August 13, 2003
Friends,
I mentioned Jennifer in a previous blog. After a long struggle with cancer, she died last night. Please pray for her husband and family. It's hard to describe what their journey has taught me. May God richly bless her has she meets him in heaven.
I mentioned Jennifer in a previous blog. After a long struggle with cancer, she died last night. Please pray for her husband and family. It's hard to describe what their journey has taught me. May God richly bless her has she meets him in heaven.
I'm settling into my new digs and enjoying it immensely. The only thing I don't enjoy is not having high-speed internet access.... I'll live.
I've been thinking a lot about the news lately. Recently, Canadian William Sampson was released by Saudi Arabia after being imprisoned on false charges for two and a half years, waiting for death by public beheading.
Why did it take two and half years to get him back? One of the great benefits I thought of carrying a Canadian passport is the reputation and protection you get from the Canadian government, a world leader in diplomacy and peace. Why did Sampson fall through the cracks? Why are Maher Arar and Bruce Balfour both imprisoned without cause in Syria and Lebanon?
Maher Arar has been a Canadian citizen for 15 years after he left Syria as a teenager. He lives with his wife in Toronto... or he did until he was arrested in New York shortly after 9/11 under suspicion of terrorism - racial profiling, anyone? - and deported to Syria, a country he hadn't seen since his immigration to Canada, and a country where he would likely be subject to the death penalty for treason for not serving his mandatory military service. Bruce Balfour is a Calgary man who was arrested in Lebanon under suspicion of collaboration with Israel. Balfour was in Lebanon with a church group on a reforestation project.
It seems to me that there are no teeth left in our department of foreign affairs, and that the entire world has caught the "anti-terrorism" bug and is using it as an excuse to further their own paranoid agendas.
end of rant.
I've been thinking a lot about the news lately. Recently, Canadian William Sampson was released by Saudi Arabia after being imprisoned on false charges for two and a half years, waiting for death by public beheading.
Why did it take two and half years to get him back? One of the great benefits I thought of carrying a Canadian passport is the reputation and protection you get from the Canadian government, a world leader in diplomacy and peace. Why did Sampson fall through the cracks? Why are Maher Arar and Bruce Balfour both imprisoned without cause in Syria and Lebanon?
Maher Arar has been a Canadian citizen for 15 years after he left Syria as a teenager. He lives with his wife in Toronto... or he did until he was arrested in New York shortly after 9/11 under suspicion of terrorism - racial profiling, anyone? - and deported to Syria, a country he hadn't seen since his immigration to Canada, and a country where he would likely be subject to the death penalty for treason for not serving his mandatory military service. Bruce Balfour is a Calgary man who was arrested in Lebanon under suspicion of collaboration with Israel. Balfour was in Lebanon with a church group on a reforestation project.
It seems to me that there are no teeth left in our department of foreign affairs, and that the entire world has caught the "anti-terrorism" bug and is using it as an excuse to further their own paranoid agendas.
end of rant.
August 11, 2003
Here I thought I was all smart for installing a "comments" section on my blog as a total newbie but now it's gone and I can't figure out what went wrong. My template is exactly the same as it was when I installed the comments section from haloscan. E-mail me to help me out!
August 10, 2003
Some of you have asked to see the speech I gave for "flag day," in support of the (now successful) 2010 winter olympic bid for Vancouver/Whistler. Here's the text of the speech - they gave me only a minute to do it but I took a little longer. The pictures and website are here.
"I have dreamed of the feeling of a Paralympic gold medal around my neck since I was 15 and first started playing with the provincial women's wheelchair basketball team. It is a dream that has driven me through good times and bad, through personal triumph and serious illness. Knowing that the potential was there for me to represent my country the way I knew best — using everything I am, everything I've been given, to be the absolute best that I can be — drove me to overcome obstacles and reach for the dream of playing wheelchair basketball on the Paralympic level. As a part of Team BC, I am inspired by the performances of previous Canada Games alumni in both Winter and Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and know that the upcoming Canada Games are another step toward reaching the potential that I know is possible of myself.
This potential is possible of anybody — THAT I am certain of. Perhaps it is not for everyone to participate in the Olympic or Paralympic Games themselves, but to aspire to be more than we think is possible and to look beyond obstacles in possible for anybody. This is part of the legacy that an Olympic and Paralympic Games will leave for Vancouver and Whistler. Our communities face a unique combination of assets and challenges — I believe that it is this unique combination that is the very reason that our communities have what it takes to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We have shown and are showing the capacity to heal and overcome the obstacles we face together — all the better to show the world what British Columbians are truly made of.
As a member of Team BC, I have something to say to Vancouver and Whistler, to the Bid committee and to my fellow athletes: Dream big, look past your obstacles and take the steps necessary to get you to your goals."
"I have dreamed of the feeling of a Paralympic gold medal around my neck since I was 15 and first started playing with the provincial women's wheelchair basketball team. It is a dream that has driven me through good times and bad, through personal triumph and serious illness. Knowing that the potential was there for me to represent my country the way I knew best — using everything I am, everything I've been given, to be the absolute best that I can be — drove me to overcome obstacles and reach for the dream of playing wheelchair basketball on the Paralympic level. As a part of Team BC, I am inspired by the performances of previous Canada Games alumni in both Winter and Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and know that the upcoming Canada Games are another step toward reaching the potential that I know is possible of myself.
This potential is possible of anybody — THAT I am certain of. Perhaps it is not for everyone to participate in the Olympic or Paralympic Games themselves, but to aspire to be more than we think is possible and to look beyond obstacles in possible for anybody. This is part of the legacy that an Olympic and Paralympic Games will leave for Vancouver and Whistler. Our communities face a unique combination of assets and challenges — I believe that it is this unique combination that is the very reason that our communities have what it takes to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We have shown and are showing the capacity to heal and overcome the obstacles we face together — all the better to show the world what British Columbians are truly made of.
As a member of Team BC, I have something to say to Vancouver and Whistler, to the Bid committee and to my fellow athletes: Dream big, look past your obstacles and take the steps necessary to get you to your goals."
Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I've been moving house to my new basement suite. I really hate the physical act of moving. It's such a chore.
My new place is really nice, and quieter than the last. I just wish all the boxes would vanish from my house with no effort at all!
Maybe I'll post some pics when I get my digi cam software running.
My new place is really nice, and quieter than the last. I just wish all the boxes would vanish from my house with no effort at all!
Maybe I'll post some pics when I get my digi cam software running.
