Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "To Lighten the Moment":
I was scouting for Father's Day cards this morning. What a bunch of drivel ! When I finally found a few possibilities, I realized that so many of the time-honoured words have lost their meaning. We have become a place of platitudes and political correctness lacking in humour and empathy.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 22 May 2014 10:29
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes, Indeed we have, It's why you are looking for a fancy card to tell Dad how much you love him.
He already knows that. He's known you all your life. You don't need to hand your Father a card
to tell him you love him. Just give him a hug , hold him close for more than a minute.
The card thing is about separating you from your resources. Doesn't have a damn thing to do with loving your Dad.
We had a report on Tuesday recommending a big increase in the sand and salt budget because of the severe winter we had All our stock pile was used up.
I asked the Director if we still collected sand and re-used it ,
"No." he said. "It's contaminated and the street sweeper contractor takes it away and disposes of it."
"How does he do that if it's contaminated" I asked. "And sand is permeable. Doesn't it clean itself in the rain?"
I gave up on the argument at that point. If nobody else picks up on it, it means nobody is interested and nothing will come of it.
But think about it. Sandy beaches are our favorite recreation places. We can lie on it comfortably.
We can make a pillow of it. Be buried in it for our children's amusement.
We dig in it. Make castles in the sand. Put moats around them. Let the baby crawl on the sand.
When they are really young we let them put it in their mouths to discover it's not candy.
It's out there in the rain. They tell us pollutants in the atmosphere come down in the rain. But the
rain washes through sand and cleans it.
Why discard it instead of re-using it on roads for next winter's maintenance.
We have $814,000 in the Joint Facility budget for snow storage. Why collect snow to store and not sand ?
We could buy a snow melter for half the money budgeted to store snow.
Streets would be clear in half the time
We would stop trundling trucks full of snow to an almost $million storage facility,
We would save on gas and manpower and stop polluting the atmosphere.
But Oh Dear me! No
There is no imperative to save...only to spend.
A consultant would have to do a study. It would take six months, There would have to be surveys and interviews and a mile long report written at a cost of $150. a word.
If Councillors didn't agree we could get external legal advice to tell us what decision we are allowed to make under the circumstance. We have legal services on staff but if we don't like advice given
we can retain another lawyer.
Judgement doesn't come into it. That's not why we were elected.
A learned Judge told me once .... "the law is not what people think it is...and it's not what it should be," By Jove, he was right.
So, if we can't depend on the law to be what we think it ought to be, why should we expect politics to be any better.
Well because we do....that's why.
Because we are eternal optimists,
We have Blog and every four years ,we have a vote.
The only other thing we need are honest, sensible men and women....good and true...to offer themselves as candidates.
You don't need a fancy card with words written by someone else to tell your Dad you love him.
Just hold him tight in your arms and say "I love you Dad. "
Be glad you have a Dad.
Don't wait for Father's Day. Tell him every time you talk to him or see him.
We do not just discard the sand. We pay to have it trucked away.
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ReplyDeleteThis is the best thing you have ever written.
I wish I hugged my Dad more.He passed away at 65; far too early.I can still smell that Old Spice deodorant he used.I know he is nearby.I hope he is proud of his sonI listened to his teaching....finally.
ReplyDeleteThere are no simple cards. They all come with bells & whistles. Evelyn is quite right,
ReplyDeleteEve....You prove over and over again...You're not just a pretty face.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the cost to recover the sand and re-use it? Surely that does not happen for free. You find out how much that costs and compare it to what we pay now and I might agree with you but until you have a compelling argument with dollars and cents and sense, I will agree with the current process.
ReplyDelete7:54 appears to be quite an authority, perhaps it could elborate on exactly what the current process might be ?
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