Politics: I was silent on the topic for 20 days.
I made a choice, about 27 days ago, and it was a difficult 20 days; which is much like saying it was, up to a week ago, a difficult year.
Up until last Wednesday, I hadn’t written about politics or politicians here, or in my journal, all month (all year sounds even longer). It has been damn tough.
Often, or with some frequency, I use this space or any of my social media options to vent. In my journals I will regularly use the pages to let out my anger, or contempt, or utter disappointment. I think it helps, I think it gives my negative thoughts a place to go, but with ever increasing frequency over the past couple of years it became too much.
Commenting on a politician’s doings or decisions is like aiming for the lowest common denominator. They are always saying something.
Politicians as a whole, or as a species, are a ruthless lot. Opportunists all, each move they make, each promise they break, each rule they bend is done mainly with one thing in mind: to get reelected.
It is shameless, self-serving, and self-righteous.
I’ve spent too much time in too many rooms with too many politicians in my years as a newspaper reporter. From school board trustee or city councilor to opposition leader and prime minister after prime minister after prime minister, I’ve spent many years and column inches getting under a politician’s skin (locally, municipally, provincially and federally).
And they, over an even longer period of time, have often got under mine.
Last week, despite my resolve, it got to me. Our provincial premiere was out there flapping his jowls and threatening physical harm to another human being. The man’s tough talk, his one-liners or attempts are humour, cannot be taken seriously. Neither can the man himself.
He is not alone. I can list several provincial leaders in this country who have more than a habit of acting like idiots. It goes past political stripe. It’s like a virus.
It’s been decades since my country had a true statesman as a leader, and certainly a few years since the United States could say the same thing. I’m not even sure if last week’s change in administration can be qualified as good, but I’m not (in this case) going to argue with change.
I’m just going to try and not write about it.

Dense fog obliterates the beginning of our day,
surrounded by pavement and landscape with little snow to
track where we have been or what we need to know. Without
a true north to guide our direction, we are pulled further
into this element of fear. Who do, or can, we hold dear.

Winter now that of a librarian’s hush; a hint of caution but
nothing to heed, not as such. Many of us decided not to listen.
Complicit in our actions or intent, the atmosphere has
become veiled in a chorus of disjointed voices, more
about the chosen and less about the choices.

Each of us comes from somewhere else. It is how we have
grown, forever going anywhere new instead of finding
our way home. Making friendly with strangers we never
really got to know, nothing comes from nothing
and we have so little to show.

Lessons learned in how we’ve lost control of our lives, liberty
being not about how we live but how we will die. Temporary
lapse of judgement or time, conscience, or reason. We truly
have no idea what to expect of the day, of ourselves,
or the remainder of the season.

© 2017 j.g. lewis

Doug Ford is one sick man, suggesting in a media conference Tuesday that he would stalk and sexually assault the CEO of Pfizer as a means of trying to increase the amount of COVID-19 vaccine for his province.
   “I’d be up that guy’s ying-yang so far with a firecracker he wouldn’t know what hit him,” Ford said.
   In off-the-cuff comments, after reading from a prepared speech, the Ontario premier sounded like a sexual sadist. Ford frequently makes mind-numbing statements, often packed with war metaphors and boastful language, but his brutal comments Tuesday went past the usual bullying tactics and tough guy posturing.
   This sadistic comment flew off his tongue so quickly that you have to wonder about the premier’s mental condition. Ford, as if not even thinking, was talking about harming another human being.
   The violent undercurrent of Ford’s message was sexual assault with an object.
   Was he thinking as a man or a politician?
   Yesterday’s comments also exposed the hypocrisy that exists in this man’s demented world. Not long ago, he was whining about people protesting outside of his home, yet he said that it was a tactic he’d employ to try get results.
   “I’d be outside that guy’s house, every time he’d move I’d be saying ‘where’s our vaccine’.”
   Thankfully, we know this premier rarely does what he says he will do. Ford, you remember, pledged to stop the COVID-19 deaths in this province’s crowded long-term care facilities during the first wave of the virus last spring. (“Never again”, he said, over and over).
   It is still happening. People are dying at a disproportionate rate in this province’s LTC homes.
   So when Premier Ford mentions harming another person, he is not even thinking about those he has already harmed.
   Imbalanced as the man is, or has become, it is time for Ford to take medical leave and seek professional help. Or resign.

We exist
suspended between delay and
that future we are told
is ahead of us. Little advances humanity.
We rush too much, as if it is demanded.
Each of us controls our pace,
or attempts to.

We are here,
bounded by missed connections
and unfortunate
misunderstandings. Nostalgia is not often
favorable. Blind curiosity. We fail to recognize
where we are.
We seek faith.

We do have
the communal capacity, but resist
assistance or the
temptation. Recycling our sins, striving to
keep up with the morally reprehensible,
we try to find
our own Jesus.

© 2018 j.g. lewis

If it be kindness you are seeking, be kind.
If it is gratitude you appreciate; be kind.
Should ever you desire greater happiness, be kind.
If upset by current events, or frustrated by
the dissuasive attitudes or alchemy pervasive
in this world, give another thought and
be kind.
Time allows a gentle word.
Your actions or answers will be appreciated
by beneficiaries of kindness, whether strangers
or those closest to your heart. A worthy reason
to be kind.
You too will benefit
if you want more kindness. Be kind.
If attempts to soothe your soul are not working;
be kind. If you feel this requires more patience,
be kind to yourself.
If having difficulty dealing with the cruelties,
inequities, or ignorance found in everyday life,
kindness will provide a salve.
Benevolence absorbs discomfort.
You kindness may not immediately settle issues
at hand or even calm evil disputes which continue
to wreak havoc on our collective psyche.
Your attempts may never accomplish
the sense of well-being you seek. However,
no kindness is wasted.
No smile goes unnoticed.
Be kind
Much like a crescent wrench, poetry or
psychotropic medications, kindness has purpose.
Solutions are realized, minds comforted and
life’s balance is repaired.
Do we need further reasons?
We encounter many an ignorant being, a wise man
even less, yet we often recall a moment of kindness
by either word or by duty. Remember.
Be kind.

© 2021 j.g. lewis