It’s a little disheartening when I pull out my trusty little travel writing computer and blow dust off of it. I’d just be guessing when I say that all writers go through points in their lives when they stop writing, when they feel uninspired. It is difficult to rationalize such feelings without a sense of loss - without a sense of losing myself. But looking back over the last few years I realize that it has been an ongoing process of losing myself, of evolving as a person through experience. So I keep my head high and realize that this simply is the next step for me, albeit one that seems very foreign.
It’s actually quite ironic. Coming home, finding a job, settling down – these are the things that are foreign to me. Not taking off to some distant land where people are fascinated by the way I dress and speak. We were to call it re-integration when we came back from our contract work in Ecuador, and our employers attempted to assist us through it with motivational speakers and reverse culture shock activities. But for all of us that went to work in Ecuador we all had different degrees of separation from this society, and so we all required a much different process of re-integration. I had spent the majority of the last three years living in Latin America, constantly on the move, constantly finding new people and new adventures. For this to all come to an end suddenly is something I’m still coming to terms with.
Some may ask why it has to end, and this is a question I ask myself more than anyone. Why should I not keep living by my free floating ethos, and let the nomadic life fully absorb me? Is this not what I’ve promoted throughout the writing of this blog? Perhaps I always knew that it was something that could not be carried on forever. Contemporary society dictates some level stability in ones life in order to be relatively prosperous and I would be lying to myself if I claimed that prosperity has not been a lingering thought as I’ve lived a rather austere life over the last while.
If there is anything that the last three years on the road have taught me it is that where you imagine yourself a year from now, will often be the opposite of where you end up. If life were not this way, we would not be human, and we wouldn’t learn from our experiences and use those lessons to guide us.
So here I am in Toronto, investigating different opportunities for my future, engaging in different commitments and activities that were foreign to me as a traveler - and it feels good. Regardless of the next steps that I take, the adventures and travels will never stop, and I'll always continue writing. People from around the world have touched my soul, and brought me to where I am now, and that is something that I want to carry with me throughout my life.
The Canadian that went to Ecuador to take over my position when I left sent me an email the other day which left me with a great smile on my face and forced me to choke back some tears. She said that she had begun to work with the community council – that group of people that I knew so well in Data de Villamil, Ecuador. As I read her words I pictured her sitting around the little wooden table at the side of the dusty road, listening to the wise words of those hardened coastal folk. She wrote to me that they were having a hard time pronouncing her name, so they had simply all decided to call her “Antonia”, and that I had left quite an impression on them. I only wish they could know the impression they have left with me, and I take that impression with me always as I move on to different things back in Canada.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The spirit of Montreal...
Montreal is quickly becoming my favorite place to visit from Toronto. Last week I was there as the first real warm weather set in, we spent the afternoon in the park tossing the Frisbee and letting the sun darken us. For me it was a special moment because I was able to do something I had been dreaming of for the last few years. Something so simple and so normal here, but almost unheard of in the places where I have been living. I was finally able to just take my shirt off and lay in the warm, green grass of a park and enjoy the sounds of the Canadian summer.
We had to stay outside and stay active. We wanted to be full of this new found weather, we needed it to replenish us, like people lost in a desert who have finally come upon a water hole. The Bixie bike system is incredible, something that should lead the way for the future of all cities. It is a series of bike stands set up strategically throughout the city, and with a credit card one can rent a quality bike and conveniently ride it to another stand and leave it there. Riding through Montreal is a joy, with specific bike lanes on the major roads, and a respect for bikers that seems to be non-existent in other places. It is a vehicle after all, the only difference being that it is powered by our legs rather than damaging fossil fuels. I have heard of systems similar to the Bixie bikes being set up in places like Mexico city and actually working to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions significantly.
On Sunday, after a long night of drink and celebration with strange and interesting people from around Montreal, we headed to Mont Royal for what is called Tam-Tams. It is a grand music festival that anyone can join, and it takes place every weekend of the summer. Approaching the park there is a massive and towering statue of an awe inspiring angel, around which the crowds slowly begin to amass. Gradually the sounds of the drum circles grow, and more and more people begin to gather. Anyone can join the circles, and if they don't have an instrument they can still be participate simply by dancing. So it was that I watched people from all walks of life letting themselves go to the beat of the drums. One large and unkempt man who looked like he sat behind a computer in a dark room all day, beat at his drum with a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth, burning away. Another man in rather fancy clothes who could have been a stock broker by day, closed his eyes and looked to the sky as he let the rhythm carry him away. The drum master in the middle of the circle, with a magnificent looking djembe, smiled deeply and bounced around, his dark skin shining in the sun. The lone guitar player sat on the fringes, twanging to the different sounds, demonstrating his soul with the slow shake of his head side to side. The only thing these very different people all had in common was that they were there to escape, to let themselves go through music, and the satisfaction evident on their faces could be felt in the air that day, spreading across the park.
We sat on the grass as the area filled up, by mid-afternoon there was easily thousands of people. At one point we strolled up the hill to check out the medieval battles that I had heard of. We had seen random people walking through the park earlier donning shining armour, so my curiosity was at a high. As we entered the tree line it was like I was suddenly watching a scene from Braveheart. There were two long lines of people clad in armour of different shapes and colours, brandishing padded weapons of all sorts. They faced off preparing for battle, and when it began they moved toward each other quickly, slashing and spearing. Apparently it was on the honour system, where if you were hit directly without shielding you would lose that limb. So people would be down on one knee still swinging madly with their sword, others would be holding one arm behind them. Eventually they would be struck down with a blow to the body and one side would be victorious.
The spirit of Montreal truly showed itself that weekend, and the following day all of Quebec decided to vote for real change in Ottawa, a huge majority favoring the progressive NDP. It was like that vote simply reinforced the impression that I was feeling towards the people of Quebec, that they are truly a social people that understand the value of human compassion and of shared human experiences.
We had to stay outside and stay active. We wanted to be full of this new found weather, we needed it to replenish us, like people lost in a desert who have finally come upon a water hole. The Bixie bike system is incredible, something that should lead the way for the future of all cities. It is a series of bike stands set up strategically throughout the city, and with a credit card one can rent a quality bike and conveniently ride it to another stand and leave it there. Riding through Montreal is a joy, with specific bike lanes on the major roads, and a respect for bikers that seems to be non-existent in other places. It is a vehicle after all, the only difference being that it is powered by our legs rather than damaging fossil fuels. I have heard of systems similar to the Bixie bikes being set up in places like Mexico city and actually working to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions significantly.
On Sunday, after a long night of drink and celebration with strange and interesting people from around Montreal, we headed to Mont Royal for what is called Tam-Tams. It is a grand music festival that anyone can join, and it takes place every weekend of the summer. Approaching the park there is a massive and towering statue of an awe inspiring angel, around which the crowds slowly begin to amass. Gradually the sounds of the drum circles grow, and more and more people begin to gather. Anyone can join the circles, and if they don't have an instrument they can still be participate simply by dancing. So it was that I watched people from all walks of life letting themselves go to the beat of the drums. One large and unkempt man who looked like he sat behind a computer in a dark room all day, beat at his drum with a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth, burning away. Another man in rather fancy clothes who could have been a stock broker by day, closed his eyes and looked to the sky as he let the rhythm carry him away. The drum master in the middle of the circle, with a magnificent looking djembe, smiled deeply and bounced around, his dark skin shining in the sun. The lone guitar player sat on the fringes, twanging to the different sounds, demonstrating his soul with the slow shake of his head side to side. The only thing these very different people all had in common was that they were there to escape, to let themselves go through music, and the satisfaction evident on their faces could be felt in the air that day, spreading across the park.
We sat on the grass as the area filled up, by mid-afternoon there was easily thousands of people. At one point we strolled up the hill to check out the medieval battles that I had heard of. We had seen random people walking through the park earlier donning shining armour, so my curiosity was at a high. As we entered the tree line it was like I was suddenly watching a scene from Braveheart. There were two long lines of people clad in armour of different shapes and colours, brandishing padded weapons of all sorts. They faced off preparing for battle, and when it began they moved toward each other quickly, slashing and spearing. Apparently it was on the honour system, where if you were hit directly without shielding you would lose that limb. So people would be down on one knee still swinging madly with their sword, others would be holding one arm behind them. Eventually they would be struck down with a blow to the body and one side would be victorious.
The spirit of Montreal truly showed itself that weekend, and the following day all of Quebec decided to vote for real change in Ottawa, a huge majority favoring the progressive NDP. It was like that vote simply reinforced the impression that I was feeling towards the people of Quebec, that they are truly a social people that understand the value of human compassion and of shared human experiences.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Election time...
I've been around a few elections over the last few years, and they have all been surrounded by passion and excitement. I was in Latin America for two incredibly important elections. The first was the United States Presidential race. I remember sitting in a little restaurant in the mountain city of Quetzaltanengo in Guatemala, the kind local owner and I watching the night unfold on CNN Espanol. I remember how we both watched with intense interest, and debated with one another in broken Spanish, both of us knowing how much was at stake. Not long after I was in El Salvador leading up to the Presidential elections where the people were mobilizing to elect a new government. The right wing party that dominated politics in El Salvador since the end of the war were about to be replaced democratically by the very Marxist Guerilla group that they fought against in the 1980's. Then there was Honduras, where I was part of a human rights delegation during a more or less staged election put on by a de facto coup d'etat regime. The former two elections were examples of peoples movements utilizing democracy to bring about significant change, the latter was an example of democracy being manipulated by powerful forces from above. It is now election time in Canada, and I feel that Canadian democracy lies somewhere in between the examples listed above.
I often express my indignation towards the establishment in my writing, or even more so when I talk to people. I frequently criticize the politics of Canada and the Canadian government, I certainly criticize our electoral system. In fact, I don't believe that what we have here in Canada is actually a democracy, but rather some twisted representation of what a democracy should be. For these reasons I'm sometimes called a radical, or often a socialist or perhaps a tree hugger (the latter two are apparently synonymous in contemporary ideological groupings). I will probably reinforce this label by declaring that I will be voting for the Green party this election - the only political party with a sustainable vision for the future. What is certain is that I am not a radical but a pragmatist. I believe in democracy and I believe that an organized democracy is the only way to bring about the changes that this country and this world need. I believe this because I have seen it happen, especially in Latin America. That is why despite my cynicism, I believe that elections are incredibly important. There is so much at stake. The longer that we neglect our duty to vote, the further we move away from a democracy and the harder it will be to salvage democracy when things start to get difficult - which is inevitable the way things are going.
Since this is my personal blog I'll now use this opportunity to push my own strong political views upon my readers. In the near future I will be writing about the problems with Canadian democracy and why our current system does not work. In the meantime, I strongly encourage people to vote Green. For every vote that the Green party receives they gain legitimacy as a party in the public eye, and the only reason they have not gained a strong sense of legitimacy thus far (as was made clear by their exclusion in the leaders debates) is because they raise important issues that the other political parties do not want to address. The Green party is the only party that will actively work to change our electoral system to make your individual vote worth more, so that there is a government in parliament representative of the entire population of Canada. And they are the only party that will provide an active voice for the environment, at a time when Canada is becoming known around the world as one of the least-environmentally friendly developed countries. Anyone who cares about the future of this country and this world should vote Green.
I often express my indignation towards the establishment in my writing, or even more so when I talk to people. I frequently criticize the politics of Canada and the Canadian government, I certainly criticize our electoral system. In fact, I don't believe that what we have here in Canada is actually a democracy, but rather some twisted representation of what a democracy should be. For these reasons I'm sometimes called a radical, or often a socialist or perhaps a tree hugger (the latter two are apparently synonymous in contemporary ideological groupings). I will probably reinforce this label by declaring that I will be voting for the Green party this election - the only political party with a sustainable vision for the future. What is certain is that I am not a radical but a pragmatist. I believe in democracy and I believe that an organized democracy is the only way to bring about the changes that this country and this world need. I believe this because I have seen it happen, especially in Latin America. That is why despite my cynicism, I believe that elections are incredibly important. There is so much at stake. The longer that we neglect our duty to vote, the further we move away from a democracy and the harder it will be to salvage democracy when things start to get difficult - which is inevitable the way things are going.
Since this is my personal blog I'll now use this opportunity to push my own strong political views upon my readers. In the near future I will be writing about the problems with Canadian democracy and why our current system does not work. In the meantime, I strongly encourage people to vote Green. For every vote that the Green party receives they gain legitimacy as a party in the public eye, and the only reason they have not gained a strong sense of legitimacy thus far (as was made clear by their exclusion in the leaders debates) is because they raise important issues that the other political parties do not want to address. The Green party is the only party that will actively work to change our electoral system to make your individual vote worth more, so that there is a government in parliament representative of the entire population of Canada. And they are the only party that will provide an active voice for the environment, at a time when Canada is becoming known around the world as one of the least-environmentally friendly developed countries. Anyone who cares about the future of this country and this world should vote Green.
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