Pale

Today our weather is what I would describe as a pale blue day. The pale blue canopy of the sky allows the rust orange leaves to stand out. As I type this the pale blue may be in slippage towards a mild grey.

I’ve been contemplating the terrible state of affairs in the Philippines (and have yet to hear much about Vietnam) with Typhoon Yolanda. The sea surge appears to have caused much of the damage. The people who are cut off are utterly bereft of the basic ingredients of daily survival. Each time a catastrophic weather event hits we pause and attempt to rescue people, but move along to the next one without much contemplation of why or how things may be better managed or averted, if indeed such weather events can be averted at all.

It’s not that many weeks since the typhoon hit India and there’s narry a word about that one. I suppose like most things when it’s on your doorstep .. but upon whose doorstep does it need to be for action or longer term contemplation to take place ? Are humans to die or rebound in the event of weather catastrophes? And which humans will qualify for evacuation and a stab at survival? Unfortunately in our momentary “floodlit” online world, dramatic footage will make the rounds until it’s replaced by some scandal by a lousy politician or a footballer or a tidbit. And like of much of the muchness of human suffering the footage disappears, the world rolls over until the next cycle hits.

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It’s staggering to hear that doctors (Providence Health Care) and patients in Vancouver are having to take a court case against the federal government to continue to be able to access prescription heroin. I was listening to a doctor today on the radio pleading for the fact that his patients will die without access to this treatment. It begs the question whether the Harper government is engaged in an active cull of people with addiction, an acknowledged disease that needs treatment. And what’s driving such a cull: ideology, tinker toy morality. Meanwhile the Mayor of Toronto does not appear to be doing anything useful in talking about addiction issues. Here is a ripe opportunity for him to actually take a leadership role and acknowledge that people with such struggles like himself need support, treatment programs and God damn it access to the medication they need to support their recovery from this disease. It’s like denying a chronic smoker treatment for lung cancer because you disapprove of the fact they smoked. Who does this? The Harper government does this.

Here’s the CBC story on the ban on prescription heroin: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/b-c-health-provider-patients-file-lawsuit-over-heroin-access-1.2425356