Dear God: please don't let it snow on a Sunday

Living in the the "green" belt of BC, snow comes perhaps twice a year and usually, a light dusting at worst. Here today. Gone tomorrow.

That said, we have been blasted by Mother Nature a few times in the past decade and have been completely paralyzed - our ineptitude and anguish drowned out by the loud snickers and snorts of Canadians elsewhere. Our comeuppance usually arrives in the form of a high flower count in late-February.

Our fair city is adapting to climate change, however, and so, when the latest wintry blast blew somewhat unexpectedly in the early hours of morning yesterday, Victorians were basically back on their feet by this morning.

Well, let's say some Victorians were back on their feet. Those with wheels on their strollers or wheelchairs or those with casts, canes, crutches, unsteady feet, high heels or just plain common sense took one look at the minefields the sidewalks in their neighbourhoods had become and beat a hasty retreat back inside.

My youngest and I crunched and tiptoed and slid to school this morning, along the ice-pocked sidewalks of our urban-residential neighbourhood. He, brashly pushing forth like any five-year old with some pluck, sturdy boots, and a close proximity to the ground should. Me, less so -older, wiser, fragile bones reluctant.

Yesterday was smooth sailing by today's comparison. Soft, wet snow. The smush and crunch of boots. If not driving or cycling, your chances of calamity were slim. Of course, for those who have any sense whatsoever know, if you didn't shovel and clear your sidewalk yesterday, with an overnight forecast of more snow and -7 degrees, those same pathways would be deadly today. Not clearing your sidewalk is basically telling your neighbours to f*ck off and break a leg.

I think it goes without saying that we do not expect people who are incapable or unable of clearing their sidewalks to do so. Being a lazy a*s does not qualify as a good excuse. Nor does being a renter. Nor does worshipping God. The single worst perpetrators of sidewalk sabotage by apathy in my neighbourhood? Houses of the holy.

Um, are you there, God? It's me, Fiona. Nope, don't have my period. No, not worried about kissing Sam in 4th grade. Um, please don't send me to Hell just for this but, um, your peeps are not doing their civic duty and I'm pissed.

The bricks and mortar that occasionally house your faithful sit on larger, longish corner lots. With two longish sidewalk sides. On snowy, inclement weather days, these lengths of sidewalk lie embarrassingly and treacherously unshovelled. Uncleared. Ice-pocked. Hazardous. Pray tell why they are not cleared? Are you in our hearts always, but in church only on Sundays? I know someone was there, I saw footprints in the snow exiting from the side door. Do your worshippers only kneel, not scoop or sweep? Do they pretend not to see their church as they walk their kids to school? Cough and look the other way?

Listen, I'm not trying to judge you or anything but I'm not fast or strong enough to catch every able and un-able being that is trying to pick his or her way across the icy path that is your threshold.

I know, I know - it's a weekday. I feel your pain. Faith these days seems to be practiced only on Christmas Eve and Sundays.

Dear God: I pray it snows this Sunday, so everyone can walk home without falling on their arses.

Love the Chilis:

	Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Snow .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Say It Like You Mean It Dammit

In a recent Globe and Mail piece, Ian Brown wrote about public speaking and political rhetoric and reflects, mainly, that well, the speech-making of our modern-day leaders sucks. Brown quotes one of Winston Churchill's powerful rallying cries:

"You ask, 'What is our policy?' I will say: it is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that god can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. "

I imagine Brown quoted this in its entirety for the same reason I have. Churchill's words are unequivocal. They are bare. They are terrifying. They are truthful. They don't give one fig what spin the newspaper might put on them.

Brown, as my husband did over coffee this morning, conceded that Churchill had a war as a dramatic, galvanizing backdrop. Brown and my husband also suggested that we don't trust our leaders anymore, so instead of being galvanized into action by their words, we roll our eyes and say, whatever.

Blame Wikileaks; blame the media. Hell, blame the economy, the schools, the parents, the weather - whatever floats your boat. Brown writes that President Obama is one of the better speakers on Earth - but we are not receptive to [his rhetoric]. I disagree. A great speaker creates a receptive audience. Our leaders and speakers today make tepid calls to action, if at all. In trying to predict what the spinners might spin, all content is stripped of substance.

There doesn't have to be a war going on to be passionate about something, to be brutally truthful about something, to inspire your people into action. As it happens, there are many current, ongoing conflicts around the world that fall under the banner of "monstrous tyranny". As it happens, there is no shortage of difficult issues or problems that are not scattered in a minefield of political correctness.

Leaders, shout clean and clear your policies on human kindness, on work ethic, on common human values and concerns.

Imagine bellowing:

"You ask, 'What is our policy?' I will say: it is to wage war on child poverty with all our might and with all the strength that our faith can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. " You ask, 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. "

You are not just our governors, you are our leaders - inspire us. Scare us a little. Galvanize us.

Let the media muddy the waters if they wish but it's your job to say it like it is and say it like you mean it. Do your job, dammit.

	Muse - Uprising .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine