our health system has become, and overall, it was a good image.
Public health care, much like many of our public institutions .. from education, correction, environment, broadcasting, have been under attack for years. There are many people in Candaa who seem to feel that privatiszation .. the total withdrawal of public money and public oversight for these and other institutions .. is the only way to maintain a functioning infrastructure. That by creating a motive of profit, whatever inefficiencies that may currently be present will suddenly be removed, and we will all be blessed with smooth-running, profitable and high-quiality institutions. Sounds great, in principle .. the only problem is, that it will never work, and nearly every instance where this has been tried, the results have been less than spectacular.
Unrestrained commerce is a powerful thing. It has the capacity to benefit a great number of people by generating wealth and improving livelihoods. Unfortunately, unrestrained commerce also has a tendancy to ultimatly concentrate a great deal of wealth in the hands of relatively few, and to exist on the backs of a great many people of lesser power.
Competition is a great thing, and often does generate new ideas, businesses, even entirely new industries. However, this typically is a fleeting, transient state. Just was water seeks its lowest level, commerce too seeks to establish a state where as much revenue can be generated as cheaply as possible. Software become Microsoft, retail becomes Wal-Mart, food becomes McDonald's, entertainment becomes Blockbuster or Cineplex, coffee becomes Starbuck's or Second Cup, bookstores become Chapters, home renovation becomes Home Depot or Rona .. and on it goes.
And this, to me, is the danger of opening up our public institutions to the influence of private enterprise.
Do we really want our health care system to be viewed as a profit-making enterprise? Do we really want our school systems to view the bottom line, and their profit margins with more concern than the quality of education of their students? Do we really want our environmental policies to be driven by financial gain, rather than long-term preservation?
I don't know. I know how I feel about these things, but have no idea if I'm simply a voice in the wilderness, or one of millions of others who value these things, and view our funding them as an investment in our future and the futures of generations to come.
I don't know these answers.
And sometimes, thinking about them, I get tired.
posted by xiz at 9:25 AM
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