A Nation Watches A Shooting
Recently, amidst the hype of Olympic coverage, the city of Toronto, and the country of Canada with them, watched in horror as a man was shot down in their own streets on live TV. Read the news clip here.

A man went into a food court, attacking and badly injuring his estranged wife, then in front of one of the hubs of inter-city transit, took another woman hostage at gunpoint. Footage of this quickly made it's way to CBC Newsworld who broadcasted the stand-off live. After negotiations failed, the man was downed by a sharp-shooter's bullet, and the hostage ran to safe waiting arms.

This event set off a stream of discussions (and an independent investigation) as to whether or not this was the appropriate solution to the matter. For me, it's tough to call any outcome the "best" one. Who wins here? Obviously not the man laying dead on the sidewalk. The police have not won, they have only made that discussion (a very difficult one for the ultimate decision maker, as well as the guy who pulls the trigger) after their negotiations have failed. The police exist to keep us safe and to make us feel safe, but who feels safe when the unthinkable has happened on their streets? Can anyone win from seeing a man shot in the head laying bleeding on the street? The hostage didn't win. She lost as soon as he grabbed her in the first place, when her day ended she was worse off than when it began. The wife didn't win for the same reasons. The whole ordeal only creates losers.

Am I saying that they shouldn't have shot him? Nobody knows what the perfect solution would have been, least of all me. I don't know if they tried everything in negotiation. I don't know if they had been properly trained for this. Hopefully they all see that a man being shot dead, in broad daylight, with hundreds of people watching, plus the thousands on TV, is horrible, whether he be a criminal or a victim of crime.

This event, as we found later, was premeditated. He left a tape, saying what he was going to do, and why. It seems to me then, that after shooting him, hasn't he won? He knew what he wanted to do, and knew what the consequences of those actions would be. Was he maybe waiting for the shot, hoping for the shot? Can we negotiate with someone who has a deathwish? I don't know. Right thing to do or not, this is a lose-lose situation.

   [ posted by William @ 5:10 PM ]

Give Thanks
I have it pretty good, we all do, and so we should be thankful. There are times however, when parts or our lives are not as perfect as we would like, and then we often are thankful that we are not worse off yet. It struck me recently, that this kind of anti-gratitude is foolish.

However, I still do it all the time. For example, I'm generally pretty content being single, but sometimes, say after going to a wedding, seeing a couple holding hands walking through a park, or having to cook another meal for myself, I can get a little down. That's generally when I try to look around give my anti-thanks. "I am thankful that I'm stuck in a loveless marriage or already divorced, I am thankful that my wife or child is not dying of cancer." I may as well just say that I am thankful that I am not in the shoes of whatever guy my age I see that is struggling.

Jesus once told his disciples of a Pharisee whose prayer ended with "and thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there." Prayer is personal, as are God's blessings to us. We need to be thankful for what we have, not for what we don't have. If we look at someone and can only be grateful that it's not us, then we are ill-equipped to meet their needs as friends and fellow community members. Aren't you essentially saying, "if I was that person, I wouldn't have anything for which to be thankful." If your thankfulness is always based on relative suffering, when things get worse, you'll have to look harder for people worse off than you.

"God thank you for the many things that I have, friends who love me, food in the cupboard, a roof over my head, clothes in my drawers, a car that still works, a blog that people read, money in the bank and a job that I'm good at. Help me also to see and respond with love to the suffering of others. Amen."

   [ posted by William @ 10:14 AM ]

Moonlit Nights
Tonight was muggy and warm, but the moon was full, and I decided to get on my bike. I brought my camera along just in case, so I decided to try it out. There is a night feature on my camera, but the pictures always turn out blurry. These pictures are also blurry, but they have a certain artistic quality about them, because ... well because I say so. Click on them for a closer look.

   [ posted by William @ 1:16 AM ]

Expressions
It's interesting to me to figure out why people talk the way that they do. Why do they use one word over another? What is the origin of that expression? Do they realize what is being conveyed when they say that? Given the nature of many common expressions, this post is more graphic than what I usually write.

Lately, I've thought about two expressions in particular. One that I started to use in jest among friends was, "so-and-so can go screw himself!" It appears in various forms, but it generally intends ill will or a lack of sympathy toward the other party. The tamer version of this would once have been, "go suck a lemon!" I remember hearing that initially, and wondering what was so bad about lemons. I understood that it was an insult, but after sucking a lemon on occasion, I found I quite liked it. I wonder if the more crass form of the insult has the same effect. It seems to me that most guys quite enjoy the opportunity to screw themselves, literally not figuratively. Sure there is deeper meaning to this insult, but on the surface, it can be quite harmlessly taken by the majority of men.

The other one, that was introduced to me more recently was the simile, "sweating like a whore in church." That brings to mind the question, should a prostitute be nervous in church? Jesus, the man whose life, death and resurrection is the reason churches gather, befriended many prostitutes. "Sweating like a whore hanging out with Jesus," would certainly lose it's meaning. It seems to me then, that "sweating like a whore in church" is not an insult to prostitutes, it is an insult to churches.

   [ posted by William @ 12:29 AM ]

You Can Really Start to Lose It
For the first time in my life, this past weekend I went to the Canadian National Exhibition. After having been through those buildings before, and having sent off fair queens and ambassadors to compete here, I had still never been.

On Saturday, with some family members, we headed into the big city for something to do. We were looking for something entertaining, and decided to head down to the Ex. In some ways, it was everything I expected it would be, and some ways, it was so much less. It wasn't my first choice, but at the same time I knew the rest of the crew would enjoy it.

Sadly, reality and fantasy have blended in my mind so much so, that these experiences become only relfections of video games I've played. Since my acquisition, I've become quite a master at Roller Coaster Tycoon, and so I recognize the moves that a good park manager makes. Every price was at the same time, semi-reasonable and quite profitable. I felt as though everyone knew that I was cheap, the lady selling and punching my ticket to get in, the woman that sold me my lunch, the various vendors and assorted carnie folk, and every step of the way, they mocked me. I could hear them saying, "you've already paid so much more money than you'll get back in entertainment value, come over here and spend a little more you sucker!" Maybe I should see somebody about these voices I'm hearing in my head.

I still have my ticket though, which is good for one re-entry. I don't think I'll be making it into the city though.

Walking around that day wasn't my idea of fun either, since the day before I had gone on an unnecessarily long bike trip. 65 kilometers in one day, which was more than I had done the entire summer up to that point, left me quite exhausted. My younger brother went from Aylmer to Tavistock, and I was supposed to meet him along the way. Far more grueling than the CN Tower climb.

One quick stop we made at the CNE, was one to the "Farm, Food, Fun" tent. We walked in and I said, "Man, this place is for city folk that don't know anything about farms." Then, one of my more city-ified sisters said, "yeah, we could run this display." We could have, so we went back out to see what games we didn't want to play, and what rides we didn't want to ride.

More than once I caught myself having to clean up the stereotypes of what I was going to say. "Man, these guys are really trying to Jew, I mean jip, I mean scheister, ... rip me off." Too many verbs in that context are racially degrading.

Seriously though, it was a decent time, not worth the money, but still fun.

   [ posted by William @ 12:09 AM ]

All My Life is a Stage
Likely the greatest accomplishment thus far in my life is a play that I wrote/co-wrote with a community group back home. After some recent theatrical involvement, and a recent bout of free time, I've decided to try my hand at playwriting again. This time will be completely different. With the first play I wrote, the whole process was made quite easy for me 1. the storyline was already selected, Mennonite history leading from the Reformation to modern time, 2. the whole project was underway, and it would ultimately be performed on stage, 3. I had a dull job that allowed me to reflect on my script at all times, 4. I rode the bus a lot, during which I would do most of my writing.
In that play, which was surprisingly successful, my writing had a few problems, 1. I wrote in too many characters, and 2. most of my characters were male (both those problems were more because of my desire to tell the story accurately, not necessarily any literary tendency of mine).
My recent exposure to community theatre, acting in one play, "Barn Talk" and watching a different one, "Cricket and Claudette", with the cast from "Barn Talk", has been with smaller casts and one set. That in mind, I'm writing a one set play. I feel that I can't tell the story (and I can't just write a play, there has to be a story worth telling, entertainment in itself isn't a good enough reason to put on a play) with a small cast. So it'll be set in a small town coffee shop, and it'll be a coming of age story. Hopefully when I'm done with it, 1. I'll be happy with it enough to give it to someone else, 2. someone else will think it's worth putting on, and 3. people watching it enjoy it.
Wish me luck.

   [ posted by William @ 6:34 AM ]

What a Wicked Thing to Do
I've become more cynical in my viewing of commercials lately, partly because I am becoming increasingly frustrated with materialism of them and of our society, and partly because of my newfound critical thinking. I still enjoy some commercials, like the one where the guy kisses his girlfriend's grandmother twice really long on the lips and says, "Let's Eat!". I also enjoy watching Tim Horton's commercials fluctuate between epicly hilarious and craptacular ("then I ate the bowl" is a classic commercial line, untouchably so).

I've noticed something new though. I don't know if this is a new trend that I've noticed, or something I've finally clued into now. In one commercial, a guy is sitting on a couch holding a Heineken in the hand that is attached to the arm that his girlfriend has fallen asleep on. In the other one a guy an a girl, presumably a couple, are eating their McDonald's meals when the guy unsuccessfully starts looking for his free toy. The merits of these commercials and the quality of their products aside, they have something in common. The couples in these commercials are inter-racial. In marketing, very little of what you see is unintentional. It makes me wonder if corporations have stopped shying away from displaying this portion of society, if they are trying to brand themselves as open and accepting of all, if they are trying to reach specifically to this niche market, or if it's simply coincidental. Help me out here, have there been inter-racial couples on commercials well before this? Am I a bigot for thinking this is a big deal, or am I clearly not a bigot because it took me this long to clue in?

   [ posted by William @ 7:09 PM ]

Princesses, Popcorn and Powder Puffs
Put those three things together, and it can only mean one thing, the return of the Aylmer Fair. Generally, I've been in Kitchener-Waterloo and haven't had a vehicle so traveling back and forth would not always be easy for me. This year however, my brother has asked me to help him lay ceramic tile in a room of his house, so we are doing that on Friday, and I get to stay for the Fair on Saturday.

Since I first started going to the Fair, the main attraction has changed from Paul Riddell's Stunt Devils, a bunch of guys standing on the motorcycles they're driving or jumping in and out of moving trucks etc., to the Demolition Derby. This year features two nights of Demolition action. If you've never been lucky enough to attend one, essentially guys get to bring in their cars, having only made minor adjustments (removal of all glass is mandatory, decorating the car is rewarded, and you can't really re-enforce any more than the battery). Groups of 8 or so cars are put in the ring (a dirt track surrounded by concrete dividers, and they bash into each other until only one car is still driving. It's great fun, and if you sit close enough, you might get mud and/or random car parts flung in your direction. A good time is had by all. Don't get thinking that this is solely a male endeavour, there is one round of ladies, called the Powder Puff round.

The car that's decorated the nicest (as chosen by the Fair Queen) gets a prize. Officially it's the Aylmer Fair Ambassador, but now in keeping with our age of gender equality, we have a gender neutral title for a position that no guy dares to have. It was a guy the first year that it was Ambassador instead of Queen, but all women since then.

It's not quite the now when I go to the fair, since I'm too old to enjoy the candy, and too cheap to enjoy the rides, but that's life. As long as I get to smell exhaust and listen to crunching metal tomorrow, that's all I'll need.

   [ posted by William @ 2:53 PM ]

T-Dubs Pub
Those in the know will have figured out that my title has to do with the recently completed "reality show" Joe Schmoe 2. In this show, two "schmoes" are put into a reality show where everyone else is acting, and they are the joke. Whether you've watched the show or not, you may find my observations relevant to life in general.

The whole show seemed to build up to the moment that the joke was revealed, and fittingly, I find that moment the most deserving of comment.
1. Tim was obviously upset, but masked it well, and then seemed to get over it pretty quickly. Combining the realization that everyone around you for two weeks has been lying to you with the embarrassment of looking like an idiot and then try to smooth it over with $100,000 and it won't all fit. He got over it soon, and soon reverted to the guy that finds he has to talk his way through things to look in control.
2. Amanda's reaction was tougher to gauge, but here is my opinion. She didn't like Austin, and quickly became a contestant rather than a suitor. She began acting like she cared about him, both to improve her odds of winning and to not look shallow on TV. I think her thought process went something like this, "What? I've been lied to this whole time? Wait a second, playing the fool is easier to take than the gold-digger I've become over the last few days after realizing that I didn't like Austin."
3. Bryce made the show, so to bring him back to close the deal was a great idea.

4. The apologies at the end seemed either contradictory or unnecessary, I'm not sure which. Lying should be either justifiable and thus requiring no apologies, or inexcusable no matter how profitable.
5. The classic English poet John Donne penned the words, "think not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." A while ago, I swore off "reality TV", in fact I never liked it. Walking away from this last episode, having watched all of them, I felt a little cheated. I could hear Donne saying to me, "Don't think that Tim and Amanda are the Schmoes, they have $100,000 and newfound celebrity status, you've just wasted all that time with nothing to show for it, you're the schmoe."

   [ posted by William @ 11:46 PM ]

Lunchbox of Faith
Recently, my church conference, Mennonite Church Canada had it's annual conference in Winkler, Manitoba. The keynote speaker, a man for whom I have profound respect, was Tom Yoder Neufeld. Using the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, he compares it to our various crises, which applies to our conference but also to each of us in our own lives.

"The only way you can see the connection between enthusiastic generosity and extreme poverty is if you know that what you have to offer Jesus is never the measure of what is possible. Our gifts will never be more than a few fish and few buns. But our offering of them makes the miracle of multiplication possible.

As Mennonite Church Canada we have come through a time of financial turbulence. We are in the midst of ethical and theological turbulence. And we are tempted to think that our success in dealing with these issues will be the result of our resources, our planning and shaping. It won't be!"

Yes, we are right to strategize, organize, manage, talk. We know that these are themselves gifts of the Spirit. But we are dead wrong to think that they are anything more than a lunch bag of the raw stuff Jesus needs to make manna. They are never the measure of what God will do with what we bring. And that is the supremely good news!"

   [ posted by William @ 2:38 PM ]

Painting with the Toronto brush
All of us have our hot-button issues and we often get branded as radical for it. There is one opinion that I hold that sets me aside, and it started to come to the forefront when I started University. I met people who were not from Toronto, but when I referred to a map, their homes were in what I called Toronto. My second year roomate in particular swore up and down that he was from Oakville, and not Toronto. After years of friendship, he has since come around to my way of thinking, that Oakville is Toronto.

Other friends have been much less understanding, and they absolutely refuse to accept that Oakville, Mississauga, Ajax and North York are all Toronto. Of course I am not denying the existence of the geographically defined borders, nor do I attempt to undermine the work of various city councils that run these communities. What's being disputed here, isn't the accuracy of the statement, "I am not from Toronto", but the relevance of it.

If someone tells me they are from Auburn Hills, Michigan, that doesn't mean they aren't from Detroit. If someone says they are from Chesterfield, Missouri, they can still be from St. Louis. Someone claiming to from Chingford, England is at the same time a resident of London. The rest of us define Vancouver as all of the yellow stuff on the map around the dot indicating Vancouver.

If my roomate had pointed to his home on a wordless map of Canada, close the intersection of Winston Churchill Boulevard and Dundas, 75-80 percent of Canadians would identify that as Toronto. In a black and white world, then yes, we would trust the word of the local resident than the opinion of the mass majority. The truth however lies somewhere in between. The entity of Toronto is not limited to the geographic borders or the jurisdiction of the government that administers it. Cities are landmarks for us also, and the farther away we are, the bigger they are to us.

   [ posted by William @ 2:04 PM ]