Where Would we be Without IT! ..and Yet!

Every time I fly in a plane, step into my car, or drive over a bridge I think "I can't go anywhere without trusting people I don't know and never met." If I want to fly in a commercial jet I have to trust the people who built it. I might even take a moment as I enter a plane, to peek into the cockpit as I pass by, to look the pilot over. I am probably figuring out if I can trust him (it always seems to be a him!) or not?  When I head out into traffic I have to trust the car manufacturer and the mechanics who maintain my vehicle. When I cross over a bridge I used to think I had only to trust the builders! I just learned that in the city of  Toronto I have to trust the politicians at City Hall as well! And there's the rub!  Apparently the boys and girls down town have not been spending their maintenance budget on the Gardiner Expressway. One new engineering report says that possibly in the next few years a car or heavy truck just might plunge through. It's time for Torontonions to start singing again, "London Bridge is Falling Down".

I am not paranoid about these events but as I grow older I realize the 'mystique' that surrounded our "superiors" - our teachers, scout leaders, bosses, engineers, car drivers, priests, Santa Clauses and angels was not always what we were taught to believe. As I grow older I understand the weakness of human nature, but at the same time, I realize I can't lock myself away from my fellow citizens. In spite of everything there are still many people I do trust, and many more I have to trust whether I like it or not. Life, after all, is a series of taking chances!

Isn't  this Fun!!!!!!

As I write these words I became aware of the killing of young children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the Village of Newtown, Connecticut. The young man who let loose with a spray of bullets in a grade one classroom had in his possession two semi-automic pistols, a Glock and a Sig Sauer as well as a .223 caliber rifle. It is said that the guns belonged to his mother!

I dont know the circumstances as to why his mother needed this armament? I can't get my head around why she would even want to have these high powered guns in what is said to be a quiet and peaceful village. In fact one reporter said that the only crime in Newtown was a knocked over mail box! 

Many of the important leaders in the world ask us to remember these poor children in our prayers! Only the American President and the U. S. Ambassador to Canada as yet had the political courage to hint at gun control. Cannot the 'most powerful man in the world' do something about mothers possessing a store of armament that is accessible to her children? Are our political parties, our leaders, our bosses  impotent when faced with greedy and self-grandising organizations, lobbyists or individuals who are locked up in their sense of self-importance. 

In spite of it all I have to keep on trusting, even those I do not trust! I know that laws alone are not a perfect solution to the proliferation of guns, but I do know it would be a damn good start! If only the powerful people we trust would work a little harder to earn our trust, I for one would be a little more trustful.

And that' Dick's view of the World this Week