The Ironist
Differing Perspectives
Miscellaneous Ramblings #9 – Part 1, Recognizing Evil
“The line separating good and evil passes through every human heart.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago I was in Budapest when I heard about the mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. One of the worst things about this horror is how quickly it...
Ramblings #8 – Look Back and Learn
Nigel writes on the irony of hindsight, and how looking back is the only way we ever really learn. “It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.” - George Eliot, Middlemarch It is a long drive to Ottawa, and one that I have...
Ramblings #7 : Passing the Torch
A warm, observant paean to the spirit of Port Elgin, capturing the rhythms of slow living and the Canadian summer – with touches of nostalgia and humour. This summer we had a family reunion at Port Elgin. Our daughter rented a cottage near the main beach, in an older...
Ramblings #6 – Acknowledging the Inexplicable: The Plaque on the Wall
Nigel Scotchmer describes how two towns in Hesse, Germany, do not hide their times of trouble. They can be seen both as symbols of the horrifying depths of evil to which humankind can sink, and, at the same time, the resilience of the majority of people to try to be...
Ramblings #3 – Shanghai Surges
“Meet me at the gate to Yu Garden” – Anonymous My neighbour across the street ran the ‘Maple Leaf Express’, one of the exit routes from Hong Kong when the British returned it to China in 1997. He regaled with me stories of incompetent Canadian government officials...
Ramblings #2 – Disconnect
The picture above has a touch of unexpected colour. A different angle and a picture can be transformed. Change a word and a poem will be remembered. We work for years at what is important to us, be it family, work, or, sadly, (for far too many people), starting wars....
Ramblings #4 – Our Values
Enjoy life more with a little reflection. It’s almost November; a cool breeze blows. Frail, yellowing leaves flicker on branches; their brethren, dried and curled, toss aimlessly as they roll down the street. I need an escape from this coming cold…India! The red dust...
Ramblings #5 – Miracles, Dreams and False Idols
"Granddad, granddad! Book, book!" Nothing matches a baby’s smile. Watch it slowly spread, then burst into a gurgling laugh! That laugh! It’s an infectious laugh that reaches deep into your soul and rips your heart open. Nothing in life prepares you for it. This last...
Ramblings #1 – At the Limehouse Cut
William Morris, Eleanor Marx, George Bernard Shaw et al. gave speeches nearby I am sitting on a wooden bench by the Limehouse Cut, the oldest canal in London, built in 1770. It is a Sunday morning, and there are only a few passers-by on Commercial Road that crosses...