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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Awarding the “peace” prize; playing cribbage; and my old friend Dwight….

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Well, I’m like most other people – not sure why U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I certainly don’t mind him winning it. He seems like a nice guy who’s filled with good intentions. But he’s really not done anything too huge on the peace front yet. In fact, he’s pushing for more soldiers in Afghanistan and I’m not sure that’s the direction we should be going. I’m pretty put out by the whole world scene, actually. Not sure the planet even deserves a “peace” prize. Sure is a lot of fightin’ and murderin’ and other bad stuff going on. And while I’m sure that everyone doing the fighting and murdering think they’re doing the right thing – and it’s somehow justified – I don’t really understand choosing the violence option. Somehow, we’ve got to learn to get along, folks. I don’t really understand why anyone would choose conflict if there is any other option. And, usually, there is. I know my friend Phil, who has travelled the world, and is much more worldly than I am, has told me that there are deep-seated hatreds involved in most of the conflicts around the world – stuff that goes back generations and centuries. But we’ve gotta somehow get over that kind of stuff. It was perhaps okay to be rattling sabers in the past because there were fewer of us and we were more spread out. But it today’s world, we’re constantly in each other’s faces – what happens on the other side of the world almost always has an impact over here. Wish there was something I could say or do that might help the situation….even a little. I love this planet and am deeply moved by the miracle of life. But so often we waste it. Somehow we’ve gotta get past it….and I wish there was an easy way to do that….

I watch Stephen Harper playing cribbage with a bunch of seniors and Michael Ignatieff is serving food in a “soup” kitchen and all’s well with the world in Canada. But all’s not well in Canada. Because while we live in what I believe is the best country in the world, we are also not getting it right. The fact we have homeless people and “soup” kitchens and food banks and all the trappings of poverty means we’re not getting it right. There’s one fundamental thing that all the well-to-do folks need to understand about poverty – absolutely no one “chooses” to be there. It’s just not something you would choose. And if you look into the deep dark corners of the life of someone who’s down and out, you’d find that some type of circumstance put them in that awful situation – and usually some circumstance beyond their control. Because if I’ve become convinced of one thing in my sort of long life, it’s that we really get tossed around by the fates. I caught a few minutes of Ivanka Trump on the TV promoting her new book – it’s about how you can get ahead in the world. Strange but true. I find myself wondering how she’d have made out with poor or even middle-class parents….perhaps she wouldn’t be quite as confident and have all the answers about what it takes to get ahead in life. Still, I think in a rich country like Canada, we should practice real compassion toward the people who are having a tough go. I would never mind paying taxes if I thought the money was going to put valid and efficient social systems in place. I guess I’m sort of a socialist. Surprise! Surprise! And I really don’t see what’s wrong with it. But that’s just me.

I lost another old friend this past week. Fellow by the name of Dwight Aljoe, who was a good friend back in the old days. He had a heart attack. I was not real close friends with Dwight – at least not for quite a while. But it still makes me think every time I hear about one of the old gang who is no longer here. It makes me remember back to when we were all young and life somehow seemed so much simpler. We thought we’d go on forever back in the old days. We thought it would never end and that we were living in a land of milk and honey. And sometimes – even today – I find myself wishing I could gather up the old friends and get everybody back together again and it would be like it was. But, of course, that can never happen. And, so, we keep on rolling and hope things go okay for a while longer. Rest well, Dwight…..we remember…

Well, weather has turned sharply colder these days and that means we’re heading down the slippery slope…..I’m always wishing for warmer weather and wish I could get more into the winter thing – it’s so Canadian….take care and remember…”Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may.”



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.