Aging

We all age.  Some gracefully, some fighting against the eroding process, and some speeding up the process through life style choices.

My parents have set a fine example for me, making clear choices and detailing those choices to their family.  I applaud their look at life.  They have now chosen to move into a place which will allow them to ease into assisted living as they need it.

My mom worked as a psych nurse, and dealt with many geriatric patients during her years of work, and that gave her a ground level perspective on that part of life that many in her generation missed.  She witnessed first hand many battles between children and their parents as the parents fought against moving into assisted care, and how many times that care would have made so many lives easier.  I am sure that long ago she decided that she would not fight against the tide that way, and somewhere along the way dad joined her sensible approach to acknowledging the impositions and limitations that time makes.

My maternal Grandmother fought against going into care, and because mom had seen the way things could drag on, was quick to act once it was inevitable. Grandma's struggle I believe re-affirmed to mom that that was not the way to go, and many of her own friends have stated that moving into assisted care was something that freed up a lot of their energies and time as well as taking a lot of stress off their children/heirs.

The reason they chose now, is the one that leaves so many of the world helpless in the march of time.  My father is experiencing degrading in his short term memory, and while he is doing all he can to fight against it, and he is still doing okay, the day will come when he will need more help than mom can provide, and they have chosen the path that I hope will prove best for them, and so easy for me and my brothers.

The last two summers I have spent a fair amount of time with my parents and have been very glad about the experience.  I watched from the sidelines as they got on with their day to day existence and how all of their friends moved in the circles around them.  They have built a life that connected them to friends of all ages and have shown me how to effortlessly give love and care into a community of friends and family.

Traveling into other countries can give you a glimpse on how other cultures deal with aging, but it is something I have so far turned a blind eye to.

I am sure that Guatemala is missing the infrastructure to provide the level of care that mom and dad will get, but that does not mean that the elderly are not loved or cared for, merely that the level of assistance available is sadly lacking here.

The third world puts a great deal of effort into giving their children all the help and education they can afford, and that is a grand effort done not just by parents, but by local and federal governments.  I have avoided looking at how the elderly are supported here, and it is perhaps a failing on my part, but it is also a reluctance to look at how I am going to fare when my time to need help comes.

It is a ways off, and I plan on being a wandering soul for many years yet, but somewhere in the back of my mind I know that aging will catch up with me too.  I have no idea where I will end laying down tracks, but I do hope that I can follow my parents trail and do it with grace and dignity.

Global Warming / Going Green

This post is not really about Global Warming.  What it is really about is reasons other than Global Warming to go Green.

Number one on the list of going Green from my perspective has little to do with Warming and everything to do with pollution.  Even if there is no potential in causing our climate to warm up, there is still massive damage from the pollution involved in our petroleum based power consumption.  Passing a poorly tuned diesel chugging up hill and breathing in the vapours will make you a believer that burning that stuff cannot be good for anyone.

The sheer amount of hydrocarbons spewed into the air every day and the fact that those vapours and particulates are going into the lungs of every living thing should give you pause.  It is a poison, and it is spewed everywhere.  True, the concentration is diluted unless you are inches from the exhaust pipe, but the effects of this as a poison are rarely discussed or researched.  The acidification of the oceans is a direct result of our use of petroleum, and that alone is reason enough to try and curb our dependence on it.

Coal is worse.

The cost of mining coal on the environment is harsh.  The cost of burning it is harsh, and the ash left behind is radioactive waste that is treated way more casually than it should be.

There is an environmental cost involved in most green power supplies, and that involves batteries.  The manufacturing of virtually all economical batteries involves hazardous chemicals and waste.  The waste is easier to contain and limit that that from petroleum, but there is still waste that needs careful containment.

From where I sit, way up in the cheap seats and lobbing opinions with not enough research, given the choice between any petrol based power generation and nuclear, nuclear wins. It has a smaller footprint and less damage done to the planet as a whole than anything done with hydrocarbons.  The next generation of nuclear power looks to be even better at limiting the amount of waste, which is the number one detractor, even though the current amount of radioactive waste is better than that from coal.

From what I can read, the best alternative energy right now is geothermal, followed by wind, then solar, then wave/tidal, then hydroelectric, then nuclear, then the various means of power from petrol/hydrocarbons. 

And now, we have reached a time when the Greener alternatives are getting cheaper, and the reasons oil is better are fading.  With a little luck the world's dependence on oil is about to take a dive, and I can hardly wait.

Being Hopeful

I am over 3,000 KM from Canada.  From here in Guatemala I am very hopeful for what the new government is doing.

There is a lot going on back home that I am proud of. 

Many Canadians are standing up to help the refugees from Syria.

We are re-entering the global scene on dealing with climate change.

We have unmuzzled our government funded scientists.

We have re-instituted the long form census.

We seem to be on the road toward making things better for our aboriginal people.

We have a federal government which appears to be willing to listen to our diverse population and try to move us into a more open and progressive society by consensus.

But from down here in Central America, I am hopeful for a few other things as well.

I am hoping that we return to being the world's leader in peacekeeping forces.

That we return to being one of the best places in the world to raise children.

That we stop allowing Canadian companies to despoil other nations for the sake of profit.

That we strive to remove corruption from all our international dealings, NGOs, grants, aid and corporate.

We cannot fix everything at once, and even the items on this list will be only a start, but we do need to start.

The cynic in me says that soon we will go back to politics as usual, and there will be little substantive change.

But somewhere down deep inside, I am so very very hopeful.

A view from the top

Three photos that together make about a 190 degree view of Lake Atitlan taken from the roof of Hostel Pinocchio.

The weather here has been odd, a little wetter than usual for this time of year, but it has made for wonderfully languid afternoons, and the rain has made time for great conversations.

The photos start from the right with the San Pedro Volcano's peak hidden by cloud and show a hint of the expanse of the lake and the shore line.  Most of the area around the lake is too steep for anything, though there are a lot of places where there are fields on very steep slopes.

My struggle.

There are times I really struggle with communication.

How do you talk to people who think that the only way to communicate to the world is through terrorism?

That violence shows you are right?

That might is right?

There is such a disconnect in my mind about this.

I do remember being a teenage kid, wanting to use force to get my way and knowing that I would be beaten up for my trouble.  We rage against the walls that law, church and family put around us to want the world to just be the way that we believe it should be.  That point when the world needs to revolve around our own wants only.  And I also knew deep down that I was being unfair to the rest of the world.

It has been a long time since I talked directly with anyone who felt that using violence strengthened their political/religious place in the world.

I would love to be able to hold a mirror up to them, and ask what it is that they see?

If you would rather die than change, and would rather kill than lead, what are you trying to do?

If no force in the world can change your mind and attitude, why do you think that others should join your side?

My attitude is this, if your way is truly superior, if your way leads to a better life and prosperity, then all you have to do is live it and you will win.  Forcing anyone to your way shows that it is inferior.  Showing them how happy you and your friends and family are, how grand life can be, is the ultimate way to 'win'.

I have long held the personal belief that in politics, religion, and lifestyle, whoever initiates violence has lost, no matter the words spoken or who is left standing.

There are many other thoughts tangled up in my mind, wanting to shout and yell and scream.  And cry.  We can be better.

We desperately need to be better.

Not News

I am getting tired of the non-news that is filling up the world.

Starbucks can put whatever they want on the cups.  Get over it.  If it really does offend you take your $ elsewhere.

If a store starts to decorate for a season too soon for you, take your $ elsewhere.

People say things that offend you?  If it does not threaten your life and livelihood, take your indignation into private and just get over it.

If you do not like some one's opinion, use polite discourse to change their mind.  And if nothing in the world can make you change your own mind...... you are the problem, not the people you are hurling vitriol at.

Anonymity is the mask of a coward.  If you hurl insults and threats from shadows you are lower than a bully and the only thing you deserve is to fade from life and be alone in your anger.  If you want to join the human race and have your opinion heard, stand in the light and speak up.

Be pleasant to the police.  It does not always mean they will be pleasant to you, but the odds are much higher if you start with a smile than if your first response is anger. 

Don't want your children to be vaccinated?  No problem.  If they have horrible medical problems because of your decision, you get to pay the full cost.  If they die, you get charged with premeditated murder.

If you truly want to be free, and be able to do what you want, give others that very same freedom.

I guess somehow this post morphed from petty to serious issues.  Mostly what I am wanting to say is that there are more than enough truly serious issues in the world that need solving and for the truly trivial things that crop up, get over it or get counseling.

And most of all, please keep your indignation over the trivial from my news feed.

Antigua, 2015

Once again I have found myself in Antigua Guatemala.  This time around, I did a walk through the local market, avoiding most of the tourist stalls and winding my way through the small stalls and glancing at what the local had for sale.

If I even slowed down in my walk, the vendor I was in front of immediately started to talk in Spanish about what they had and hoe great their prices were, and as I moved along, this chant was passed from place to place.  The thing that always hits me in looking at these many small stores is the dichotomy between both how similar they all are and at the same time how different they are.  There are stalls that virtually the same, the same brands and articles and colours that can make you think there is no difference between them, and a slow blending as you move and the next few stalls carry more and more different things so that by the time you have passed fifteen places, the stall has totally different stock, but the echoes of the first one remain, and it all somehow blends.

For some reason, I was reluctant to haul out my camera, and this time I settled for watching the people and things around me with trying to capture it to share the visuals.  The whole place was busier than I have seen before, with a lot of foot traffic during the day and a steady stream of vehicles in the late afternoon.  There was a celebration issuing from a large church, I am unsure as to what was going on, but it was less of a religious feel than a celebration, and a local said it was about the founding of the church.  It made for crowded roads and hordes of people in a good mood.

Earlier I had parked my butt on a park bench, enjoying the day and reading a book.  A local came to share the bench, and we began to talk.

Two hours later we switched to a bench in the shade and continued.

He was only five years younger than me, and curious about Canada, the differences between canada and the USA, and in how I saw Guatemala.  He seemed to be quite interested in the world at large even if he had never traveled outside of Guatemala, and was just beginning to learning about Canada.  That is not all that we talked about, and the whole range included human rights, gay marriage, violence, the military and veterans, children and family, religion and our over all view of the world.

As my way was blocked by the stream of people heading to the church, I started to ask three other tourists what they were doing.  A long conversation evolved out of that as they were on a missionary journey that would take them to at least two more continents, and they were curious about my view on god and religion, so for the second time that afternoon, I ended up in a talk about what I believe and a bit of it was how my belief has changed.  I will not go into the discussion at this time, but it was both pleasant and not heated. 

All in all an interesting day in Antigua, and although I am heading on to San Pedro, I will be looking forward to returning here again.