The NHL Strike is Over, and a Dash of Context

It appears that the NHL strike is nearing and end. A draft agreement is in the hands of the interested parties; seeking only their approval. Once signed, an abbreviated training camp, followed by a shortened season will be there for all fans to enjoy. I like hockey; it's not the centre of my life but i do like listening to the games, and truly hope it will be Toronto's year.

I won't spend a lot of time wondering if the strike was worth it. Millionaires fighting billionaires, I didn't care. If asked I'd say paying people millions to play hockey was foolish. In the next breath would follow, $200 seats, $20 beer and a hot dog and a Toronto Maple Leaf jersey upwards to $250 is equally unreal. The ridiculous follows the absurd. It is however what comes from of living in a free market country, I shrug my shoulders, if I don't want to pay I won't go to games or but the clothing.

You know what else happened during the strike. The Harper government voted down Bill C-398. A piece of legislation that would have made it easier to get life saving drugs to those in need in poor countries. Why did Harper do that? Was it too rigid an ideology? Maybe it was because they are engaged in trade  negotiations with Europe that involve pharmaceutics patents and didn't want to send mixed messages. The outcome is not mixed, some that might have lived thanks to this C-398, will now die.

The papers will be filled in the next few days with commentary on the NHL strike, this content will push other content aside, old news for new. Like the Gang Rape and death of an Indian women Delhi and it's follow on protests. I'll quote a statistic I found, a woman is raped in India every 21 minutes. Horrible isn't it? The social stigma attached to rape is almost as debilitating as the rape itself. So much that it is not reported in the numbers that it must be occurring. Victims are made to feel it's their fault, face pressure from the police: the people there to help you, to press charges. Even when reported, the conviction rate is 26%.  Now before we begin to preen ourselves here in the West, on how we handle the issue of rape let's revisit some commentary on the act. The God intended rape; you haven't been raped if you get pregnant or the vile notion put forth by a Judge, that if the victim's body shows no sign injury, can't be rape. I make no assertion that the level of violence faced by women in India is equaled here in Canada; I simply wish to indicate the attitude that a women is somehow complicit in her assault is alive and well in some corners of our community.

In Canada there was an attempt by members of the Harper Government to open a window into Women's Reproductive Rights; and this stealthy little motion M-408 on sex selective abortion; in order to close a door on a women's right to chose. While not disgusting to the same degree as revealed in the proceeding paragraph, it is an indication of how precarious the notion of security of person can be for women.

So we'll get together with our friends for a launch party and celebrate the salvaging of the NHL season and try not to think of the 26 deaths in Newton CT; or the NRA response; more guns mean more safety. Both of which have already moved down the page, be it paper or electronic.

A news broadcast can quickly overwhelm a normal person, and deliver a weeks worth of pain and anger in thirty minute; so I don't begrudge anyone their entertainment. I'm not trying to scold people for being happy their favourite game is back, or tell them that any celebration is out of order. It's just that hockey is a game and in the scheme of things less important than it would appear to be.

Go Toronto Maple Leafs, it's our year.

I like the Olympics, But

I like the Olympics. I have since I was too young to remember. I loved the idea of Canada challenging on the world stage. In reality we didn't do as well as i would have liked. From the Olympic Games reinvention in 1896  we were always niche players we won medals just not a lot of them. The Pre-War field was held by the great powers America , England, France and Sweden. Canada showed up,  did well at times but never dominated. In the Cold War era the United states and  the USSR  faced off against each other substituting athletics for war. An attempt to prove National superiority through sport.

When I became aware of the Olympics we were still middle of the pack. I didn't really mind that we didn't always win, I just liked seeing the Maple Leaf. For me the Olympics were never about anything other than competition. I liked seeing the world's best compete, even if it wasn't a Canadian. It wasn't a great patriotic struggle, a gold medal wasn't a vindication of my way of life. Since Canada seldom competed on the highest level it was easy or even necessary for me to feel that way. After all if your athletes lose a lot it would be hard too claim any type of superiority.

I think I was lucky to live in a country that didn't invest enormous energy into the Olympic Games and so turn them from sport to politics. I don't believe as some Canadians suggested, that we became habituated to losing, we couldn't do better so we lived with it. I think coming in Seventh teaches you a different and but just as valuable a lesson as coming in First.

Things changed for Canada after the Cold War era. Our government started to invest money into Olympic Athletes and programs to create winners. This was a response to our lack of success at the Games. Canada's pride suffered uncountable harms because we didn't win gold medals. We were admonished by critics who pointed to other countries with higher medal counts, that "by god we should do better and be better than".

Had we at last succumbed to the notion that winning is the only thing? That a nation is tied in some manner to its on field performance? It was more an understanding that The Games were no longer an amateur affair and hadn't been so for along time. It was a recognition, that without similar spending programs our athletes were at a disadvantage, other nations spent money to win, we needed to as well. We did do better. More medals, especially more gold ones. Though never as many as the critics would like.

Today we have a different Olympics. Pride is still a key factor, winning a show of cultural strength, but that has been displaced by money. Corporate sponsorship, Media rights, a need to reel in consumers and turn them into profit. You need athletes (that can barely be considered amateur and ones that fully professional brought in to win a national sport to a salve a nations  pride), to put on the best show possible, records must be broken. You need to spend to win.

Funny thing at the same time Canada was spending to win medals we were also recognized as the best place to live in the entire world. We are consistently near the top of the ranking as most livable. That to me is worth any number of medals.

I can't miss the Olympics even if i do miss what the they used to be. It's a spectacle I'll be watching. I wish good luck to our Athletes and a good Games to everyone that competes and attends.

Out for a Run

I went out for my daily 5k but it was such a nice day out I decided to run the 8k course instead. I run outside. No gym treadmill for me, to cheap or too romantic. I run different routes depending on how hard i feel like working. The smallest is a 5.4km  distance, my usual one. I have mapped out distances up to 22k, but I save those for when I really need to run far.

I like to run. It can start hard. I warm up, get my stretches in. But it still takes a kilometer or so for the small aches to disappear. Then it smooths out, I get into a rhythm and let my body take over. It is like breathing, in that you can forget you are doing it at all. My pace is slow and steady, plenty of time to think and watch the activity around me.

On the road you need to be aware of your surroundings. Car drivers that don't look both ways. Sidewalks with  shared with bikes, scooters and walkers. What I don't see a lot of are other runners. Perhaps they are all at the gym. I said roads can be hazardous, the weather cold and icy in the winter, much to hot in the summer. You get rained, covered in grit breathing exhaust at stop lights. Gyms are starting to sound good again.

We are built to run. Our bodies finely tuned by evolution. I run like my ancestors ran, a shared act,going back a million years. Is that romantic or not.

I like feeling and hearing the world around me. In the winter as the snow falls against me melting, cooling my face. The crunch of snow underfoot. My pace checked by ice, slowing through drifts. The feeling I get when I'm done is marvelous. The seasons change around me. I'm part of it in a small way. Spring rain drenches, feeds the land,cleans the streets and prepares for summer. I feel the heat in summer. Water is my focus on those days of July and August. You can not run a kilometer with out it, some do but they pay for it. Then it's back to fall, cooling days, jogging pants instead of shorts, t-shirts give way to hoodies.

I like all the seasons. Each offers unique challenges to body and mind. But i favour cooler temperatures, after all when it get cold I can put on a jacket; when it gets hot there is only so much you can take off before it does you no good. If cornered I would pick that point in spring when the flowers and fruit trees blossom and the air is filled with a thousand scents. You can't get that in a gym.

It is a shame so few people are out there sharing the roads with me. I see so many that could benefit.