Death

  • Fear Going On

    Part one required prospective marathoners to drive exactly 42.1 kilometres from their houses, park safely, get out of the car and start walking—not running—home. Part three required being truthful about how it felt knowing such a thought would probably first occur with, oh, about another 41.1 kilometres still to go.

    A running coach I trained with years ago had a wonderful reality check for anyone considering running a marathon.

    Part one required prospective marathoners to drive exactly 42.1 kilometres from their houses, park safely, get out of the car and start ...

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  • Not Ideology but Character: Long Live Maggie Thatcher

    I have my own memories of Maggie, having been such an infatuated Thatcherite for much of my adult life.

    If journalism is, as G.K. Chesterton so brilliantly said, saying "Lord Jones dead" to people who didn't know Lord Jones was alive, then the outpouring of commentary about Margaret Thatcher amounts to saying "Iron Lady dead" to people who have forgotten what...

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  • Here Come the Wonksters

    "The harsh events of the past decade may have produced not a youth revolt but a reversion to an empiricist mind-set," says David Brooks. He calls it a tendency to think in demoralized economic phrases like "data analysis," "opportunity costs" and "replicability," and a tendency to dismiss other more ethical and idealistic vocabularies that seem fuzzy and, therefore, unreliable.

    After the hippie, the yuppie, and the hipster, the cool people are now . . . wonksters?

    "The harsh events of the past decade may have produced not a youth revolt but a reversion to an empiricist mind-set," ...

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  • Ralph Klein and the Commonfolk

    The man who had won four consecutive majority governments as Premier of Alberta and reduced the size of government by 20% to eliminate the deficit, then the debt, and left the province's 3.5 million people with $35 billion in savings was standing all by himself, still near the door as if he wasn't certain he was at the right party or was welcome.

    I remember seeing Ralph Klein a few years ago in the Maple Leaf Lounge—available as a perk to Air Canada's frequent travelers—at Ottawa's airport.

    The man who had won four consecutive majority governments as Premier of Alberta and reduced the size of...

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  • If I Speak, But Have Not Respect

    Word that Tiger Woods is back on top as the number one golfer in the world would definitely have made John scrinch his face as only he could when something unexpected and unacceptable and, well, ugly happened between tee and green. "He may come back a bit," John said. "But he'll never again be what he was."

    Reading the sports news this morning, I had a sudden vision of my late, great friend John Gradon scrinching as if he had just shanked a drive off the first tee.

    Word that Tiger Woods is back on top as the number one golfer in the world would definite...

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  • The Connorian Oeuvre: A Tribute to Stompin' Tom

    In my files I have a letter from Stompin' Tom himself for a piece I wrote in the Calgary Herald arguing strenuously that the "Connorian oeuvre" should be properly recognized as authentic folk poetry, and recognized as far more meaningful to Canadians than any dot or dash Margaret Atwood ever put to paper.

    Long before "The Hockey Song" propelled him to Canadian earworm status, I was an apostle of Stompin' Tom Connors and a fierce advocate of the late, great Prince Edward Islander's elevation to poet laureate.

    In my files I have a letter from Stompin' T...

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  • Green Shoots of Humanity

    But, death is an awful thing, even if the departed is a machismo thug whose policies hollowed out a , dismantled its , and left its poor with little long-term stability or resources. Jesus grieved; in fact, Jesus wept. He wept because he knew that death was not the way it was meant to be. To grieve over the loss of good and life is not only human; it is a reflection of God—even if the rest of your life does not reflect this.

    I have very little love for Hugo Chavez, and even less love for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's embattled president.

    But, death is an awful thing, even if the departed is a machismo thug whose policies hollowed out a

    ...

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  • Broken Hearts Mend

    It was in the spring of 1999 when a reporter from the Calgary Herald, of which I was editor at the time, knocked on my door to inquire about my neighbours—the family that lived behind us across the green belt. It was then that I learned that the two young children who lived there, Brittany, 5, and Joshua, 3, had been killed at the family's condo in B.C.

    Almost 14 years have now passed since tragedy struck very close to my home.

    It was in the spring of 1999 when a reporter from the Calgary Herald, of which I was editor at the time, knocked on my door to inquire about my neighbours—the family t...

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  • Progressing Backwards

    Such was the case last week when a regular correspondent of mine, a Mr. P.A. George, set out in five easy steps the recipe that activists cooking up all manner of "social progress" have used in Canada during the past 40 years: If I were to suggest any addition to this stellar summary, it would be to expand point four to include professional associations beyond just teachers.

    Sometimes, someone chances past who brilliantly captures in a handful of words what others spend whole careers trying to express.

    Such was the case last week when a regular correspondent of mine, a Mr. P.A. George, set out in five easy steps the reci...

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  • Avoiding What's in Front of Us

    This is the one key question to be asked in the debates. Everything else is either an extension of, or distraction from, that central issue. The last hurdle to the legislation was yesterday's release of an "expert legal opinion" claiming that legalizing "medical aid to die" is within Quebec's constitutional jurisdiction and does not intrude on federal authority over criminal law prohibiting euthanasia and assisted suicide.

    If the acts of euthansia or assisted suicide required using a pillow instead of a pill, would you favour legalization?

    This is the one key question to be asked in the debates. Everything else is either an extension of, or distraction from, that centr...

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  • No Time for #NoRegrets

    It's just a slogan, I know. But 'tis the season for looking back, for the inevitable "and how was your year?" conversations. #NoRegrets papers over any chance for real reflection. Every year, for every person, will hold some achievements and some failures. Owning both is how we mature.

    The "No Regrets" slogan makes me cringe. The t-shirts are bad enough, but it's the #NoRegrets Twitter hashtag that really gets me. #NoRegrets is a way to rationalize why short-term pleasure can trump long-term prudence, or a wa...

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  • Link by Link

    Frankly, the unavoidable hits of coverage I have taken make me want to scream. Or throw up. Or both simultaneously. Children are dead. Dead children are news fodder. Pre-Christmas news fodder. Cue the helium-filled TV reporter standing at the scene.

    I am utterly incompetent to comment on, much less offer pseudo-diagnosis of, the latest U.S. school shooting. I cannot watch the television reportage. My eyes dart past the web and newspaper stories/commentary like a man sprinting to avoid being hit by a bu...

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  • A Fate Worse Than Death

    Loneliness and love aren't usually topics that come up in conversations about euthanasia. But the point above, raised by Margaret Somerville at a recent event hosted by the deVeber Institute at the University of Toronto, suggests that euthanasia is far from simply a legal issue. It is first and foremost a cultural issue—an issue that sheds light on how we understand what it means to be human, and what it means to be a human community.

    "The reasons people want assisted suicide include fear of being abandoned, dying alone and unloved—and of being a burden on others."

    Loneliness and love aren't usually topics that come up in conversations about euthanasia. But the point above, raised...

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  • Joy: The Emergence from Suffering

    The mantra of living the moment is, of course, one of the more horrid clichés of the day. It is the appropriated corporate vision statement of Yoga Inc. It is the twee marketing slogan of Buddha Lite. It is the cultural buzz phrase heard up and down every aisle of Amoralists 'R Us. The ancient spiritual discipline of yoga remains an authentic means for opening the soul to the world and God despite its Lulule Liz Lemonizing by hordes of downward dog devotees carrying rolled rubber mats under their arms to soothe the Tina Fey / 30 Rock anxieties in their heads.

    In mid-November, I was blessed to live the joy of looking into the freshly dead face of a loved one to find the reminder that the true meaning of life is the moment.

    The mantra of living the moment is, of course, one of the more horrid clichés of the...

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  • Memento Mori

    New York is not a place known for its contemplation of mortality. The glitz, the money, the movement, the power, the sheer seething of the place contributes to a sense that it is a place that will never die. It's hard to remember, living in a city that never sleeps, that each of us will one day sleep in the cold ground.

    Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return (and the same for your buildings).

    New York is not a place known for its contemplation of mortality. The glitz, the money, the movement, the power, the sheer seething of the place contrib...

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  • Pseudo-Historic Patriotism

    Sweet relief will come from the cessation of hostility toward the Harper government's inexplicable, tax-paid publicity campaign to lionize the packet of fratricidal Sassenachs who jumped back and forth across an imaginary line firing muskets and waving swords at each other 200 years ago. Canadians will once again peaceably turn on their televisions or amble through the public prints without being affronted by some advertising copy writer's thimble-deep conceptualization of our history.

    I am approaching an age where it simply doesn't pay to wish the future here faster. Still, the looming end of 2012 is a moment devoutly to be wished if only because it will mean the War of 1812 is at long last over.

    Sweet relief will come from the ce...

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  • Careless Politics

    The tragic death of B.C. teenager Amanda Todd is a poignant reminder of the power of words. Words such as "punch her," "nobody likes you, and "I hope she dies next time" were uttered to her in person and via Facebook. Her YouTube video, a modern day suicide note, consisted of nothing more than words on cue cards. Those words and her story were powerful—painfully and heartbreakingly powerful. Minister Broten was quoted as saying Ontario's new anti-bullying law (Bill 13) "is about tackling misogyny . . . Taking away a woman's right to choose could arguably be one of the most misogynistic actions that one could take."

    "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." If only that were true.

    The tragic death of B.C. teenager Amanda Todd is a poignant reminder of the power of words. Words such as "punch her," "nobody likes you, and "I hope she die...

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  • Public Wastelands

    This, sadly, was the picture that came to my mind as I read John McKay's excellent article this week on the state of parliament after the defeat of Motion C-312. McKay writes, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    The most dangerous place to be in World War 1 was no-man's land. No-man's land was a treacherous place, filled with mud, mines, rotting bodies and limbs, craters, pits, and poison. Nobody wanted to go there, because if you did, you were likely to die. Canad...

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  • A Bit of Perspective

    But they need to be understood for what they are: a tool to help us understand the mess of life. As with most of life, the events of labour relations are as likely to slop all over the sides of buckets and make a big mess on the floor as they are to stay in the bucket. How messy can it get? Well, recent labour strife in the Lonmin platinum mines in South Africa give us some indication .

    A couple weeks back I set out some criteria to help discern whether a strike is justified or not. These lists provide helpful buckets into which we can place events before evaluating them.

    ...

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  • Peter Lougheed: The Candle for His Generation

    I was 16. It was the summer of 1971. My oilpatch family was on vacation in Calgary from England, where we were living. Peter Lougheed was in the midst of his second election campaign—one that would see his Progressive Conservative party capture control of the legislature. This was the end of four decades of Social Credit rule as the incumbents.

    The first time I heard of Peter Lougheed was just before the last time Alberta changed its government.

    I was 16. It was the summer of 1971. My oilpatch family was on vacation in Calgary from E...

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  • Twists and Turns, Webs and Elections

    Oh, we hold hard every year onto this week that's coming, don't we, knowing what's lying so soon ahead? Labour Day has been rounded like a highway curve. Schools briefly brighten fresh again. Nature arranges a convalescent's shawl on her own narrowing shoulders. These are the days when it is given to us to try to hold hard to the impossible slip of summer warmth, time, memory.

    This old porch is just a long time Of waiting and forgetting And remembering the coming back And not crying about the leaving . . ." —Lyle Lovett, This Old Porch

     

    Oh, we hold hard every year onto this ...

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  • Evil Explained Away

    In fact, these rootless dances with understanding may move us from away from truth.

    Murders of every kind, but especially mass murders, rarely have their motives adequately explained. Poverty, abuse, religion, ideology . . . lawyers and pundits may try these "explanations," but the irrationality of such acts mostly defy labels.

    In f...

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  • The Culture of Death and the Beauty of Life

    What stands out about these crimes is their very brazen nature. An online video of the death and dismemberment of a Chinese student who had come to Canada in search of a better life. Gunfire in a crowded shopping mall food court that claimed 2 lives and sent 6 others to hospital. An execution-style hit in broad daylight at an outdoor café. A gunfight reportedly resulting from a dispute over a parking spot, which killed 2 people and injured more than 20 others.

    The summer of 2012 has been unlike any other in recent history. News reports have been dominated by stories of violent crimes, many of which have led to the death of innocent and unsuspecting bystanders.

    What stands out about these crimes is their v...

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