To our friendly, neighbourhood members of Parliament whose one goal in their work, we are told often, is the public interest and the common good.
We believe you are joining us as we enter a severe belt-tightening era, so we present here some tales—what-to-do and what-not-to-do—which we hope will help in your deliberations aimed at finding the shovel-ready trail called the people.
People matter, above all we trust you’ll remember, people matter! Oh, and anonymous has a point when they say it’s amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.
An accident report ...
A local truck driver was asked to explain a collision to the police.
“I was backing out of Fred’s Body Shop. And by the time I had backed far enough to see what was coming, it already had.”
Boy, if that doesn’t sound like an explanation from those CEOs and other stock market experts who put us into this recession, I don’t know what does. Do you? So are they in your sights of accountability?
Sometimes the pinnacle of fame and the height of folly are twin peaks.
Ah, ‘twas ever thus ...
The throne speech was being read Monday when, leafing haphazardly through Francis Gay’s 1969 Friendship Book, Jimmy Gilhooley’s story came to eye.
Jimmy’s story I didn’t know. The throne speech was old, leaked news.
Jimmy was 11 years old when he began working in a Scottish coal mine. Shortly after, a serious accident in the pit trapped him under tons of rock, badly injuring his legs.
Over the years doctors did all they could; eventually they said they could do more.
Jimmy made up his mind to give his mother a New Year’s present she would never forget. He left the bed, gritting his teeth, holding onto furniture; he took one faltering step after another. He kept at it till the last day of the year.
When the New Year was upon them Mrs. Gilhooley heard a step at the kitchen door, and opening it was her son she thought would never walk again.
If you’re hoping for a miracle in this new year, remember it will never happen unless, like Jimmy Gilhooley, you’re prepared to do something about it yourself.
Thanks to those overpaid CEOs and other “experts,” we’re about to enter our own do-it-yourself world of sessions, concession, recession, depression, even secession. We do hope we’ll not be alone on this recession trail.
No one can whistle a symphony.
It takes an orchestra to play it.
(H.E. Luccock)
Avalanche in waiting . . .
A lady named Vesta Kelly commented that “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.”
Right you are, Vesta, they make good snow people, ski runs, snowmachine adventures and the like, and they trigger avalanches too, which, as you know, are messy events. We may be OK, but the Tricky Triumvirate is still lurking in the shadows. They’re a sticky-wicket which could trigger a political avalanche? At our peril! Yours too!
It is not enough for a man to know how to ride; he must also know how to fall.
First Nation saying.
A belt tightening idea from a truly contributing Canadian…
The story is told that Sir Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin, was moved from a tiny office at the U of Toronto to a more spacious and lavish one.
“The one thing I dread,” he said, “is affluence. I have a lovely office now, with pictures on the wall, a swivel chair and I can’t do anything.”
May your dread of affluence match his!
The bigger your head becomes, the easier it is to fill your shoes.
Irish stew…
“Twas a small restaurant. Irish stew was featured. The owner asked how hot we liked it. “How hot can you get it?” Niel asked.
“I can heat it so you can eat it, or I can heat it so you can visit it awhile,” he said.
Visiting time is over, the stew’s ice-cold and a P.E.I. electrical shop motto “The hours of work is until the work isn’t,” will, we trust, be your work mantra from this day forward until we’re all back to work! Politicians working less than two weeks since June ‘08 hasn’t helped their dedication record!
A tip of the hat to whoever said, “Don’t be troubled if the temptation to give advice is irresistible, because the ability to ignore it is universal.”