Wednesday 31 December 2014

On The New Year

There's something to be said for the end of the year... that moment of simultaneously looking forwards and back.

If I knew what I know now at the end of 2013, I would have spent more time in the looking back than the looking forward.

Alas that was last year and time, as we know, waits for no man. So we stand on the cusp of 2015 and I look backwards with the clarity of one whose glasses are tinted by time and also with joy and disappointment.

I look forward with a hint of skepticism, remembering the heart-thumping anticipation of past New Year's Eves and how much of it was more optimistic than warranted.

Looking back more than forward, however cynical it sounds, gives me a chance to review.  To look for the lessons I learned and the ones that I missed.  To consider the roster of people I have spent my time with and those who I allowed to fall by the wayside. To reconsider the choices I made from the light of a new day and reveal how emotion, or lack thereof, influenced me duly or unduly.

Looking forward, in this moment, I wish I was one who believed in New Year's resolutions.  Who with hope and good intention could vow to be or become something. But I have never been this person and really, if I have to wait until December 31st to make vows to myself and the universe, how important could they be?

I would like to say that I learned a lot in 2014.  I hope I have.  Some of the lessons have been hard, some of the teachers have been unexpected, some of the pathways have been dark and treacherous. I would not like to revisit some of the emotional roads I have traveled but 2015 awaits and with it, I'm sure, new lessons and teachers and roads.

You who have been a part of 2014, thank you.

Those with whom my path will cross in 2015, let's go!

Happy New Year to you all!

Friday 5 December 2014

The Wind

The Wind


Wind hurls
against window
Shakes walls
Rattles pane
Scurries children
Alarms adults.

Strong gusts
Compete,
Dance,
Probe,
Seek,
Retreat.

Return determined
Tree limb held aloft
Glass breaks
Allowing
Winds of change
To enter.

- Vera

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Black Friday...Still?

I get the Black Friday hype...I get that people want to make as many Christmas purchases as possible as cheaply as possible.

In a country with minimum wages which run from $5.15 an hour in Arkansas to $9.50 an hour in DC*, lining up for 6 or even 12 hours to potentially save hundreds of dollars on electronic items is well worth sacrificing sleep for.

There have been many years that I have considered crossing the border to experience the energy and excitement.  Imagine hundreds of people in a frenzied dash for a limited number of items that they can't afford and or don't need.

The desperation alone of trying to make their dollar stretch as far as they imagine the child/ren's smiles when they unwrap that coveted item from under the tree is both attractive and repelling. I have never managed to convince myself that I wanted any single or combination of items enough to witness such sheer desire for stuff.

In the last few years, Black Friday has managed to creep its way across the border. I forgive Canadian retailers for jumping on the bandwagon in an effort to exploit the US holiday and boost their sales.

I have a problem though...it's Wednesday and I am still hearing Black Friday ads on the radio!

Black Friday savings are supposed to be rock bottom unsustainable prices that are so big and so deep that they only come once a year...for one day, sometimes two...three max.

After that, it's just your everyday run of the mill weekly flyer sale.

After that, they're telling me that I'm a victim of their marketing scam.

I don't like being victimized. Any retailer I hear still running Black Friday (radio or print ads) will go on my boycott list and have to sustain itself without my measly dollars.

Take that!


*http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-minimum-wage-chart.aspx