Quebec’s niqab ban: just how small can we be?

"As a Muslim woman who chooses to cover her h​air​ but not her face, I am not personally affected by Quebec's new law banning face coverings while receiving public services such as taking a city bus. It would be easy for me to ignore the law's broader meaning. ... (but) it has stirred and jolted me out of complacency. We must speak out against this so-called religious neutrality, and see Bill 62 for what it really is: politicizing and fear mongering toward an easy target." Idil Issa, Globe and Mail

The question is - what is happening among the halls of power that some Canadians become so small?

What are we mindful of when talk about what other people should do, wear, believe or belong to?

Where is our power to form the natural government of what is acceptable, what is decent when it's not about 'us' but always about 'them'. Are we allowing the right people to dictate what we should tolerate?

Are we really willing to tolerate oppression of the poorest minority to allow the richest minority to alienate us from democracy?

What Does Life Want From Me?

 Reading Rabbi Jonathan Sacks "Judaism's Life Changing Ideas" I was inspired to ask a question that he posed, through the work of Viktor Frankl who survived Auschwitz and who turned his experiences there to create a new form of psychotherapy based on man's search for meaning.

"His view was that we should never ask, “What do I want from life?” but always, “What does life want from me?”"

Woman's and Man's search for meaning  is upstaged by family needs. The task of caring for one another is really what life most wants from us all even though it is not mentioned in the main cultural arguments.

The shallow commerce of our hyped up consumer society is best revealed in Chris Hedges article "Faces of Pain, Faces of Hope.

"Popular culture celebrates those who wallow in power, wealth and self-obsession and perpetuates the lie that if you work hard and are clever you too can become a “success,” perhaps landing on “American Idol” or “Shark Tank.” ... The vast disparity between the glittering world that people watch and the bleak world they inhabit creates a collective schizophrenia that manifests itself in our diseases of despair—suicides, addictions, mass shootings, hate crimes and depression. Our oppressors have skillfully acculturated us to blame ourselves for our oppression."

What would this world want from me? Hope for a better world?

Hedges writes "Hope means walking away from the illusion that you will be the next Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian." 

Most of us who are older than 40 have already learned this. So I know that life does not want  another self-absorbed  "famous" ego. I know the celebrity cult is as man made as Halloween Candy. I have learned that "the maniacal creation of a persona" is more than just irrelevant - it is toxic. Like all the other devices that tell us we are powerless and that meaning can only come through a certain kind of power.

Reading Hedges reveals to me the despotic power of capitalism gives no value to your life or mine.

Reading Sacks reminds me that I have work to do for the sake of life and that loving life, nurturing the wounded, listening to the lost, expressing gratitude for those who have cared for me - is the only thing worth living for. 

Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" reminds me that the only power I have is one flight.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

The Labyrinth’s Prayer

Our Labyrinth, which is on earth
Elliptic is your name

Your hospitality come

Your turning be done 

on earth

As it is in the universe.

Give us this day our contemplation.

And forgive us our missteps

As we forgive others their missteps against us.

And lead us not into apathy

But deliver us from hasty judgement.

For yours is the journey

The purpose and the story

For ever and ever.

Ah women

And men.

(Infinite Power, Ekstasis 2016)

David Brooks, Abbie Hoffman & Culture

The meritocratic establishment, who overtook the Protestant values of America before the 60's ...  "created an economy that benefits itself and leaves everybody else out. It led America into war in Iraq and sent the working class off to fight it. It has developed its own brand of cultural snobbery. Its media, film and music industries make members of the working class feel invisible and disrespected." David Brooks, The Abbie Hoffman of the Right: Donald Trump, The New York Times.

How do we connect these different cultures in a way that enables people to talk to one another so we can learn how and where to move forward? How do we include all views in a way that makes sense? Does it need to make sense?

Feeding Big Man

Once upon a time, there was a village near the river

like other villages, but in this village was a man - taller

than everyone else. Jolly and bright, an optimist who

could build huts, plough fields, catch fish too.

With each passing day the man grew more confident

and villagers  more adoring and complacent

forgetting their skills they focused on worship

invested in hope, their eyes looking up.

So in awe of Big Man they planned how and when

to feed, wash and clothe him,  elected chairmen

who instructed the villagers of their duty
to keep Big Man strong and beefy.

Soon got so big he couldn't leave his house

stuck behind the door, fearful chairmen marched

up and down the streets in a solemn search for

answers now that folk were retired, poor

keeping Big Man in style and manner to which

he'd become accustomed, his appetite large and rich

too big for his humble home, he demanded more

– a castle or a mansion, while the villagers bore

the cost with their labour, health, and their virgin

daughters, crushed under weight of his lust, his sin

but what could they do? It was tradition, his right

until a child crept with courage to the castle at night

to speak with Big Man, to plead and to show him

how poor the villagers were, their lives so grim

her last feint hope for reason and compassion

and he wept, overcome with guilt he thanked the maiden

promised to create a village based on fairness, equality

and when the girl ran home to tell her kin they were happy

but the chairmen were outraged and charged that girl

with treason, called her wicked, wanton and evil

to go above her station, above their counsel, to enter

the sacred castle of  Big Man, so they banished her

they will save the village,  bring them wealth

stealing from neighbours with arrows, with stealth.

Forgetting their hunger they painted their faces

thumping their chests they mounted wild horses

charging the commons, the forests, the rivers

killing their innocent neighbourly sleepers

no blood was enough to fill up this story

no more was the Big Man the object of glory

filled with ambition the warriors planned

campaigns everywhere, let peace be damned

Big Man and chairmen were sacked and replaced

with new gods, their history censored, erased

forgetting their skills as fishers and builders

as lovers and fathers, as farmers and brothers

and so dear reader don't look for an ending

this tale of a village breaking and bending

there is never an end to the battles and wars

as long as the mind gets stuck on the scores

of winners and losers and what is worth saving.

The Begat of Gratitude

cover painting by Paul Grignon

To those who gave birth to my ancestors

who told me stories of the world

who showed me how to love it.

To all those who by accident and brief encounter

brought me to some truth I did not want to know.

To those who, not knowing my name

helped when I needed help

and who received mine when they needed it.

To those who by commitment of their will

have learned to write, sing, dance or paint

the message we most need to learn.

To all those who have the courage to put their skill

on the public stage to serve

as doctor, lawyer, minister, teacher, publisher,

scientist or social worker.

To those whose names I may never learn

who clean the office, drive the bus, do the laundry

pick the fruit and stack the shelves.

To those who have listened to another 

when they needed to be heard.

To all who embrace their vulnerability

and who enter into compassion.

For you are the names and the faces

of my gratitude.

(from Infinite Power, Ekstasis 2016)

Ground it firmly in reality.

This is the fifth action.

The reality is yours to own. You are the owner of your life and your truth. You are free to express your beliefs but not to dictate or control the response you receive.

If you call out to a stranger "Merry Christmas" and they say they don't celebrate Christmas, you can feel offended or hurt, but it doesn't mean you are being criticized for celebrating Christmas.  It doesn't mean that everyone should be Christian so you don't have to feel bad for not knowing that other people might not share your experiences.

Also if you live in a country that worships and celebrates consumerism you can feel annoyed because that is not what Christmas means to you. You are free to not participate in the shopping orgy and you can even mention that to one who does, but this doesn't mean you are being forced to give up your religious beliefs.

If you live in North America and you have a high standard of living because you are white, male and able-bodied and you have worked hard, you might resent others for pointing out their experiences of discrimination but it doesn't mean they are making you feel guilty. It doesn't mean that there is no prejudice just because you have not experienced it.

In reality everyone suffers. Everyone has been hurt by someone and something. Many have suffered trauma and can't always keep that pain inside.

We all experience the world differently. There are no guarantees that life will be easy. Many know this already because they have lost their home, their family, their tribe, and must endure life in a place where they are not understood, not welcomed.

Justice and injustice are experienced locally. The power you have is limited to what you can do. It always comes back to this. No matter what  theories say about your worth and your future, no matter how privileged a small group of people may be, or the system that elevates or oppresses you, no matter how corrupt the world is - all you have, is what you can do.

This includes the way you think, the words you say, the beliefs you preach, the plans you make, the songs you sing and the people you love ... this is all you have. But it is a lot and the human drama is one that will continue until it dies.

Kindness helps.