Are We There Yet?

November 9, 2023

Publisher Mike Van Santvoord bought The Islands Grapevine 6 years ago, and has more than doubled circulation of the print version, and expanded its circulation to readers everywhere through his efforts to reach out from Denman Island to Hornby Island, Union Bay, Fanny Bay and the Baynes Sound region, and he’s increased the value to TIG advertisers by doing so. The refreshed and updated theislandsgrapevine.com is TIG’s most recent improvement.

Mike’s commitment to TIG from the beginning was to provide a weekly snapshot of our communities, and a mirror of the diversity of viewpoints that exist, without an obvious ideological bias. Of course Mike has his own opinions, but the Letters to the Editor and other content TIG publishes aren’t necessarily Mike’s personal views. Since the 2020 pandemic response, this editorial policy has become far more controversial. Even the small percentage of dissenting views on all things COVID that TIG published have triggered passionate and sometimes extreme responses. Ironically, those who would prefer that TIG exclude dissent, are often those people most often unconcerned with the facts relating to important matters.

The perceived controversies are exacerbated by the belief that if Mike does not “de-platform” dissent, not only is he supporting these views, he becomes a target of suggestions that he holds an unacceptable and offensive worldview not just relating to the pandemic, but by association, he must have all sorts of problematic and even bigoted views. When these kinds of false assumptions are manifested in gossip and hearsay without any rigorous attention to the facts, it has led to elevated levels of community conflict. Whatever your level of sensitivity, the residents of our areas of circulation hold a diversity of opinions, while there is a small but vocal group of residents who wish to damage the livelihoods TIG supports.

Sometimes the result is that Mike and TIG become smeared with the worst kind of pejorative labels, without any factual evidence of the characterizations or conduct, in a “pile on” mentality of what has become known as cancel culture. Cancel culture can be best characterized as when no process of fair review of the facts is necessary when a smear or a pejorative label is flung in someone’s direction. And to Mike’s great credit, he has not conceded to this kind of bullying nor has he capitulated to the threats, the lies, or the intentions of those who would work to damage his livelihood. After all, TIG survived the business disaster that was the pandemic response, where some of our advertisers’ activities were either shut down or severely limited.

Team TIG has doubled down on its commitments to growing its reach, expanding its coverage, and improving the clarity of the writing contained within it. This has caused some consternation from some of TIG’s regular contributors, challenging us to curate less, while they have pushed back on editorial feedback and our requests for revisions from time to time. In each case, and as a result of our learning that a lack of clarity or unnecessary ambiguities can be perilous to our editorial policy, we are more determined than ever to stay the course of curating content in an increasingly divisive climate, both locally and otherwise. Contrary to local misperceptions, TIG’s editors work each week to support a healthy information ecosystem.

TIG is grateful to its contributors, its readers and advertisers and its staff, which represent a diversity of identities, both gender and sexual, and the varied representations of culture and ethnicity. We support inclusiveness, mutuality, the principle of peaceful coexistence, and a commitment to a free press that does not pander to those who would attempt to limit open discourse, and censor the publication of views they do not share. We believe that more speech and more independent and community journalism is the healthiest idea for representing who we are, even when it’s sometimes difficult to embrace the reflection in the mirror.

It is in that spirit that we welcome the proposed new publication, The Barnacle, and sincerely wish its publisher and contributors well in the New Year.

Predator Update

November 9, 2023

Predator Update

by Wildlife Advisory Committee of DIRA, November 6, 2023

By Peter Karsten Co-Chair WAC

September 18: The WAC received the first report on bear presence feeding on pears at a residence on Greenhill Road near Stanehill Park. A bear scat (feces) was found on Greenhill Road and examined. It contained only fruit particles and no animal matter.

October 14: At a Stanhill Place residence a wire fence was pushed down and remaining apples disappeared. A branch was broken of the apple tree.

October 19: On Stanehill Place as suet cake was disappeared from a bird feeder. Claw marks damaging the feeder post were seen. Suet feeding was curtailed.

October a number of comments were received about feeding on fruit in the community. The bear apparently roamed over the entire Island.

October 27: An adult sheep was killed and partly consumed at the farm of Dave and Fern Niedermoser. It was reported to the Conservation Officer (CO). The CO advised that they are not taking action at this point. The CO advised that the community should be notified to secure their livestock and to remove attractants (potential bear food).

October 29 and November 1: two Nubian goats were lost at the Landor farm but no carcass found.

November 3: Desperate bleating of a goat was heard in the early morning hours at the Landor farm. 2 goat carcasses were found and examined. Signs suggested bear kill. A bear scat containing animal matter and berries was found near the suite. Clear, fresh foot prints of a black bear were found on the farm in several locations. A detailed report with photos was submitted to the CO Office in Nanaimo.

The WAC highly recommends that Islander read the well-presented information by the Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection (MWLAP) on the coexistence of humans with bears and other predators i.e. “Bear Smart” brochure and Background Report of the MWLAP 2002.

The take-away is that humans share prime habitat with bears of high food productivity for humans and bears. Humans have extensively displaced bears from that environment to less productive habitats with resulting food shortage for bears. Years with a poor berry crop resulted in higher cases of wildlife conflict. Bears must sequester enormous food quantities to build up fat reserves for hibernation this puts additional pressure on searching food in our communities. Bears are fast learners about where they can safely find food. They are omnivores as we are and our food is perfect bear food.

In the past two decades the WAC had reports of bears visiting Denman Island to feed in fruit, predominately in the fall. Livestock was not taken and the bears left the Island on their own.

To protect farm animals, they are best held (at least at night) in solid barns with electric fencing to protect it. One farm had built a large goat corral with 4 heavy electric cables which would keep a bear back but unfortunately the bear spooked the goats and they crashed through the fence to become accessible to the bear. It takes combination of a stock fence that keeps farm animals in with an addition of at least two strands of electric wire on the outside to create a bear-safe barrier. A desperate bear trapped behind it could still break trough ignoring the electric wire and scaling the fence, even an 8-foot game fence. Protecting livestock from bears is a challenge. The presence and barking of dogs seem to have deterred the roaming bear.

To avoid conflict is in our hands. We can participate in a “Bear Smart Program” to improve public safety, reduce property damage and have fewer bears killed. This is a proactive approach rather than a reactive approach. Several communities have taken the program.

The Ministry states that on a ten-year average they received close to 4,000 complaints, followed up on almost 2,000 and destroyed over 600 black bears.

The WAC encourages Islanders to report sightings and conflict with predators to the WAC. Phone numbers are on the inside of the Denman Phone Directory. We will investigate kills and signs to establish the cause and evidence of predators. We also investigate dog incidences.

Any loss of animals or property damage due to wild predators should be reported immediately directly by the owner or custodian to the CO phone 1 877 952 7277 (RAPP)

As The Lights Go Out In Gaza

November 9, 2023

NOV 1, 2023

In America they killed all the buffalo just to take away food from the natives,
made mountains of their skulls and posed proudly in photos
like they posed proudly in front of burnt bodies after lynchings in the south.

In Australia they stole the brown children and gave them to pale families
and watched their ancient civilization disappear into the toxic fumes of industry
like a sailboat into the mist.

In Israel teenagers play with buttons that cause explosions on screens
and look forward to the end of the Gaza operation
so they can leave and go play better video games.

In Gaza mothers clutch tattered pieces of flesh and clothing to their chestsand scream names that will never again be answered
and call out questions to the heavens that will also go unanswered.

And the ghosts of the buffalo roam through the ruins
looking for their heads
while the people of Gaza comb through the rubble
looking for their dead,

and the rest of us stare at screens and cry like babies
and ask our own unanswered questions
of heavens clouded by the fumes of industry,
vanishing stars above a dying world
as the lights go out in Gaza
one by one.

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

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Soul in a Bowl

November 9, 2023

My bread bowl is one of those big old-fashioned white ceramic beauties that I acquired in Edmonton in 1978, and carried back to Cranbrook where we were living at the time. A friend walked me through the Tassajara Bread Book recipe and a love affair with bread-making began. I made a pact with myself to bake bread only when the spirit moved me, only when I wanted to, not because I had to. I wanted to put good energy into it. That, I figured, would definitely impact the taste of my bread, and I still abide by that philosophy. What I did learn though, was that I didn’t have to be in a great mood to bake bread, I just had to want to. In fact, over the years I brought my anger, my frustration, my rage at the world’s failures of imagination – many a negative emotion – to my bread bowl and found that the baking process transformed those emotions to something more positive. Many a tear has been shed into my bread bowl over the years. And I have always found comfort there.

Part of how bread-baking evolved to becoming a soulful exercise that strengthened and enriched me, was my early sense of identification with humans everywhere who were, at the same time as me, preparing food by hand for their families. This idea brought me a recurring image of world community and a broader sense of purpose in this humble act, which has always had a calming and restorative effect. The simple act of kneading bread was so valuable for me, a person who tends to be in her head, way off somewhere, rather than grounded and in the present moment. I learned I had to be with my bread, pay attention to it and care for it like a baby. Many was the time on Denman when I’d pack my bread bowl off in the car with me, because I had to take the kids somewhere or run an errand and my bread was rising. Once you start the process, you must stay close to it.

Another gift of bread-making was the learning that things don’t have to be perfect to be perfectly fine. It is very hard to make a bad loaf of bread when you pay attention to your process and make it with love! For me, perfectionism wasn’t really a problem, but there’s always that little self-critic, saying it could be better, or the comparative mind at work, telling me that others were doing this a lot better than I was. The smell of fresh bread in the oven and the sight of those loaves cooling on the racks are such rewards, it becomes an easy practice to continue. Most homemade bread is perfectly fine.

I had a full career for which I travelled, yet I wanted my children to remember me as one of those “homey” mums, not someone who zoomed in and out with store bought wonders. I learned that this secret plan had indeed succeeded when one of my adult sons arrived at our house on Hornby one time when bread was emerging from the oven and sighed: “Ahhh, the smell of my childhood.” Yes! Now he’s the family bread-maker in his home.

Bread-making is one of those simple nurturing activities that helps us be grateful for what we have. It makes us slow down because it has its own time frame; you can’t rush bread-making.

It is a creative exercise because there are so many different types of bread – the possibilities are many. It makes a fine gift because it comes directly from our labours. It take us out of the mad consumerism of modern-day life in that we only need one bread bowl, a few bread pans or even cookie sheets, and a few basic ingredients – oil, honey, flour (organic though, is a must) yeast and water. And oh yes, an oven.

I sometimes used bread-baking as a metaphor when I taught mediation. I liked it because the subject matter is so familiar – most of western culture enjoys bread. Bread-making came from what has traditionally been a woman’s world, the home kitchen. Our great grandmothers probably all made their own bread, and in bread-eating parts of the world, my hunch is that the majority buy their bread product very locally, or still make it themselves. The mostly male world of lawyers I was teaching mediation could benefit from exposure and attention to something as humble as this. The key ideas for me as a teacher of mediation were that you work with the ingredients you have, you work carefully and patiently, you do not know what the end result will be, so it’s not about control, but if you give it your best focus and energy, and be mindful of the process, the outcome will most likely be positive.

We all need ways to slow ourselves down in our hectic-paced world, ways that aren’t necessarily an escape from our world but rather an engagement with it that is satisfying, that is creative and purposeful, that can be a gift for those in our lives. Soul in a bowl – I highly recommend it.

Shucking Oysters: Power Outages

November 9, 2023

Aaah Winter. Atmospheric rivers. Gale force winds. Dark and stormy nights. Power outages. No matter how many outages my partner and I have gone through, we are never, ever prepared. Having lived on Hornby for over 28 years, we’ve experienced our share of power outages, from a few hours to over a week. You’d think we’d get it by now. But no, every year, the first outage, we aimlessly grope in the dark trying to find some source of light.

After one of our driest summers on record, be forewarned, there will be more frequent climate-related power outages. We’ve all noticed the stressed out trees everywhere. Not a comforting sight. Weakened by drought and climate-related parasites, trees are becoming more and more susceptible to wind and weight from rain and snow. Nina Bassuk, professor of urban horticulture at Cornell University, explains that climate change can kill tree cells through a confluence of stressors. “It’s not like an animal, which dies when you pierce the heart — trees die cell by cell,” she says.

If a tree falls on Denman, Hornby will not only hear it, we will often feel it too. We are connected, strangely (or shall, I say, weirdly). Not like an umbilical cord, more like one of those 16-foot retractable dog leashes. BC Hydro forgets that we have a distant attachment to each other. Last weekend’s outage on Hornby was nine hours (November 4: 2:29 am to 1:30 pm). Apparently, we are so chill that no one called Hydro, so they fixed Denman and went their merry way. But we won’t take it personally, the Hornby ferry wasn’t running anyways until later because of the storm.

Every year the first power outage, my partner and I go through the same routine. “Where did you put the flashlights?” “Why would I know?” And then finally, we find one. Turn it on, flicker, flicker, black. Dead batteries. At least we know where they are, in the cabinet drawer in the living room with Colonel Mustard. It never ceases to amaze me during outages, how I suddenly have no idea about our furniture layout. It’s as if someone rearranged the entire house overnight. Eventually, we find the six flashlights. “Now, where’s the lantern?”

The best thing we ever invested in was a propane stove/oven. In fact, we love her so much, that she has a name: Gretchen. Power outage? Whatever. We can cook, bake, and even make toast with those metal camper thingies that you put on the burner. Dirty dishes are an issue. Depending how long the power is out, we just hide them in the oven. The refrigerator. Just open for a few seconds, a little peek, that’s it. In fact, the rule should be that you can’t open it unless you know what you are getting out. This will prove to be challenging, if you have a refrigerator like ours; we have no idea what’s in there, let alone the vegetable drawers. Fact: An unopened refrigerator will keep foods cold for only about four hours. An unopened freezer for 24 to 36 hours.

When the power outage goes on longer than a day or two, is when our true personalities seem to come out. My partner likes to lie on the couch and call Hydro for updates every hour or so, until the power comes back on. I get restless and want to get out and go storm watching. Some people stay in bed and pretend all is well. Some stand for hours staring out their windows wondering when, when? Others just carry on as if it is just another day. Who are you?

I also get power outage brain, where I totally dumb down. How many times can you turn on the bathroom switch before you remember that the power has been off for 37 hours? A lot apparently. Or run the tap water and quickly turn it off as if you’ve been tasered. And is there no better sound than the din of diesel generators in the distance?

The year-round incessant cutting, trimming and chipping by the arborists isn’t cheap. BC Hydro spends more than $50 million a year on vegetation maintenance. In its 2022 Revenue Requirements Application to the BC Utilities Commission, BC Hydro has requested an additional $25 million for vegetation management, bringing the total budget to $74.4 million. Perhaps they should be looking seriously at the cost benefit analysis of burying the lines versus maintaining above-ground lines. In the US, one utility company, PG&E, are now seeing that the costs of maintaining lines above-ground are equal to burying below ground.

In the meantime, maybe I’ll finally order that NOAA/AM/FM Weather, Solar, Crank, 3-Mode Flashlight, Reading Lamp, SOS Alarm, and Compass for Home Power Failure and Outdoor, Hurricanes,Tornadoes, Emergency Crank Radio.

Richie

November 9, 2023

March 29, 2007

Richie

I just got a visit from my old cellmate, young Richie.

A number of days back now, he approached me and asked if I might help him fill out a request for a visit from his father. The rules of this place stipulate that you can’t receive a visit from anyone who has a record within the past six months. Richie’s dad has a drinking driving offence with which he’s currently under parole for. Richie’s familiarity with my penchant for writing led him to me for help. I simply asked him the details of his dad’s situation and quickly penned out the request. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try. Our complaint forms seem to get the attentions of the administrative end of this place so why not a well worded request?

Well, sitting here in my room, Richie came to say that he was summoned into the bubble where alongside with the on-duty C.O., stood a white shirt. They proceeded to discuss with Richie the matter and while it isn’t a certainty as of yet, it appearss they’re going to look into it further and see what they can do. The chances for Richie to have a visit from his father, of whom he’s very close to, stand at 50/50 as of this writing. Which is to say better than zero. Better than could be expected given the rules this place so rigorously upholds. Richie is cautiously optimistic and so am I. I was flattered that he would come to me for help in this matter to begin with. To have it actually work out in his favour would please me all the more for him. Go Richie!

March 31, 2007

Richie came to me today to tell me the powers here have granted him permission to have a visit from his dad! He’s happy and this makes me happy. It still requires his father get permission from his parole officer but I imagine that shouldn’t be a problem. To my mind, the harder part of the equation was getting the heads here to make an exception to their own rul

Evolutionary Reconciliation: Part 2

November 9, 2023

“…people with social commitments have a special responsibility to intervene to end shunning, facilitate communication and to do the work to reveal complex views of human behavior as we practise self-criticism and stand up to negative groups.” Sarah Schulman in her book, Conflict is Not Abuse, urges us to ruthlessly pursue the issues of overstating harm,and the duty to repair as a community response to blame and shunning. She insists that we stand up to bullies, stay connected to people in real time and stay strong in the face of injustice. I will focus more on her work in Part Three.

Last week I was at an event and saw someone I had long ago decided was my “enemy”. I had at least 5 solid reasons to avoid them, one being that they never approached me even though we had friends in common and had sat at a potluck table together a few times. I looked up and they were suddenly walking in my direction. They came close to me, only to speak to someone else. I wanted to test out my invitation to TIG readers last week to try doing one thing to increase connection in the community. I faced the person and made it clear I wanted to talk. We made some small talk and then I asked them some deeper questions. I noticed feelings of aversion rise when the person failed to inquire about me but I listened and withheld judgement. I knew that there was an issue that we both cared about so I focused on asking questions about their related experience. Afterwards, I felt cautiously open-hearted towards that person. I noticed that my need for attention and approval from others may have been blocking my bigger needs to be curious, empowered and included. I learned that taking the high road requires taking charge of making inroads with others, especially ones I have judged to be my adversary.

We all have real and imagined conflicts with ourselves and others. Sometimes avoidance of conflict is skillful as long as we are creating new neural pathways that eventually allow the release of blame, shame, paranoia and anxiety. This kind of inner work requires guidance and long-term commitment to healing. I want to ask myself every morning: “Today, how can I re-solve my personal suffering for the sake of a healthier world?” Whenever I get triggered into harmful emotions, I know I need to take time out to care for my need for honesty, support and self-empathy.

Multiple global and local crises are colliding and threatening our mental health and civil society. When we fall in and out of numbness, anger, despair and grief, we are joining the ranks of all other delicate sentient beings. When we can stay open to the ebb and flow of our inner experience, we can sometimes get flooded; being stuck in any emotional state for too long signals a need for training the mind, self-compassion and healthy outside support. Preparing the mind, each and everyday for times of stress and turmoil is important work.

Ideally, people will make the effort to get help to become resourced enough to step up to face conflict in person. Trying to resolve conflict using the cops or the law is the very last resort. So is the use of email, Facebook, etc. Hiding behind a screen is a waste of everyone’s time. Punishment and shunning never resolves conflict, it does, however, escalate conflict.

“Perhaps the only hope for the planet lies in our willingness to end our personal suffering.” (Eli Jaxon-Bear.) I think the same holds true for community well-being.

Inflation

November 9, 2023

Years ago, when my husband and I got together we started to budget. We had to as we were really poor and had lots of debt. My husband is a methodical worker and I think he must have kept all those little monthly budget sheets from the past twenty-five years.

He showed me our monthly budgets from five years ago and our current monthly budget. The figures from five years ago were slightly less than half of what they are now. That means our expenses have increased by almost 100 percent in five years.

Our lifestyle is, possibly, even more frugal now than it was five years ago. In fact, the figures don’t tell the whole story. Five years ago, we were not producing as many of the items we consume as we currently are. We have learned to eat a great deal more out of our garden since then so the rate of food inflation in the past five years is likely a little more than 100 percent. Has your income gone up that much?

I know the Government figures do not show this but governments around the world have a vested interest in deceiving their populace about the rate of inflation. The jobless rate too is a serious work of fiction.

So, we are stuck in a situation of rampant, world-wide inflation. What should we do? The first thing is to admit that things are going to get worse before they get worse. Our industrial civilization works just fine on oil that is 20 to 25 dollars a barrel. Today, oil was priced at $80 a barrel and last week was $90 a barrel. This is where inflation comes from. Everything in our civilization is tied to our oil consumption. The price of oil goes up and so does everything else. Oil is the commodity that allows Western Civilization to run at all.

There is nothing we can do about the price of oil except to practice good conservation measures (don’t drive unless you have a series of jobs lined up that all need the car and drive at or below the speed limit) and get ready for even higher prices.

There are a couple of wildcards in the deck, the first is the possibility of war spreading in the Middle East. If the Straits of Hormuz close, expect the price of oil to soar while Western Economies go into cardiac arrest.

The other wildcard is a problem with a shortage of heavy oil, such as the Russians produce. The boycott of Russian oil has led to a shortage of diesel fuel which is used in almost all agricultural machinery and is used for the transportation of goods. The price of diesel is currently quite high and this means the price of food is probably going to be even higher next year. The situation is so dire that the American Government has started to buy heavy oil from Venezuela, formerly a pariah state for the Americans.

Here in the countryside, we can help ourselves by gardening and growing more of our own food. To get new garden beds started, or to remediate very weedy garden beds, cover the area you want to garden with layers of maple leaves, newspaper, cardboard, manure, or seaweed. By the spring, the soil will be almost weed free and will be easy to dig and already more fertile.

Having a couple of hens to eat any food scraps and to produce beautiful eggs would be good but there is no point in keeping hens unless you build a mink cage and put your hens in it. That is something Peter Karsten taught me years ago. Even if you manage to exclude mink, we now have a bear, and possibly a cougar, taking livestock on Denman.

As usual, the Government has been no help at all beyond telling us to read a pamphlet on how to coexist with bear and cougars. We are to keep our flocks and herds behind electric fences by day and lock them up at night. Fine, but what about people’s pets and children? What about smaller people who might want to go out for a walk without taking their rifle? Our various levels of Government are useless where they are not corrupt and incompetent. We are on our own with the bear.

But, back to inflation, one way to offset the high cost of food is to buy staples in bulk and cook from scratch. I love Donna’s little grocery store here on Denman where I can buy large bags of organic staples such as flour.

I also like Fieldstone Organics, a Canadian company that I purchase legumes and grains from. A lot of lentils are grown in Western Canada despite our not eating very many lentils in Canada. Most of them are exported. If you want to slim down, be healthier and reduce the cost of your groceries, then learning to cook with lentils would be my first suggestion.

Phoenix Riting! – November 9th, 2023

November 9, 2023

It is Remembrance Day this Saturday. This day has been held to remember the veterans of two very specific wars which happened a very long time ago. My cousins post family photos on Facebook of my grandparents and their two eldest sons all in uniform from the second of the two wars we are expected to remember.

My Grandpa fought in both wars. He used to tell funny stories of life in the trenches during WW1. He took the pain, degradation and misery of those days and turned it into humour, dwelling on small events, practical jokes played on fellow soldiers, the smells, the messes, the crowding. But the big stories, the actual fighting and suffering, he didn’t tell nor wish to recall. Nor did he ever talk about how it felt when his eldest son, the golden child, Bruce (the one my brother was named after) was killed stupidly just before WW2 ended.

“The War to End All Wars,” as they called, it was only the first of those two, and the second ended generations ago now. Yet still, we have wars currently in progress and new wars erupting. Why is war still a thing? Can we not learn from the pain of the past? How can we teach children that violence is not a way to resolve conflict when governments wage war?

Perhaps we need to go farther than simple remembrance, which so often equals glorification. While I fully agree that veterans of wars should be supported by the governments they sacrificed everything for, ‘heroes’ of wars are not heroes. For the most part, they are children, cannon fodder, pawns on the chessboard in the game of dominance between nations. No one can be a hero in modern war. Every soldier has committed atrocities, and are shamed and harmed by their own memories. They suffer not only their own pain, but the suffering they themselves have, under orders, inflicted on the innocent. Trauma. PTSD. Passed down through the generations, Daddy broke in the war, breaks his kids. Now, Mommy gets to break in the war, too. Progress. Yay feminism!

Rather, we should forget war. Forget that it exists. Take it off the table as an option. Why is war still acceptable? War is the worst thing that can possibly happen in this world, it is the most economically, environmentally and psychologically devastating thing that can be done–something this beleaguered planet can absolutely no longer afford–and yet it is still sanctioned and elevated in our fond remembrance of heroes past. Those heroes would rather be forgotten, I think, if forgetting them meant forgetting war and letting it slide farther into the past where such things belong.

We can’t forget, though, can we? It’s happening now. Right now, bombs are incinerating the homes of families. Children are being punished for the crime of existing in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s happening in Ukraine, in Gaza, and in many small places where war is chronic, so much the norm that we don’t think of them and aren’t even certain where they all are.

What would my uncle Bruce say, if he were alive to ask? Would he think his death was a glorious sacrifice, or a stupid waste of his potential, the murder of his children and grandchildren? Would he agree that war is a glorious struggle between nations and that the winner should rightfully write the history books? Would he believe in enemies, Right vs Wrong? I will never know, and that alone seems like an answer to me.

When we remember, let it be with shame and repentance, not with pride and exaltation. We should feel compassion for the soldiers, for I doubt they remember their own deeds with pride. Support them, and help them heal their suffering. But don’t affirm their heroism or the glories of war.

White poppies stand for ‘never again.’ It is the remembrance of war without its justification. If we must wear poppies, let us wear the white one for ending all war, not the blood red ones for the glory and remembrance of heroes. If you want a white poppy, they are being given out at the Co-op till next to the red ones. Remembering alone is not enough. Whatever your personal feeling on Remembrance Day, may this day bring you blessing and peace.