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Reality: The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of |
| FTLComm - Tisdale - Wednesday, July 25, 2001 |
 Listen closely to the phrases weathermen use to describe the systems that pass over our heads. They talk of a "system organising". The cirrus puffs seen last night at sunset are in the picture above while a the bottom of the page we look West at streams of cloud tightly knit into formation. The picture on the right and the one below were taken side by side one another of the same sky at the same time last Thursday. One fragmented the other cohesive |
 I feel it is important to bring this to your attention because "we the people" are like the water vapour that we describe as cloud. But unlike water vapour molecules we claim that we act and think, that we have volition and know the difference between right and wrong. Naturally occurring phenomena like wind, rain and fire act under the strictest rules of physics. Matter and energy act in clearly specified patterns governed by their innate nature. Some social scientists have suggest that we are really no different, that our nature, though more complex, is really a basic set of components that act and interact in accordance with design. That is a scary prospect because we can see backward in time and recognise behaviours, goals and aspirations that lead whole civilisations into acts that seem unthinkable, unimaginable, but there were people who did things in the past that none of us ever would want to see happen again. Every thing that people do is born within their imagination, imagination is based directly upon experience and reality. Only the most unusual and ultra-creative people can take fragments of reality and reassemble them into something that seems new and unique. But in essence all thoughts must be based on reality. How than can we ever hope to bring about a better world? Actually we can and have millions of times in the past. Individuals are able to accomplish enormous achievements and they have done so and will continue to do so because they have reached a moment where they have visualise and perceive exactly what they want and can then set a course to make that perception a reality. If an individual can conceptualise and design a goal than it is reasonable to assume that a group of people, a whole society can come together with a single concept and turn the idea into a reality. This is easiest when the project involves a physical goal, a town needs a recreational facility, like a rink and mountains are moved as the community pulls together to accomplish this single purpose. The remarkable achievement of Tisdale's senior citizens is just such a project where they have and continue to pull together to make the Golden Age Centre come to life. In 1944 the CCF came to life out of the burning poverty of the thirties and its flamboyant story telling leader had a dream of Medicare it was not an easy sell but gradually he worked on the people of the province and by a slim majority went for the idea and now it is the cornerstone of the whole country's national identity. We can as a society set goals and achieve far more than any one individual could possibly imagine, all that is needed is to recognise a specific need and address that need. What seems to get us off track is that we may spot a problem and a goal then waste ourselves in fruitless conflicts as we refuse to compromise on a means to obtain that goal. The greatest deterrent to accomplishment is dogma. When some over riding system is purported by some group as the single source of solutions for all things little will be achieved. Communism, socialism, free enterprise, strong leadership, Christianity, all of these conceptual frameworks are worthy of equal condemnation. Take a long hard look at Tommy Douglas and John Diefenbaker ignore what they said and consider only what they did and what were their achievements and you will discover that Tommy's socialism and Dief's conservatism were designed to garner some external blessing on pragmatic solutions. Allan Blakney did not grab the Saskatchewan potash mines because he was a socialist, he did it because he was in a major struggle with Trudeau over provincial rights under the constitution. People, ditch the dogma, latch on to the specific issues and compromise to find common workable solutions. That is the true "Saskatchewan Way", that is the way we have always done things. That's the way we build the curling rink, rebuilt the church, helped out a neighbour when he fell ill at harvest, cleaned up after a tornado, pitched in to put on a wedding, bury a friend and solved countless problems that by our selves would have been insurmountable. Like the water vapour, once organised it will produce amazing results. But the water molecules do not consider should we form a cloud as part of a social struggle for the masses, or should we form a cloud to promote individual liberty and the right to own property, or should we form a cloud because "God says" we believe in him so everything we decide to do is right. No, No, no, the water molecules form clouds because of the forces of physical nature, the laws of heat and cold and it is their nature to form or not to form clouds according to the conditions. Let us with purpose and single mindedness establish what we want and then work together focusing our energy on achieving that goal and achieve that goal for the good of all. |
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Sincerely |
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