The other day, one of the students from the summer class and I had an interesting discussion about Canadians and their place in the world. He said that he thinks Canadians are programmed to be comfortable and that they don't take the time to care about the big issues in the world. They get up in the morning and join the other commuters to work, work all day and come home too tired to think about anything else, any of the big world issues. We only care that we are warm and comfortable, and we trust someone else will handle the big world problems.
That sounds a little sad to me. Iwould hope that is not true. However, it is true that most of us feel we don't have time to do important things, and that we are encouraged to take short cuts, and make our lives more convenient in any way we can. One of the ways I fell into that trap is with making food. I spent a lot of money, and gained a lot of weight, because I didn't think that I had time to cook for myself. So I ate a lot at restaurants, and ate convenient foods, and as a result was not any happier and certainly not healthier.
So, I think that we can make whatever changes that are important to us, regardless of how hard it is.
The Fifth Week at NAIT
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Last Friday, we finished Business Mathematics final test,everyone well down!
Louisa has a rich teaching experience, she taught us very clear.
From this week ...
14 years ago
2 comments:
I'm totally with you. We are not created just to work, eat and sleep, for sure we have a mission. If everyone of us changes just one thing during his life, then imagine what the world will be.
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! Am pretty sure that what will follow the realization is the action. Enjoy your home cooked foods! Personally, I find cooking therapeutic. Not only that you will be able to save, you will really have a say on the food that you are going to eat.
On the issue of "Canadian not caring about world issues" I think, this is the general perception. This is how I looked at Canada before. "They are not targetted by terrorist because Canada does not want to be involved". This could be the perception because we are always compared with America which all of the time is all over the place.
However, after being here in Canada for a short period of time, I come to realize that this is not entirely true. Canada is involved but chooses to be involved not the political or noisy way. This is probably the reason why after being branded as "cold" on issues, we are still a member of G8, an active member of UN, and one of the few countries to give big economic support to developing or disaster stricken nations. Who makes this happen? The individual taxpayers.
Canadians are silent workers and are involved in every aspect of world issues. Al Gore may have a very big presentation about climate change that sparks actions but it is Canada I believe who is acting boldly on this issue. Canada is spending billions for recycling. Alberta government has budgetted and will put into implementation expensive carbon projects. This for me are silent, bold actions of involvement to world issues.
For filipinos here in Canada who are sending billions in remittance which is sustaining Philippine economy is another example of being involved. I'm sure this is true with other immigrants too.
Canada to be seen as "cold or not involved" is a superficial perception. At the heart of every Canadian is a desire to better himself and better the world in a non political or silent way which for me is the best way. This way strikes the problem directly without wasting too much energy in the process.
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