Author Archives: Gillian

Quote of the Day

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In the BC Leader’s Debate:

Carole James: “…so, Mr Campbell, is your Health Minister not telling the truth, or is it you?”

Gordon Campbell: “No, you’re not.”
(And then he nearly cracked up as he continued in his statement)

And We’re All Freaked Out

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The biggest news of the last week or so has to be the “swine flu pandemic” (yes, it was only a matter of time until I got my two cents in).

The best quote I’ve seen yet (from something I read in the last week, I can’t remember where) was that the swine flu is the “biggest global health crisis since the SARS pandemic failed to actualize.” Hmm, that may say it all right there, especially with headlines like the one in today’s Globe and Mail: Mexico lowers flu death toll. Maybe it isn’t as freaky as we first thought?

Completely independent of each other, I read two complementary analyzes of the situation:
From Mike:

Our Hierarchy of Concerns

I think I’ve figure this out:
AIDS = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
Malaria = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
SwineFlu = Could be us. Better get on this one!

From Eric:

The WHO, for 2004, summarized that in Africa:

405,000 died from TB
182,000 died from measles
69,000 died from tetanus
1,417,000 died from respiratory infections
27,000 died from iron-deficiency

And yet, somehow, we are in a state of emergency over a flu that has killed no one in Canada yet. The lesson is learned: all you have to do is threaten a white, affluent North American and every precaution will be taken. Threaten to kill thousands of Africans and the world sits on their hands.


Puts things into perspective and makes one think, does it not?

On a lighter note, this is from the 1970s:

Welcome to May!

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It has been a beautiful, sunny week here in Victoria. I went for a long walk on my lunch break today (well, I was limited to an hour because that is the length of my break…) and remembered that my best thoughts come when I am walking. Hopefully I’ll get out more this weekend!

My camera uploader isn’t working properly, so once I get that figured out, Friday Photo will be up.
Happy weekend!

A Year Ago…

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… this week, Leg 6 of Offshore was drawing to a close, we were in the midst of our work days, and Katie was about to get engaged to Matt.

I know I’ve already written a fair bit on my thoughts about community, but I can’t help returning to that subject over and over especially as we near the one year anniversary of the end of Offshore. It is my opinion that what we, as humans, crave more than anything is meaningful relationships with other people. (If storms like this don’t bring you closer, I don’t know what does!) I am incredibly thankful that I had the opportunity to be a part of the community that is on Pacific Grace for two whole years.

Loving Others

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When Jesus said to love others, what did he mean?
If the measure of love I have for those around me is the indication of the measure of love I have for God, how do I know if I am loving those around me?

As a person who gets along with nearly everyone, there is not really anyone I actively dislike. Does that somehow make me super-person who must love God a lot? I’m not sure. Not actively disliking someone does not necessarily mean I love them.

If I walk by a homeless person and ignore them, am I not-loving them?
If I write off a person in my social circle, am I not-loving them as well?

Just some things I was thinking about today with the young peoples group at church.

Friday Photo

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This week has been crazy gong-show busy with the end of exams (yay!) and working every other day. Add on top of that concerts and operas, birthday parties and going away parties, and I’ve hardly been home this week let alone out with my camera. I took this one on Tuesday, which was the last time I had more than 2 hours in a row of “nothing.”