In My Lifetime
Thursday, April 27th, 2006
Today I receive the meme baton from a ReMarkK!able guy central to the braintrust of the Toronto techsphere about which I’ve been enthusing of late.
The task at hand is to enumerate the three things I’d like to see happen in my lifetime. I’m immediately reminded of Steve Martin’s SNL sketch (“the first would be the crap about the kids definitely…”).
These three things come to mind:
- A return to primary respect of skilled trades in Canada. Apprenticing to be a carpenter or bricklayer is at the very least as important to our economy as as going to university to study liberal arts or computer science, but you wouldn’t know it from the attitude of parents and legislators across the country. Our immigration policy needs to recognize this as well. There’s no future in being a nation of eggheads with nowhere to live because there’s nobody to actually build and maintain the necessary infrastructure.
- Let us have a resurgence of hope. Let us have new vibrant leaders who follow the historical examples of the likes of MLK and JFK and PET who despite the trials of their times could deliver inspirational speeches that they themselves authored from their heartfelt passion for the basics of democracy, brotherhood and goodwill. Let us eschew the culture of ultraconservative fear, distrust and control that has been foist upon us and embrace openness, enthusiasm and the kind of collaborative altruism that once was strong enough to spawn the very nations we care about so deeply when it could have been so easy to succumb to the despair of the circumstances of the day.
- Will the real omnipotent being please stand up? Just step out from behind your veil of allegories and parables long enough to establish that indeed, you’re the definitive sole entity towards whom our genuflections should be directed and clear the air that either of Messrs Bush and/or Bin Laden or whomever you care to anoint does or does not have the authoritay to speak on behalf of your corporate mission. Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind doing the odd bit of smiting while you’re at it, thanks in advance.
In the interest of spreading this further afield, let’s hear what Nate, Terry and Rick have to say.
Today I receive the meme baton from a ReMarkK!able guy central to the braintrust of the Toronto techsphere about which I’ve been enthusing of late.
The task at hand is to enumerate the three things I’d like to see happen in my lifetime. I’m immediately reminded of Steve Martin’s SNL sketch (“the first would be the crap about the kids definitely…”).
These three things come to mind:
- A return to primary respect of skilled trades in Canada. Apprenticing to be a carpenter or bricklayer is at the very least as important to our economy as as going to university to study liberal arts or computer science, but you wouldn’t know it from the attitude of parents and legislators across the country. Our immigration policy needs to recognize this as well. There’s no future in being a nation of eggheads with nowhere to live because there’s nobody to actually build and maintain the necessary infrastructure.
- Let us have a resurgence of hope. Let us have new vibrant leaders who follow the historical examples of the likes of MLK and JFK and PET who despite the trials of their times could deliver inspirational speeches that they themselves authored from their heartfelt passion for the basics of democracy, brotherhood and goodwill. Let us eschew the culture of ultraconservative fear, distrust and control that has been foist upon us and embrace openness, enthusiasm and the kind of collaborative altruism that once was strong enough to spawn the very nations we care about so deeply when it could have been so easy to succumb to the despair of the circumstances of the day.
- Will the real omnipotent being please stand up? Just step out from behind your veil of allegories and parables long enough to establish that indeed, you’re the definitive sole entity towards whom our genuflections should be directed and clear the air that either of Messrs Bush and/or Bin Laden or whomever you care to anoint does or does not have the authoritay to speak on behalf of your corporate mission. Oh, and if you wouldn’t mind doing the odd bit of smiting while you’re at it, thanks in advance.
In the interest of spreading this further afield, let’s hear what Nate, Terry and Rick have to say.
