Hopes for 2018

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Wed, 2018-01-03 15:23

MegB

Hopes for 2018

2017 was a difficult year in so many ways. Trump, the long list of Trudeau's broken promises, continued and escallating armed conflict, among many many other issues.

Many of us begin 2018 with hope for a better year. What are your hopes for 2018? A Trump impeachment? Legalized marijuana? An end to the occupation of Palestine? More racial and social equity? It doesn't have to be something you expect to be realized, but it should have something to do with your vision of how you'd like to see the world evolve over the coming months. It doesn't necessarily have to be something political or social justice related either. It can be personal, if you so choose to share.

So how would you like to see 2018 unfold?

Regions:

Wed, 2018-01-03 16:37

6079_Smith_W

I don't want to make predictions and be left sounding stupid. There are way too many things to think about, but here are the first things that spring to my mind:

I hope the MMIW inquiry gets it together for the sake of the families. And changing things so the toll doesn't rise.

I hope we get enough frost to knock back the spruce budworm for another year, though that is probably a losing battle. Ditto for holding back the decay of the glaciers that keep a river running through our town.

I hope it winds up not being worth their while to put that Keystone XL through on the new route.

I took a ride in a Tesla a few days ago. I want to see more of that kind of vehicle than the 54 there currently are in SK.

I don't even want to think about the political front, as it is shifting sand, though I am leaning against wanting impeachment, at least until the mid-terms. If there is any political battle that is on my mind it is the one in the province west of us rather than our own. They likely will wind up with Kenney as the next premier, but it would be nice if they could somehow decide to stay on the course they have chosen.

And I like stuff like this. I don't give a shit that she is a career soldier. If real change gets initiated from the edges, it gets vulcanized from the middle:

http://womenyoushouldknow.net/retired-fighter-pilot-amy-mcgrath-announce...

Wed, 2018-01-03 17:36

Ken Burch

Anyone who is reading this thread is still alive IN 2018. In that, there is always hope.

Wed, 2018-01-03 18:14

lagatta4

That is true! (I'm very worried about a friend). Well, I hope that Valérie Plante is able to fulfil at least some of her promises and that we can be serious about public transport (and electrification thereof), social housing and greening and work on rectifying the scant number of "visible minority" borough mayors and council members, and the numbers among public workers overall. The STM has made a lot of progress, but not all other segments so much.

Wed, 2018-01-03 19:39

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

I've been nursing a terminal kitty - it's 3 months tomorrow since his cancer diagnosis. A number of good friends are dealing with very serious stages of cancer. And today, I found out that my father-in-law was taken into the hospital with pneumonia. My hopes are very much tied to the best possible outcomes for all my loved ones. It leaves little time to get hopeful or depressed about political and world events. However, Pallister close to home is horrifying as is Trump on the world stage.

Wed, 2018-01-03 19:55

lagatta4

Oh laine, so sad, about kitty and humans alike. My Renzo had terminal kidney failure (he was over 20) and some people thought we should try this or that miracle cure, but I'm certain it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Much as I love Livia, I miss Renzo every day. Things are still up in the air about the human friend...

Wed, 2018-01-03 21:34

(Reply to #6) #7

Ken Burch

laine lowe wrote:

I've been nursing a terminal kitty - it's 3 months tomorrow since his cancer diagnosis. A number of good friends are dealing with very serious stages of cancer. And today, I found out that my father-in-law was taken into the hospital with pneumonia. My hopes are very much tied to the best possible outcomes for all my loved ones. It leaves little time to get hopeful or depressed about political and world events. However, Pallister close to home is horrifying as is Trump on the world stage.

I am so sorry about what you're going through, laine.

Wed, 2018-01-03 21:42

lagatta4

Indeed, the one concerning the person closest to me (an old friend who also lives very close by) is still unconfirmed, but a fellow very close by (in the next block of my street) whom I know from the red square protests ( I know his wife better as we were among many neighbourhood people who held firm in a sitdown against a threatening phalanx of riot police at my corner) seems to have poor odds of beating lung cancer. I ran into her a few days ago and she is very discouraged...

Friend one is over eighty, but in possession of all his marbles and physically fit. Friend two is no older than I am and perhaps a few years younger.

Thu, 2018-01-04 19:27

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

Thanks for the kinds thoughts, lagatta and Ken. I didn't know Renzo passed away, lagatta. I'm so very sorry - I always thought of him as a miracle kitty after his months long disappearance and long recuperation after finding his way home. My good friend in Toronto just let me know that her sweet Nikita bid this world adieu this morning - she also had terminal kidney failure at the age of 22 years.

I do associate January and February with death since so many family and friends seemed to have passed away in those two months over the years. Plus it's always natural to be reflective during this season of holidays, especially as they are very focused on being surrounded by people. It can be terribly lonely for many as well as painful. So I hope for everyone, that this winter and holiday period has not been too unkind and that feelings of hope, health and opportunity take hold and flourish throughout the year!

Thu, 2018-01-04 20:21

#10

lagatta4

Yes, I guess we just missed each other when Renzo passed away at what - 20 1/2? Hard to know as he was a stray. Yes, he was a miracle kittle to recover, and I remember feeding him tiny quantities of rich (and expensive) veterinary cat food as a large amount at a time could have killed him. Although I'm madly in love with my tiny Livia (also a stray), I miss Renzo every day. I'll never know if they cuddled together in the lane: Renzo was a great cuddler and very friendly to other cats, and to dogs (except scary ones) and we often espied Livia, her mum and her bro cuddled together for warmth and ... love. Her mother was adopted by another person on my street - hope that is going ok as mum, while gentle, was a bit more feral, and her brother by someone else nearby.

On one hand, I'm rather sorry that someone else adopted them, but also relieved as it can be very expensive to adopt a stray cat. She had worms and earmites, and some other digestive issues, as well as needing her shots and That Nasty Operation. Doc told me that she was probably at the beginning of a pregnancy - no visible embryos, but somatic changes that indicated a possible pregnancy. I couldn't have handled four or five little black cats! And they would have been black, as her beau was, and I saw them grooming each other.

On another forum, I got sh*t from a poster for admitting melancholy at the so-called festive season. And called a Scrooge. Scrooge's sin wasn't an aversion to Christmas: it was greed and the obsessive love of money, at the expense of workers, and an ill child.

For me, it has always been a melancholy season, though I took advantage of the silence to work on a translation withoug interruption. Bare minimum of festive suppers. Later.