"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday 22 May 2014

I LOVE YOU DAD

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.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We do not just discard the sand. We pay to have it trucked away.

Anonymous said...


This is the best thing you have ever written.

John said...

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.

Anonymous said...

There are no simple cards. They all come with bells & whistles. Evelyn is quite right,

Anonymous said...

Eve....You prove over and over again...You're not just a pretty face.

Anonymous said...

What 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.

Anonymous said...

7:54 appears to be quite an authority, perhaps it could elborate on exactly what the current process might be ?