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I recently learned of a suggestion that Canada should try and join the European Union (EU) in light of their current relationship with the United States. I find this quite interesting and think it merits at least some consideration.

The US is on a new path, which is their prerogative, that has resulted in a major downturn in their relationship with Canada (and Mexico, as well). When you consider that this path will continue for almost at least 4 more years, and that the current administration does not negotiate in good faith and favours ever-changing disruptive economic behaviour, it isn’t a bad idea for Canada to think about a bigger relationship with the EU and possibly even membership in the EU.  Canada has a strong connection to Europe given its European roots and history, existing friendly relationship, current trade, and, of course, Canada’s profound assistance in World Wars I and II.

The choice for Canada is to try and wait out the current US administration, meaning a potential of 4 years of serious economic trauma for the country, or, take immediate action to try and mitigate this by aggressively pursuing options with other countries or groups of countries.

The only thing that doesn’t change is change. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Things can turn in different directions in a blink of an eye. That’s the way it is. For me, Canada seeking new initiatives elsewhere than the United States makes good sense.    

An annual poll conducted by Gallup, the University of Oxford and the United Nations revealed that 70% of the world’s people did at least one act of kindness in the past month. The poll was conducted with wellbeing data from over 140 countries.

While I realize this poll has limitations, in a world that’s reported on through a very negative lens, this is a splash of “Spring-like” good news. As terrible as the world appears to be, and sadly often is, this is encouraging for “real” people everywhere. It’s inspiring to see there is still much kindness in the world and therefore maintain hope for humanity.

Not everyone wants to rule the world; they just want to live their lives in peace with some happiness, a happiness derived in part from being kind. That’s not asking too much, is it?  

After reviewing today’s news, no happiness to report. Lots of madness, but no happiness. Tell me again why we can’t live in peace and harmony.

Every human that has ever been or will ever be is a spiritual being. Spiritualism is the innate desire to “believe” in something profound and be guided by it. “Wait a minute,” I hear someone shout. “This is not true. I don’t believe in God”, says that person with a bit of pride. “I’m not spiritual.” This is incorrect. Just by acknowledging that you don’t believe in God indicates you have an innate spiritual nature. You can reject it, and that’s your prerogative, but, everyone has to choose some sort of path. Bob Dylan even sang about it.

Whether we admit it or not, we are nowhere near as powerful as we sometimes think we are. Ask any dead leader: king, queen, dictator, president, prime minister, CEO etc. We sometimes think small so we don’t have to think about the big questions relating to life and the Universe. Many of us recognize through our inherent spiritualism the fact that everything is incomprehensibly so much bigger than we are. This gives us a perspective on what is important. And there are those who try to move away from it by thinking they are as powerful as they think they are. That they can control everything. They cannot.

Life, as I suggested before, is incomprehensible. However, even the most despicable do have an ending like the rest of us. This may not be of much solace to the far too many people victimized by the despicable, but, in the end, they will, as they say in movie westerns, “meet their maker” and receive their comeuppance, and it will last for eternity.

I am delighted that astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally come home safely after their unintended lengthy residency at the International Space Station. Their wonderful demeanor while in space displayed great resiliency, warmth and professionalism. I have tried to put myself in their shoes in the past and realized what a difficult path they were walking. Welcome home.  

I’ve had some accomplishments. Some might even think I’ve done “pretty good.” I don’t say this at all in a boastful way. What I am about to say is quite the opposite. You see, these “trophy” accomplishments pale in comparison to my three biggest ones. Nothing else even comes close. By the way, there is nothing wrong with accomplishments. Certainly, take pride in them, as long as you are humble.

My three biggest accomplishments are as follows: number one, my son; number two, my grandson; number three, supporting a dear friend in the hospital. That’s it. These three mean more to me than all the others put together. Yes, the others were nice and sometimes fun, but nothing like these three. I am humbled, grateful, and will always treasure them. And, I think it’s interesting to note that like so many things in life, accomplishments can come in threes as well.

There are so, so many good people around the world doing wonderful things. I appreciate every one of them. However, the problem with good people is they have no desire to run the world even though they would be great at it. It’s the few not so good people who want to run the world. They have the malice, the spite, the narcissism, the cruelty, the greed, the lust for power, the sociopathic personality that drives them to this. They do not care about anyone else. Oh. And they’re not interested in changing.

For some, it’s just about the money. For others though, it’s about much more. Money is not enough. They want power and control over everyone and everything and use fear to paralyze people. They want to dole out retribution to those they feel have slighted them in some way, real or imagined.

This leads us to unpredictability from these few not so good people. You never know where you stand. Anything is possible on any given day. What was okay yesterday can suddenly become not okay today. No one, and I mean no one, is immune from their mean and ludicrous behaviour. However, I am rooting, as always, for the good people. It’s the good people that make life worth living.