We stand on guard for thee!

Happy Canada Day!  We've got a lovely day weather-wise ahead of us.  The birds are singing and there is a nice breeze blowing.  Our little Canadian family is going to go down to Rocky Point Park and sing "O Canada!" and have a piece of cake to celebrate Canada's birthday.  They are having a "mayor for a minute" booth, where you can say what you would do if you could run Port Moody (for a minute!)  I've been thinking about what I would do.  One thing that bugs me about Port Moody (although I really love Port Moody, there are still things that bug me about it) is that the city council has decided to call it "the City of the Arts" but I don't see why it is more artsy than anywhere else.  I guess if I could be the mayor, I'd put my money where my mouth is and implement policies that would really put the arts first.  And with my bias, I would have a little theatre built that could be used by local groups for very little money.  A theatre with a scene shop, costume storage and rehearsal space.  Stage 43 (where I sometimes perform) is always struggling to pay for rehearsal space and storage.  The older I get the more convinced I am of the efficacy of the arts.  Years ago, a couple of kids at Steveston-London made a video about how we can prevent war.  They asked a bunch of teachers what we thought.  It is hard to think of a good answer, because I'm not sure it is in our power -- we seem to have a propensity for fighting.  But Mr. Akselrod had a great answer.  He said, "make art".

Whatever you decide to do today, think about how lucky you are to be here in Canada.  I think it is mostly luck that makes this such a good place.  We don't have a huge population, so we have managed to hold on to some of the natural environment and not destroy our air and water and soil.  We are relatively free and live in a peaceful and fairly tolerant society.  Thanks to great Canadians like Tommy Douglas, we have been able to hold on to a sense of communal responsibility which gives us great institutions like medicare and public education.  We must make sure that we value and preserve these institutions that make our country one of the safest and most liveable in the world.

Make sure you put on some sun screen if you go out in the sun today (and every day).  Yesterday we were in Richmond for the Ship to Shore festival (which was great fun -- we got to go on a bunch of different boats and explore them) and I got a bad sunburn on my shoulders.  You'd think I would have learned that lesson in my long life.