Blog or white ... because it never is.

Yesterday was a very significant day in Canadian history.  100 years ago, the Halifax explosion happened.  2000 people lost their lives during the explosion and an additional 9000 were injured.  Despite the extent of this disaster, so many things occurred.  As many were left blind following the explosion, a desire to help ultimately led to the creation of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.  The casualties would have been worse if a telegraph operator hadn't diverted a train at the last moment before he died a selfless hero.  Medical personnel from Boston came to help creating a lasting friendship between Halifax and Boston.  Halifax is still thinking their cousins south of the border.  New and safer shipping regulations were developed.  From all accounts, this tragedy brought out the best in people.  23 years ago yesterday, the Montreal Massacre where 14 lives were ended simply because a struggling man blamed women for ev...

Last week's episode of Law and Order SVU was gripping.  It portrayed very well in a 42 minute episode (18 minutes of commercials) one of the complex dynamic of living in a toxic family.  It happened on the day of a father's funeral.   It sounded like the family was well off, as the father was a surgeon who helped many people.  The mother was present and there were two daughters.  One daughter was sexually abused by her father; the other wasn't.  The one who wasn't ended up killing a man who reminded her of her father as she could never reconcile her jealousy of her sister for being chosen by her father.  I worked as an Addictions Counsellor for three years in a small town.  In that three years, I felt like I knew more than I wanted about everyone in town.   I remember one man came to see me claiming he was suffering from alcoholism.   He sat in my office once a week for about 4 weeks saying he had something to t...

I grew up in a small town.  Not just any small town, but "the friendly town of progress and beauty".  When you grow up in a small town, things are often done differently.  A grew up several decades ago.  I am fairly confident that my experience growing up was very different from how children grow up today.  It was a week day.  I was at school and my dad was working.  My mom got a phone call in the morning from the post office saying that I had a registered letter from New York.  I am sure my mom fainted and then called my father with the news.   He left work and went straight to the post office to sign for this letter for me and bring it home.   At that time, parents just couldn't sign a child out of school so they waited for me to come home.  It was from Conde Nast publications in New York addressed to me.  What was I doing getting a letter from New York?  I opened the letter and the first thing that fell ...