A Prayer from Angel Square

Merry Christmas! Again, I feel lucky. We have celebrated Christmas with our families. The season became even more special with the arrival of our grandchildren (and their parents) today. I'd like to follow up my last comments on the arrival of refugees, with a quote from one of my favourite Christmas books, Angel Square.

Angel Square is a novel, written in 1984 by local writer Brian Doyle. It's told from the perspective of twelve year old Tommy, who lives in the working class neighbourhood of Lowertown, here in Ottawa. The year is 1945. It's interesting to read about Ottawa in the 40's and compare Doyle's recollections with what my other has told me about that period. It's also alarming to read about the racial hatred that existed between Catholics, Protestants and Jews at that time. The simple blind prejudice seems ridiculous today. Relations between Catholics, Protestants (who uses that word today?) and Jews have certainly improved a great deal since that time.

And yet there are still problems of prejudice, fear and mistrust of anyone different. This new wave of refugees, is bringing out the very best and the very worst in North Americans. Of course I have been astonished at some of the rhetoric south of the border. Unfortunately Canada also had some pretty low moments this year with language such as the "barbaric cultural practices snitch line". Thankfully that did not come to pass. Over the past month, CBC television and radio have aired some very moving interviews, documentaries and reports on wonderful efforts being made to welcome refugees across Canada.

I recently attended a stage version of Angel Square. There is a Christmas Eve prayer near the end, that resonated with me. This was written in 1984 and the setting is 1945. Unfortunately, as we head into 2016, these words still fit.

"That night I went to bed early.
And I tried a prayer.
I had never tried a prayer before.
 I prayed for a nice time.
A time when nobody thought that some other person's face was funny look at and nobody laughed at other people's parents and said they were stupid-looking and nobody made fun of the way they talked and nobody thought somebody else wore funny-looking clothes or hateful clothes.
   And nobody got beat up because of the kind of hat they wore or because they were poor or because of the street they lived on.
  And nobody got spit on because they had different kinds of food in their lunch or their father came to meet them after school with a long coat on and maybe a beard.
  And nobody got their mitts stolen or got tripped in the snow because their names didn't sound right or they believed in some other kind of religion or read a different kind of bible or had freckles on their faces or had the wrong kind of hair or had to go home a different time from school or didn't have skates or did have skates or weren't allowed to play alleys on Saturday or on Sunday or were or got dunked in water at church or didn't swear or did swear or smelled funny or couldn't eat fish or had to eat fish or wore a hat in church or didn't wear a hat in church or said the Lord's prayer different or didn't say the Lord's prayer at all.
   And nobody got punched in the mouth because they had clean fingernails or fat lips or couldn't understand English or couldn't speak French or couldn't pronounce Hebrew.
   And there were no gangs waiting all the time...
   And you could carry a book along with you or a mouth organ...
   A time when maybe you liked a girl...
   A nice time.
  That's what I prayed for.
  The prayer might work, I thought.
  Or it might not.
  It was a mystery."

Ottawa, a happier city

I just cannot stop writing about this new government. Cabinet ministers have been busy, making announcements and changing directions. It has put a big smile on this city.

Take the proposed Monument to victims of communism as an example. Last week that story changed dramatically. Now, if you don't live in Ottawa this won't mean much to you, but it has been a big deal here. As you can read in the CBC piece, the monument was the Conservatives' idea. The NCC (National Capital Commission ) originally said they could have a site near the Garden of the Provinces, which is across from the National Library on Wellington Street. However, the Conservatives decided to put it right beside the Supreme Court Building. I won't bore you with all the details but this whole matter is an excellent example of how Harper's government operated. Many organizations, including the City of Ottawa, objected to the size and location of this monument. Those dissenting opinions did not matter. It was another "my way or the highway" move by Harper. If he would have been re-elected, the oversize monument would have been built, wherever he wanted it. The ironic thing is -  it is to be a monument to honour those victimized by Communism. The way the Harper government handled the whole thing certainly did not seem very democratic.

Anyhow, this past week, new minister Melanie Joly announced that the monument was being moved back to the Garden of the Provinces. Both the size of the monument and the government's contribution have been scaled back. Across the city you could hear a collective sigh of relief.

A friend of ours works in the Ministry of Health. He told me about the dramatic change of tone there. Civil servants are being asked for their opinions, their ideas, their expertise! Minister Jane Philpott recently conducted an online meeting with 8000 of the department employees, with a question and answer session included! Nothing like that had taken place in the previous ten years.

That's one of the main differences with Trudeau. We are getting to know his cabinet ministers. They are not merely puppets of the Prime Minister. Our local MP, Catherine McKenna seems to be off to a spectacular start with her participation in the Paris Climate Change talks. No longer is Canada the slacker in the environment portfolio.

I 'm not saying Trudeau and his team aren't making any mistakes. However, the general tone of his government is a welcome change. He has surrounded himself with some very talented people. Altogether they are giving many of us that "proud to be a Canadian" feeling again.

Perhaps no file has done this more than the refugee file. When I was in Toronto last month I got off the subway at the Yonge/Bloor interchange, perhaps one of the busiest pedestrian places in Canada. As I changed trains, among that throng of people, the words on the Statue of Liberty ran through my head: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses ..." In that moment, as I walked with people of every race and colour, I simply felt that we are all one.

And so it has been heart-warming to listen to Minister John McCallum when he speaks of refugees, when he visits refugee camps. To see Trudeau welcome refugees, to see Governor General David Johnson and his family welcoming refugees - this is the Canada that makes us feel proud. The world is in a sorry mess but in the middle of all that, there are reasons for hope. This government is trying to show us the way forward. Good for them.

Hello There

Greetings from Ottawa!

May I offer my humble apologies to those of you who have patiently checked this space for the last while, only to find that I have been a lazy slug. When I am lying in bed at night, trying to sleep and then again in the morning, as I contemplate the upcoming day.....then I am writing away in my tiny brain, fashioning very interesting posts. However, once my feet hit the floor and the day starts, writing goes to the bottom of the list. As usual, I resolve to do better, to be more consistent with these offerings.

Since my last post we have been busy with the usual, mundane, fall jobs: cleaning out the garage, putting up Christmas lights and storing a lot of stuff in the basement. Out of town visitors (my mother-in law, our daughter and grandchildren), Christmas shopping, church bazaars,  a Christmas cake-baking day with my mom and sisters, Pat's choir concert, and Christmas parties have also kept us busy.

During December it is wonderful to see so many people and to attend so many gatherings but it's too bad it is so condensed. I'd love it if a few of these parties were spread out into the bleak, uneventful weeks of January and February.Yet as I write that, I immediately remind myself that this is a silly, frivolous complaint. How lucky I am, to have these outings to attend.

 There was a day this week that really spoke to me about priorities. We had a repair person over to fix the remote on our gas fireplace. He couldn't fix it immediately because there were parts that needed to be ordered. We had a call the next day and were told that the unit  has been discontinued and the parts are no longer available. Therefore we can never have a working remote for the fireplace. If I want to turn it off or on, I have to heave myself off the couch and onto the floor, get down on my hands and knees and turn the dial up or down. I was pretty ticked off about that when I first heard the news. Poor me!

Two conversations happened right after that. I bumped into a neighbour who has two adult sons with autism. She told us, flat out, that she hates this time of year. It is so difficult for her and her family as the special events and changes in routine at her son's group home throw their family life into  complete turmoil. Life is often totally unpredictable for them, in this chaotic season. The next news came from a friend of ours, who has been living with cancer for many years. Now in hospital with pneumonia, she told us that chemo is no longer working for her.

Those two conversations gave me a much needed reality check. When I am tempted to complain about minor ailments, I think about these two women and what they are going through. Or I  look at the images of refugees on tv and ask myself, "How did I get so lucky?"

This resolve not to complain so much, to look at the bright side, can be applied over and over again. Last week we mopped up a minor flood in the basement, as our washer sprung a leak. It was a mess for sure. The good news is that we don't have to buy a new washer. It was only a worn out hose. We have had bad luck with stoves lately  (three in a dozen years), so the fact that our sixteen year old washer is still working, is a bonus for sure. The other good news about that washer flood is that our washer is in the basement. The repair person said that when he goes to houses where the washer is on the main or upper floors, flooding is much more of a problem.

For now, I will leave you with a photo of one of my favourite Christmas displays. This whimsical Santa is hanging from a tree at a nearby house. I couldn't help but stop and take a photo. The lights, the displays, the songs and the gatherings are all welcome treats!