The Long-Gun Registry

Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press - Photo from CBC

    The RCMP said the long-gun registry was important, effective, and efficient. They stated in a report last year that "the program, as a whole, is an important tool for law enforcement. It also serves to increase the accountability of firearm owners for their firearms." (CBC article)

    The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police also endorsed the long-gun registry last year.

    The executive director of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, an organization which strives to eliminate violence against women in their province, got right to the heart of the matter: "The rate of spousal homicide by gun has gone down 69 per cent and we attribute most of that to the impact of the gun registry. Without question we need it in Canada." (CBC article)

    Another organization that supports the long-gun registry is YWCA Canada. This organization told Harper: "As the nation’s largest single provider of shelter to women and children fleeing violence, YWCA Canada knows the long gun registry is a public safety tool that makes women’s lives safer." (YWCA press release)

    What does the Conservative Party of Canada say? "Since created, the long-gun registry has wasted taxpayers dollars." (Conservative Party news release) Wow. Are you serious?

    The Conservatives often quote "two billion dollars!" as how much the registry has cost. But the real number that matters is the 1.1 to 3.5 million dollars per year that takes to run it now that it's in effect. That's cheap. And it's worth it.
    I usually support you, Harper, but you've got it wrong this time.

Thoughts

"Do you know what I mean when I say I don't wanna be alone? I have no fear of drowning, it's the breathing that's taking all this work."

- Lyrics from the gr8 song Work by Jars of Clay

    I'm not scared of the future. Perhaps I'm just naive, but I'm not actually scared of failing my life. If I live and accomplish little for good, at least I've accomplished something. If I die tomorrow, I'm fine with that – God's will be done.
    But I don't really want to fail – who does? I don't wanna live my life without standing out and making a difference. I don't wanna live a boring, uneventful life in the background of everything going on around me, and end up not making a difference in anyone's life.
    I want to succeed. I want to stand up and stand out. When I die, I know I'll have many regrets – that's just the way I am, a perfectionist – but I want to know that some part of the world is better because I lived. I want to be active and do lots of work for God's kingdom during my life. That's the way I am.
    Life is good – very good at times. But sometimes it does get hard. Instead of feeling peace and freedom, I sometimes feel bogged down with life's business. I hate letting my life get stagnant and boring – I think a very key aspect of freedom is change. On the other hand, I hate it when my life gets really busy and it feels like everything's getting out of control.
    So I try to try to live life to the fullest – not by partying and getting wild with friends, but in my own introverted, quiet way. I read the Bible, I read the classics, I write (like I'm doing right now), and I soul search. I pick out what to stand for, and do my best to stand for that – whether it be Jesus, the Bible, open-mindedness, and truth, or just my favourite clothes brand (Quiksilver!) or hockey team (Oilers!). I search for beauty – in stories, in nature, in music, in people.
    And I prepare for the future – prepare to face the enormous world out there. For now I'm just a homeschooled kid in a small farming town, but some day I'll be so much more than that, God willing. And I really don't know where I'm going with this...
    I guess I'm just trying to sort out my thoughts. I'm the kinda guy who sorts out his thoughts by writing... and then posting them on my blog for the entire world to see! Hahahahaha! :) Oh well, at least I'm honest. Very honest. I'll be a lousy politician.

Thanksgiving

 I will praise God’s name in song
   and glorify him with thanksgiving.
 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
   more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
 The poor will see and be glad—
   you who seek God, may your hearts live!

- Psalm 69:30-32

The Ship of Fools

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  The Ship of Fools by Hieronymus Bosch is an interesting, intellectually stimulating painting. It's sober colours set the atmosphere nicely for the fools, who are drifting off to some place unknown, perhaps, even to them. Bosch does a good job of filling the boat with crowded chaos until it looks like it may topple over with the sheer absurdity of its load.
  The best word to describe this painting is "foolish", and for the first time I mean this as a compliment. Bosch was a master of the bizarre – his paintings The Temptation of St. Anthony and The Garden of Earthly Delights are proof of that. His works, however, are more than just bizarre. They have a purpose. Bosch's purpose in The Ship of Fools was to point out the foolishness of the church (this is why he portrayed the nun and friar front and centre, while the professions of the others are not evident). Foolishness he achieved.
  Bosch tells a story with this painting – a story of the foolish and frivolous. He depicts this story very effectively. Everything in the painting revolves around the trivial – food, drink, and making merry. No attention is paid to the direction of the boat nor to the poor souls in the water below. In fact, none of the empty-headed nit-wits in the boat are paying attention to anything that isn't edible, intoxicating, or silly and fun, except perhaps for the person in the back who is vomiting. But we know that he will probably soon join the others in their folly.

     The story of the person climbing the mast is clear – he wants the roasted goose! However, why a roast is up the mast in the first place is not clear. According to What Great Paintings Say, Volume 2 by Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen, the roast has a purpose, as does the ridiculous tree also tied on to the mast. The book says that the tree is a parody of the Tree of Knowledge in the Bible, and that instead of life-changing fruit there is a fattening roast. For the average viewer, this meaning is too thickly disguised to be guessed at. I, for one, could never have penetrated this symbolism.
  However, I think that Bosch found a new use for symbolism. He used it as a way to enhance the bizarreness of his paintings. This keeps the viewer’s attention and piques his or her curiosity, making the paintings more intellectually engaging. So though many of Bosch’s symbols may be too complicated to the average viewer, they do serve a purpose and add a different dimension to his work.
  In this painting Bosch does a very good job conveying his theme and his purpose. He does this through evident symbolism and an atmosphere of disorder. His less straightforward symbolism also adds to the atmosphere of disorder and foolishness and makes the viewer think.