Red Cedar
More apocalypse, less angst
idolizing the rich
this morning there was a bus break-down or some such thing and so instead of taking the express bus from the ferry to work which travels mainly along the highway, i ended up on the 250 Horseshoe Bay bus which winds through the streets of West Vancouver. this route wends through the wealthiest municipalities in bc, block after block of waterfront mansions – testaments to consumption well beyond the limits of any perceived need rising out of the side of rock and perching on tiny islands in sheltered bays. i can’t help but stare at them, fascinated by the monstrousness of them, both in size and implication (for wealth this grossly displayed implies an assumed privilege over the needs of the majority of the world’s population). these are the people who honestly believe it is their birthright to own while others starve and thus destroy resources at a rate that should be considered criminal.
the rapt attention with which i watched these houses move by the bus windows reminded me of times during my upbringing when my parents would bundle us into the car to go for a drive which too often ended up on the streets of the uplands outside of victoria ogling the homes of the rich. the uplands, like west vancouver is full of old money mansions in all their colonial pomposity – and i was taught from a very young age, this was what all people aspired to – bombastic wealth without regard for others.
does it even matter?
although i honestly believe that it makes no difference whether bush or kerry run amerikkka (and thus the world), the announcement this morning that kerry has conceded and bush has another four years is actually making me ill.
uncivil
i think the only good outcome of today’s election would be civil war. 😈
lessons from water
revelation on the morning bus ride: rather than feeling as though i’m *in* water – i need to *be* water
drowning, submerged, in over my head – this is how i often feel as a union steward listening to the stories of aggrieved members. i am awash in their frustration, deluged by their heartbreak, carrying their load as if walking from a well with pails full. so much imagery of water as oppressor, as sorrow in the form of tears, as overwhelming in the injustice people face.
since i have returned to work, i have taken on two new stewarding cases – one which i have a great personal interest in (the other more procedural). after a meeting with the individual involved in the case i have the personal interest in, i found myself enveloped in a sadness i could not shake for the rest of the day – so diffiicult is it for me to accept that anyone should de demeaned or harassed in the working environment. this empathetic ability is simultaneously a strength and a limitation in my advocacy work – a strength because i am genuine with each person i represent and they feel listened to by me, but a limitation because i find it difficult to make a boundary between their emotions and mine – a river that runs from them into me, undammed.
Red Cedar 