The campus looks beautiful with a thick blanket
of snow, and more falling this morning.
Overseas, Canadians are famous for a few
things, including manners (notwithstanding the tempest in a teapot in Russia
regarding how dirty we play hockey,) and our genetic imperative to talk about
the weather. On the first point, a good American (now dual citizen) friend of
mine considers this his favourite Canadian joke: How to you get 50 drunken, rowdy Canadians out of the hotel pool at 2
am? … You say “Please get out of the pool.”
With respect to weather, maybe we talk
about it because it changes so much, and often has a profound impact on our
day-to-day lives? Or perhaps it is one of those great neutral subjects that we
can discuss daily and even disagree about without it being tied to any
potential personal conflict (unlike politics, religion, sex, etc.) One of the
great Canadian questions is whether someone prefers a cold snowy winter or a
milder green version? I am very much in the former camp and link a good
blizzard to beauty, play, quiet, slowing down the pace of life, and a sense of
energy that, to paraphrase Stephen Leacock, confirms despite winter’s chill
that we are very much alive.
Now that I am back at the office, and
before the energy level cranks up next week with the return of students and
faculty, it seems like a good time to reflect on the last while.
December is a bit of a surreal month and has
always seemed to be the focus of many huge events – both good and bad. Because
life is so busy (see my last two posts in December,) many of us aren’t able to
internalize what all these events really mean, let alone talk about them with
our children. And with the half-life of issues is being squeezed smaller and
smaller by the ever-increasing crush of information coming at us, some really big
things seem to sail by. The fiscal cliff – feared to be catastrophic for the
world’s largest economy – was temporarily solved less than 24 hours ago, but is
already being psychically passed-by. Canada’s semi-final loss at the World
Juniors Hockey Championship, which will drive the country into a mournful and
anxiety-laded haze for a few days, will go away. The Newtown shooting, which grabbed
the US by its collar and shook the country to its knees, was only 21 days ago, even
though it seems to me like much longer.
That is why the start of a new year is a
good time to look back. There is no shortage of year-in-review sports highlight
packages, “best of” packages, and lists. A recent CBC show asked what events
will be judged to have the most lasting impact on society? That is an excellent
question for our children. (What a great subject for a dinner table conversation involving the whole family.) What are the local, national and world events that
will go down as having the greatest effect … in human lives, emotionally, behavior-changing,
economically, politically, environmentally, or in other ways? And (perhaps more
importantly) why?
Here are some of the events that may be on the
list:
·
The US election
·
The rape/murder of the young
medical student in New Delhi
·
The ongoing civil war in Syria
·
Hurricane Sandy
·
The Newtown shooting
·
Quebec Corruption
·
Amanda Todd’s suicide related
to bullying and depression
·
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee
·
The London Olympics
·
The sinking of the Costa
Concordia
·
The campaign and shooting of
Malala Yousafsai in Pakistan
I also took a look back a year ago to see
what were judged as the most significant events in 2011:
·
The Arab Spring
·
The Japanese Earthquake and
Tsunami
·
The death of Steve Jobs
·
The death of Jack Layton
·
Harper election with a majority
·
The killing of Osama Bin Laden
·
William & Kate’s wedding
·
The crash of the KHL hockey
team’s plane
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