Here is a really good rundown of the problem of under-treating pain patients and the persecution of the doctors that treat them. I have to remember to keep tabs of Pete over at Drug War Rant. There is some really good stuff over there.
While it is not a secret that I am a non-believer in any kind of supernatural or religious belief, I am usually inclined to keep my opinions to myself. You won’t find me standing on a street corner holding up the latest edition of the Watchtower and you won’t find me hassling people about being Christiana that are obviously uninterested in talking to me. I don’t hand out pamphlets telling people that belief in religion is a mass delusion. I have better things to do that try to proselytize. I’m lazy. So when I was helping my kid do her paper route today and I saw the two young looking fellows in their neat white shirts and black pants and name-tags coming, I hoped they would keep walking. Mormons on the prowl! I decided to do what I always do when I try to avoid talking to somebody that I find unpleasant: avoid eye-contact or fiddle with my phone and be really rude and hope they take the hint. Childish? Yes, but come on. Pushy people have it coming.
You have to understand that Saskatoon is swarming with Mormons lately. Every year, a new batch comes up from Salt Lake City, eager to impart their Christian values on a gullible populace. I have had many conversations with them over the years and I have to give them credit for persistence. I am stubborn, loud-mouthed and opinionated and they have successfully worn me down many times. If you say “How do you explain the dinosaurs?” they come back with some scripture quotations about testing your faith or something. It’s far too confusing for my puny brain to sort out. They sure do know how to talk in circles without saying anything. It never fails to amaze me.
The two young fellows were sizing me up and giving me compliments for getting my kid to work. Praising your kids is the oldest trick in the book. They probably think I am a single mom. Mormons always go for the single moms because they are all poor, single and desperate for a man and therefore vulnerable to brainwashing. Since I left my home unattended by a man I must be single. They also petted my dog and told me he is cute. I was talking to them and being polite while I was waiting for Katy to get finished dropping off her papers. I was hoping they would go away after she came back and I started walking away but they just kept talking and talking. Oh jeez, they were determined to talk to me, no matter how uninterested I tried to be. They kept up with the fake politeness until they successfully introduced themselves and shook hands with me. Great. Now I have no choice but to engage on religion and I got nothing witty or funny to say. This sucks. Anyway, he pulls his business card out of his pocket and hands it to me. I explain to him that it is no use because I don’t believe in any of it. I know there is no God. There is absolutely no proof of his existence anywhere. He seemed incredulous that I would say such a thing and asked me if I was sure of that. I told him “I have never been more sure of anything in my entire life. Take care!” And we walked away. They finally took the hint.
This is what I should have said:
“I feel sorry for you because you have been successfully brain-washed into propagating a dangerous cult. The only reason you are here right now trying to convince me that you have all the answers was a coincidence of birth. If you had been born in a different part of the world with different parents and a different upbringing, you would be a different kind of Christian or you might be a Buddhist, Muslim or a Jew. There is no God, accept it and move on with your life!”
The thought occurs to me that Mormons use the same tactics as salespeople to win your trust. Compliments and praise, being nice to your kid and your dog. There must be a handbook that these people use.
When we went back to school shopping this year, I saw that “Data traveller” was on the supply list. I thought it was kind of silly to have one, as it is just something to lose. We own about three data travellers and I couldn’t find a single one. I am very cheap and I told my child, who is ten years old, to use her email to send herself files if she needs to do homework. After school had begun, Katy informed me that she was not allowed to use email. This seemed rather absurd to me. Why would the schools prevent kids from having email? I caved and bought a data traveller, which only works on my laptop. What good is it to have a data traveller that won’t work on her computer? So I had a conversation with the teacher about this new rule. It appears that the school division does not want kids using email in class, so their solution to this problem is to not allow kids to use email at all. She will allow my child to use email to send her homework assignments home, so common sense did prevail in this case. But it got me thinking.
I showed my kids how to use email as soon as they asked for it. I think Katy was about four or five when I helped her get her first hotmail account, which she still has. Same with my oldest daughter Hannah. Being the overly permissive parent that I am, I thought that they should have email if they want it. I told them how to use email safely and gave them the typical internet safety mom speech: “Never meet up with someone that you don’t know from the internet” and all that good stuff until they were giving me the mighty eyeroll and the exasperated “Mom! We aren’t idiots!”. I used to think that I should have their passwords and spy on the kids and what they do online. I did do that for a little while but then I realized that I trust my kids. They are smart kids and are not going to do anything stupid. And life is too short to spend all my free time spying on them.
I know some parents that do not allow their children to have email and I know many parents that do. It just makes me wonder what is reasonable. I really feel strongly that kids should be allowed to have email if they want it but maybe there is another angle that I am missing here.
Just when you thought I would never update this dead blog, I come back to bring the internet some of the awesome that it so desperately needs. And to make things even more interesting, I have stopped by to let you all know how completely wrong I am about something that annoys me.
I know! I have never been wrong before and I sure hope to never be wrong again.
It goes like this. I am one of those uptight do-gooders that is often upset about things that I find mean and insulting. Especially things that can be interpreted as racist and sexist. The latest atrocity that the world has inflicted me with is this:
This picture is the logo for Bedford Road Collegiate Institute the high school that my eldest child currently attends. When you walk around the school, you see this logo absolutely everywhere. The school team name is “Bedford Redmen”. The “men” part of the name excludes half the population, you may or may not notice. I suppose I thought it possible that there could be a more fitting, more positive logo could be chosen. I felt that it is yet another example of white culture stealing a First Nations image.
But then I got some schooling! Apparently I am not the only person in the neighborhood that disliked this logo and wanted to go with something more positive. When the gym was built in the school, there was a big debate about whether the Redmen logo should go on the gym floor. I was informed by someone who knows better that all sides were heard during this debate and people voted on whether to use this image. There were even some native people that thought this image was just fine and it is tradition after all. The issue of the logo was put to a vote and the majority prevailed. Democracy in action and democracy is awesome.
My fear that the more things change the more things stay the same has to be crazy, right? It’s not possible for a majority of people to willingly choose a racist and sexist image to represent their school could they? Racism and sexism are both things of the past. I must have been crazy to think that such a thing is possible.
TRADITION TRADITION TRADITION THAT MAKES IT OK!
I am so glad that I am surrounded by so many smart people that can tell it the way that it is. So excuse me for ever having had a problem with this logo.
