Dear Santa …

(sigh).  Yes, I know.  It’s probably way too late in the game to be writing you — Christmas is just days away now.  But I’m hoping that, somehow, you’ve still got a miracle or two up your fur-trimmed sleeve.  We sure could use one.

You’re probably surprised to hear from me anyway, me being Jewish and all.  But honestly, if ever there was a time to put religion aside and start thinking as ‘one’, this has to be it.

Relax, Santa, it’s not gifts I’m after.  Not the usual kind, anyway.  So there’s no last-minute shopping for you, Mrs. Claus or the elves to do.  No wrapping either.  On the

Hanging on for dear life …

Me. The poster child for looking on the bright side. Positive thinking. Seeing the glass half full. A true believer in everything working out in the end. Me. That one. That girl. That woman.

Not so much at the moment, though. I’ve got to admit I’m struggling. So much bad news. Everywhere you turn. It’s absolutely unavoidable. We are just in one helluva mess. The whole world. All of us.

So much hatred. So much prejudice. So much anger. So much violence. So much bloodshed. So much death. So much destruction. So much rubble. So much despair. So much unrest. So much imbalance. So much poverty. So much hunger. So much misery. So much suffering. So much fear. So much grief. So many tears. So many scars. So much injustice.

So little hope.

So little respect. For each other. For life. For human rights. For freedom. Maybe even for ourselves.

Such a crisis.

There has to be something we can do. Why aren’t we?

Why aren’t we marching on our Nations’ capitals? Why aren’t we more selective about who we elect? Why don’t we demand more from them? Why don’t we hold

Day 200. Trying Times

Yesterday a reader commented, on my post, about avoiding the news for the last few months, because of how depressing it is.  It’s true.  It’s terribly disillusioning.  To prove it, I decided to get yesterday’s Globe & Mail out of my recycling bin and give the headlines a quick scan.  To see if I could find anything remotely positive or pleasant:

Let’s start with the front page.  “Why Generation Y Should Fear Retirement”.  Hmmm.  Shoot me now.  Not that I’m a young adult, but still.  Moving further down the page, “SNC bribery probe widens to Algeria”.  Not exactly cheerful, either.

So then I checked the index, to get an idea of what I had to look forward to, inside the paper.  Not much, as it turned out. “Montreal’s mayor declares he is not under investigation after a raid at City Hall by anti-corruption police.”  “Ottawa’s new ambassador of religious freedoms is at risk of being marginalized by Foreign Affairs, an expert warns”.

Jumping for joy yet?  NOT!

“Former US. congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of the famous civil-rights leader, pleads guilty to spending $750,000 in campaign funds in personal luxuries.  “A day after home crowds booed the team off the ice, the Buffalo Sabres