Harris's slavemaster roots

Reprinted from "The Catholic League Register' :

September 30, 2024

The Left is good at lying, especially when it comes to the poor and their upbringing.

The first question asked of Kamala Harris by David Muir in the debate between her and Donald Trump was, “When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?” She responded, “So, I was raised as a middle-class kid.” Not only was that a dodge—her answer had nothing to do with the question—it was a lie.

In a lengthy piece on Breitbart about her biography, it was said that “a close look at her childhood shows that Harris and her younger sister grew up with many opportunities that many ‘middle class’ children do not have, such as living abroad, private school education, and growing up in some of the wealthiest locales in the world.”

Today, Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, have an estimated net worth of $8 million and they live in a house in Brentwood, California worth over $5 million (double what they paid in 2012). The 3,500-square-foot estate has four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a private pool. Her neighbors include Gisele Bündchen, Dr. Dre, LeBron James and Gwyneth Paltrow.

None of this would matter much if it weren’t for Harris portraying herself as an average American, and as someone whose background allows her to be the champion of the dispossessed. In actual fact, she has a slavemaster pedigree.

Her father, Stanford professor Donald Harris, is a descendant of Hamilton Brown, a slaveowner in Jamaica. He owned over 120 slaves in the early nineteenth century. He not only was a big sugar plantation slavemaster, he was an outspoken foe of the abolitionists. Moreover, he hated William Wilberforce, the most prominent public opponent of slavery.

Harris does not like to talk about her father’s slavemaster roots, and neither does she like to talk about her mother’s slavemaster roots. Indeed, her mother’s side of the family is a classic case of privilege and an exemplar of oppression.

“In Indian society, we go by birth. We are Brahmins, that is the top caste.” That is how her mother, Shyamala, described her roots.

A caste system is a type of social stratification that differs from a class system in that it does not permit mobility, either upward or downward. It’s a closed system.

At the top are the Brahmins, mostly priests and academics. The second of four castes are known as the Kshatriyas; they are the warriors, administrators and rulers. Vaishyas are the third layer, consisting of artisans, merchants, tradesmen and farmers. Then come the commoners, the Shudras, mostly peasants and servants. Last are the Dalits; they are the ones who scrub the toilets, etc.

 

The Brahmins received some of their bounty from selling slaves. In the case of Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, her roots are that of the Tamil Brahmins, also known as Tambrans.

Tambrans are from the southern tip of India, Tamil Nadu. They were the most advantaged group residing in the Tamil-speaking region of the country. As hereditary Hindu priests, they took over many of the elite positions in the colonial government, something which today is a source of embarrassment. This explains why Harris never mentions the words Tamil and Brahmin in her 2019 book about her life, The Truths We Hold. She doesn’t want the world to know about her elitist roots.

Slavery was not outlawed in India until 1843, yet it still exists today in parts of the country. Ironically, it still exists in the spinning mills of Tamil Nadu, Harris’ mother’s hometown area. According to a young scholar in India, “the history of Brahmins is underwritten by centuries of enslaving many millions of others.” This is the privileged basis of Harris’ mother’s ancestors.

The caste system extends back 1,500 years. The Brahmins not only held all the major positions of power in India, but unlike everyone else, they lived in rent free villages. They maintained their grip on power by practicing endogamy, marrying only their own kind; the marriages were arranged.

At the bottom of the caste system are the Dalits, also known as the Untouchables. As one contemporary Indian writer puts it, “India’s history is smeared with brutalities against lower-caste people by those higher up on the caste ladder.” The Untouchables are the most oppressed in the Hindu caste system, a function of their being considered impure.

Harris says we need reparations in the U.S. because of slavery and discrimination. But she never addresses the oppressive conditions of the Dalits and Shudras, nor does she call for the abolition of slavery in India where it still exists.

 

Perversely, Harris demands that to facilitate discussions on reparations for African Americans we need to do a study of slavery and the effects of discrimination. Fine. Let us also do a study of her slavemaster pedigree. Then she can begin writing checks to those who survived the oppression visited upon their forefathers by her ancestors.

Harris likes to mouth the wonders of inclusion, yet she is the beneficiary of centuries of exclusion. Time for her to fess up. 

Please keep this in mind when you watch her on television.

Well, duh!

Dr. Claudia Goldin, Lee and Ezpeleta Professor of Arts and Science, Henry Lee Prof. of Economics, Harvard, has come out with this astounding bit of research:  Gender economics is real.  She has provided the first comprehensive account of women's earnings and labour market participation through the centuries.  It turns out that women's biological functions of pregnancy and birthing actually affect not only them, but also the whole economy.

Well, as I say, duh!

Gee, Goldin is smiling.  Wonder if she has any kids?

Elizabeth Renzetti had a column about this in Saturday's 'Globe and Mail' which outlined what all working women with children know:  The workplace penalizes us financially and career-wise.  I have written many blogs about this, but maybe I should have parlayed them into a PhD, like Goldin, or a book, like Renzetti?

Goldin says that the culprit is partly "greedy work" in a heterosexual partnership with children where one person is free to take on the demanding job that requires overtime, or be on-call all the time and the other is on-call for the kids.  "Hello, gender norms!  Nice to hear from you again," she quips.

My marriage broke up when my kids were three and nine months, so I was both parents.  That meant that when I was tapped to work in the Privy Council Office, I had to turn it down because I knew I could not put in the long hours any job there demands.  I had a nanny who clocked off at six p.m., so I had to be home.  No seven to seven for me.  Even if you weren't doing anything, you had to be seen in the office during those hours if you worked in the PCO.

Me for many years.

In spite of all that, I did well.  Made it to the DG level as an EX 01.  Not bad for someone who had to parent kids while pretending she didn't have any.  In fact the worst bosses I had were women.  Unlike my male bosses who were sympathetic, I had to lie to my female ones when a kid was sick, or had an appointment I had to take them to.  My female bosses were not nice.  Hello, welcome to envy in the workplace!  

Thank God for my sainted parents, who lived down the street and often took my kids when I travelled.  That's the reason we moved to Alberta, so I could be available for my grands.  And I have loved every minute of it!  

Sadly, I was only on my glorious own for two years.  Then I met B and he came with two kids and an ex-wife.  Everything changed when we got married because I ended up having to deal with four more people, one of whom was challenging, to put it mildly.

Somehow, we struggled and muddled through arguably successfully.  All four kids vote and none is in jail, if that's any indicator.  Ah, life.............     

 

  

Censorship

An NDP MP has introduced a bill that would criminalize residential school denialism, saying it would help stop harm caused toward survivors, their families and communities.

If the bill is passed, people could be charged under the Criminal Code for promoting hatred against Indigenous Peoples by condoning, justifying or downplaying the historical and lasting impact of colonialism and residential schools.  (BTW, all schools in Canada are the result of "colonialism", but the rest of us don't dine out on it forever.)

Leah Gazan is going to make many of us criminals.

Leah Gazan, whose mother is Lakota, says families deserve to heal from this "intergenerational tragedy," and that parliamentarians must stand firm against people who try to discredit the stories of survivors.

Does this mean I could be charged because I have blogged about many Indigenous people being grateful for their education?  Does this mean that if we even think something and voice it, we are criminals?  Reminds me of the Taliban, who have made it a crime for any woman to speak in public, or even sing in her own home!

I mean, where would Indigenous leaders be, had it not been for the education provided them via residential schools?

She represents Winnipeg Centre, where there are many more issues to deal with than this.  Instead of spending her time introducing ludicrous bills, she should dig into the many messes right under her nose at the corner of Portage and Main.  

Unbelievable

In a breathtaking nod to the incompetence of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the federal government has just moved to bypass it to create yet another agency to do what the PHAC has consistently failed to do:  Identify and protect Canadians from deadly disease and pandemics.

PHAC was formed in 2004 after SARS emerged because evidently all the federal, provincial and municipal health departments combined neither predicted, nor prevented, that epidemic.  

Then came COVID and right on cue, PHAC abjectly failed to warn Canadians -- in spite of the fact that Theresa Tam sat on the World Health Organization and must have known all about it.  One day everything was fine, according to Tam, but the next we all had to quarantine or die.  Remember that?

Theresa Tam (gender unknown)

Francois Philippe Champagne, industry minister, has just announced he's now creating a brand, new agency called 'Health Emergency Readiness Canada' so we can -- once again....wait for it -- predict and prevent deadly disease and pandemics!

Phew!  Thankfully, this new agency will prevent this!

Why is this not coming from health minister Mark Holland?  Why is the industry minister making this announcement?  Maybe someone actually woke up and realized that Holland hasn't been doing his job.

Vassy Kapelos interviewed him yesterday and he was hysterical.  Speaking in rapid fire, I thought he was on speed!  He was rude and kept cutting her off and raving over her questions -- questions for which he obviously had no answers.  

Last year, the British Medical Journal called out Canada's "major pandemic failures", such as jurisdictional wrangling and a high death rate in long-term care homes.  Hello, Theresa -- did you read that?  No one must have given it another thought or hoot because, instead of being fired, charged and jailed, Tam was immediately given a HUGE raise!

You could not make this up!  Oh, but wait, Trudeau is a "feminist", so he could not possibly fire a woman!  He's a feminist, remember.  But wait, a feminist who gropes women and then says grabbing her ass was something she "remembered differently".  Speaking of being charged and jailed....

So now, to protect Canadians, we have:

• Municipal health departments
• Provincial health departments and agencies
• Federal health departments
• The Public Health Agency of Canada, and
• The Health Emergency Readiness Canada agency.

Do you feel safe?  Rhetorical.

 

  

     

Obscene

While the rest of us are panicking about a plastic straw, our soon-to-be-replaced PM is darting all over the world in his government-funded jet.

Yep, you read that right.  92,104 km's in three months!

The next series of photos tells the hypocritic tale:

Yep

Yep

Yep again

And people continue to support him and the lucidrous Stephen Guibeault??!!!

Just dumb

I'm going to post a picture that explains this government's continuing stupid decisions on Haiti:

Canada has given this sh-hole of a country $400 million since 2022.  Overall, Haiti-- a country of 11 million -- has received $30 billion from foreign aid and it's still an effing mess!

Trudeau now wants to give them even more!!$@!#!!#  That money has gone directly into the pockets of the business and political elite who run one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, yet we continue to pour money into it.

This has to stop.  

"I don't think so"

Those were the words out of Senators' president Cyril Leeder's mouth when he announced that a new stadium is to be built on Lebreton Flats in Ottawa.

Mr. Leeder with his wallet open.

He was responding to a question.  "Will the taxpayers be on the hook for financing some of this project?" asked a reporter.  "I don't think so," Leeder replied.

And therein lies the rub.  "I don't think so," means of course the beleaguered taxpayer will be footing a big part of the bill because we all know that any such mega-project ALWAYS runs WAAAAAY over budget.

So, get ready to dig deep, Ottawans, because you'll be forking over for a project that currently has no timeline and no budget.  Yes, you read that right.  Leeder and his partner John Ruddy, of the Trinity Development Group, have no clue when shovels will hit the ground and what the whole debacle will cost.  That being said, how can they possibly know taxpayers will be spared yet another boondoggle?!

They can't.  My guess is they have no timeline because they're still rooting around for more money from someone else.  Somewhere.  Somehow.

So, as I say taxpayer beware.  Tag, you're it!

Breathtaking mismanagement

That's the only way to describe what the federal government is good at.  According to a recent study, Ottawa has paid $9.2 billion in overtime to employees since 2016.

$9.2 billion!#$%^&*^!!

That's obscene.

This has happened even though hiring has jumped significantly.  The following headlines tell the outrageous story:

I can't even begin to write about this mess.  And to think, Treasury Board President Anita Anand won't even try to explain it.  What are the highly-paid dolts in her employ doing?!!!!! 

For the record, in my entire career, I never charged one cent of overtime -- even though I had to travel often on weekends to get better-priced fares.  I just didn't think it was right, so I didn't.

Out-of-control is all I can say.

Sloganism

That seems to be all Kamala Harris has to offer:  Feel good clichés, meaningless drivel, slogans and cackling.  Reminds me of Kim Campbell's disastrous campaign when she said, "An election campaign is no time to discuss serious issues."

That killed her -- that and her ineptitude.

(Mark Groubert claims she is either drunk or high during her interviews.  I have no idea about that, but Mark is usually right.  Watch him on YouTube.)

I notice that many people are cheering and rooting for Harris, regardless of what she says -- which is usually nothing worth noting.  Many women, for example, will vote for her just because she's a woman and someone of colour.  Gender and race are no reasons at all.  That's simply blind ignorance and being uninformed about issues.  

(Speaking of being uninformed, I have decided not to discuss politics with anyone who does not read national media, like 'The Globe and Mail'.  My first question will be, "Do you follow national media?"  If the answer is "no", I will not engage.) 

And that giggling and grinning!  Unbearable.  Try as I might, I cannot see her standing up to Putin or Xi because they will not back down when she chortles at them over a pile of nuclear weapons.

What is her slogan?  "A new way forward," or some other such nonsense.  And what exactly has she been doing for the last four years?  Wasn't she supposed to clean up the border?  Didn't happen, it's a sieve.   

The potential leader of the free world.  Help us all!

Here in Canada, all the polls are saying that Trudeau has no chance.  I thought that too, until I had a second thought.  People who say they won't vote for Trudeau also say they can't vote for Poilievre either.  I read letters to the editor from people who claim they can't support Poilievre, but won't vote for Trudeau.

What could happen is that these people will simply stay home and all the Trudeau-ites will come out and vote.  Gawd help us because that will mean Trudeau will get in!%#$%!!$%  I can't bear to even think about it, but it you are against Trudeau, please hold your nose and vote for Poilievre.  Don't stay home!

I know it sounded insane.....

....but in some cultures, they do eat cats and dogs.  Trump's vilification for saying it was predictable, but I remember when I was a kid in Ottawa, there was a huge scandal because the Chinese restaurant on the little island off the Champlain Bridge was shut down for using cat meat in its recipes.

All true.

The French eat horse meat, something we find horrific.  Many Asian and South Asian cultures eat insects and other creatures because food is scarce.  The Chinese are the biggest consumers of cats and dogs, but the Swiss also consume their pets, although I can't imagine Roger Federer chowing down on fluffy the cat before a big match.  But, if you don't believe me, google it.  This what I found:

"A small percentage of Swiss population secretly eats cats, dogs, and horses. Eating cat and dog meat is part of Christmas celebrations. While there are no commercial slaughterhouses for cats and dogs, farmers kill the animals themselves.  'Unmentionable Cuisine,' a 1979 book on taboo food around the world by Calvin Schwabe, detailed the Swiss recipe for dried dog meat.  Swiss cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen have a tradition of eating dog meat, preserving it as sausages, as well as using it for medicinal purposes."

Dinner in some cultures.

But, as I say, the abuse and horror aimed at Trump was predictable.  The mainstream media jumps all over anything Trump says, which is why I no longer watch it.  I now get my news from YouTube via people like Victor Davis Hanson, Thomas Sewell, Douglas Murray, Ben Carson, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Larry Elder and others of their ilk.

Here in Canada, talking heads are falling all over themselves praising Mark Carney for being an economic genius.  Look at his impeccable resumé, they scream!  What they don't look into (because they are lazy) is the fact that his appointment as governor of the Bank of England was terminated after barely three years -- two short of the usual appointment.  He f-cked up in that job, but no one mentions that inconvenient fact.

Freeland and Champagne must be fuming that Trudeau parachuted Carney in over them because, speaking of effing up, both have botched their portfolios spectacularly!  Freeland has been minister of finance for four years, as well as deputy PM, and she is not only ineffectual, but also ruinous for the Canadian economy.

The gang that couldn't shoot straight HAS TO GO!

Insanity

 If you are sucked in by Kamala Harris, read this and educate yourself -- please.  (And while you're at it, have a listen to Thomas Sewell on YouTube.)   Re-printed from the Catholic League newsletter:

September 9, 2024

The delusional and woke Walz.

"Minnesota Gov. and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has some very bizarre, even repugnant, ideas about education. He has been reluctant to talk about them, and the media have shown no interest in pressing him on this issue.

"Walz has had little to say about the rigors of the curriculum, but he has addressed a variety of side issues. One of them involves equity, diversity and inclusion, code words for combating racism by promoting more of it. He is responsible for launching a center at the Minnesota Department of Education to further this cause.

"The education gurus who are the key contributors to this radical agenda include Boston University professor Ibram X. Kendi—he believes all white people are inveterate racists—and Robin DiAngelo, the disgraced author accused of plagiarizing her University of Washington 2004 Ph.D. dissertation. Both have made millions hawking their ideology.

"Walz is also responsible for making Ethnic Studies a requirement for graduation.

"When I taught a college course on Ethnic Studies, I had the students learn about the Irish (the European example), Puerto Ricans (the Latino example), African Americans (the African example), the Japanese (the Asian example) and Jews (the Middle Eastern example). 

"This is not Walz’s idea of Ethnic Studies. His notion involves introducing students to lectures on oppression and “cisheteropatriarchy,” which roughly means the study of successful heterosexual males, though in the courses Walz favors it means these guys are responsible for oppressing the world.

"Walz is also interested in advancing the LGBTQ agenda, which has no intrinsic bearing on education. He earned the tag “Tampon Tim” when he ordered tampons be made available in every men’s bathroom in the state. Men cannot menstruate, which explains why tampons have never been placed in men’s bathrooms. But this doesn’t matter to Walz.

"His anti-science view is shared by Hillary Clinton; she commended him for his “compassionate and common-sense policy.” Also, Minnesota State Rep. Sandra Feist defended Walz by saying, “Not all students who menstruate are female.” She did not identify one person who has a penis, scrotum and testicles who menstruates. He doesn’t exist, except in their heads.

"Walz is so passionate about the LGBTQ agenda that effective in July 2025 he is going to mandate that all teachers affirm the sex of a student who falsely maintains that he is of the opposite sex. In other words, if Johnny thinks he is Jane and wants to be called she/her, or even they/them, then the teachers must oblige.

"As Joy Pullman, the executive editor of The Federalist, notes, this would effectively “ban practicing Christians, Jews, and Muslims from teaching in public schools.” They do not accept the anti-science view that one’s sex is a subjective determination.

"What makes Walz so dangerous is that he refuses to promote school choice, thus ensuring that most students are indoctrinated with his left-wing ideas about race and sex.

"Every poll taken in Minnesota on school choice shows that more than 70 percent favor it, and this includes a majority of Democrats. Moreover, 26 states have some form of school choice program—21 run by Republicans and 5 by Democrats—but Walz refuses to offer minorities (whom he claims to champion) the same opportunity to select the school of their choice that those who are more affluent already enjoy.

"The media are delinquent in not telling the truth about Walz’s education record. It’s a disaster, and so is the cover up."

Kyrgios was better

While the US Open Men's Final was playing, I tuned out and turned on a couple of the best-plays videos on YouTube of Nick Kyrgios.  Now, there's a tennis player!

He has beaten all the GOATs and I believe could have shellacked Fritz in that final.  He's now a commentator, and I love him in that role too, but he is a wonderful tennis player.  He has every shot in the book and goes for them fearlessly.

Nick being Nick

Today's game is all power slugging, until someone hits it out, or into the net.  That's not tennis!  Might as well be baseball.  BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG OUT!

It was galling to hear Chrissy Evert calling the match because she is the one who wrecked tennis.  She's the one who started all that baseline pounding.  She won many tournaments because she was accurate, but she was boring.

People seem to hate Kyrgios, judging by the nasty online comments they post.  But I guarantee you, if you watch a few videos, you'll be amazed and thoroughly entertained.  One of the best is "Nick Kyrgios being Nick Kyrgios".  It shows him in all his glory.

The women's game is actually worse, with all the screaming and hammering.  When I played -- albeit badly -- it was a game of finesse.  And speaking of finesse, if you want a lesson in that skill, ask B.  He was a nationally-ranked player back-in-the-day and played junior Davis Cup for Canada.  I kid you not.

I hated playing with him.  "Hit it to me," I'd say.  "Are you kidding?" he'd reply.  Didn't take long for me to refuse to play with him -- especially doubles, when he'd whisper curses after I had brilliantly flubbed a shot.  "How could you miss that?!" he'd say.

So, it'll be Nick all the way for me when I want to watch entertaining, fun tennis.

 

Always the same, old story

Whenever a British colony breaks away and becomes an independent country, chaos, authoritarian dictatorships and crime reign.  

On both sides of B's family, the British military figured prominently for 250 years.  One of his uncles was regimental garrison commander in the British army in Lagos, Nigeria, when there were only two states.  Britain ruled Nigeria from 1882 to 1960, but the country couldn't cope without them.  Six years after the Brits left, Nigeria overthrew the democracy that was created for them and instead of two, peaceful states, there are now 36, all divided along warring, tribal lines.

Another uncle was police commander in Kenya; one of his great-grandfathers the district commissioner of Allahabad in India.  B was born in Bombay, his sister in Calcutta.  These countries all worked when the Brits ran them.  Recently, the Indian owner of a restaurant we frequent said, "The only things that work in India are the things the British put in, railways, water navigation, government and education."

Now, just take a look at Zimbabwe, one of many examples.  When ruled by Britain, it was a prosperous country called Rhodesia.  Now it's a crime-ridden sh-t hole.

The once-proud passenger railway system, for example, has not run for two years and trains have been shut down and parked idly in train stations, decaying on sidings.  What have they become?  Brothels, drug dens, playgrounds for ragged, abandoned street children and rough shelters for the homeless.

A once first-class passenger train system in ruins.

You can thank its independence in 1980, when Joshua Nkomo became president.  He was followed by the ruthlessly corrupt Robert Mugabe and his successor Emmerson Mnangagwa.  Nothing ever changes when tribal rule takes over African countries.  Zimbabwe's economy has fallen into steep decline, largely because of state dysfunction under successive autocratic regimes.

Hundreds of factories have shut down, electricity and water systems have deteriorated and hospitals and clinics are hobbled by shortages of medicine and other supplies.  

"If I get a client, I just bring him here and get into any of the open passenger trains to do my business," says 24-year-old prostitute Lindiwe Zilawe, who added that she performs sex work daily at Harare's once-bustling train station.  "We just pay off the security guards and use the trains for free," she adds.  

Canada has given $1.2 billion since 2018 to Africa's francophone countries -- also war zones with carnage everywhere.  Why?  Mélanie Joly says it's to improve them.

Fat chance.  The money just goes into the off-shore bank accounts of corrupt dictators.  (I've written a number of blogs on the subject, See "Africa, a stupid continent," Nov. 17, 2017, and "In the vernacular," Jan. 12, 2018)  That's where your money is going if you give a cent to any African organization.  

_________________________

Speaking of messes, Afghanistan continues to fester in ruins.  Sally Armstrong, journalist and human-rights activist, wrote a depressing column the other day in 'The Globe and Mail' about a new 114-page document on morality recently released by the Taliban's supreme leader, Hibatulla Akhundzada.  It decrees that women must completely cover their bodies and faces to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.

The reality for women in Afghanistan.

It also states that women's voices are potential instruments of vice and will not be allowed to be heard in public.  The ban includes a prohibition of women singing or reading aloud -- even in the privacy of their own homes.  Does that mean your son must report you for humming a ditty at the kitchen table?!

Unreal!

"If women and girls could use their voices, they would speak of evil, of being ruled, judged controlled and abused by a collection of ignorant, misogynist men," writes Armstrong.  "While diplomats' and Western officials' attempts to negotiate with the Taliban are understandable, in reality, there's nothing to negotiate.

"Women and girls cause the Taliban extraordinary fear as they believe they won't be able to control themselves sexually in their presence.  Women have to be covered, denied the right to be seen and heard.  Why don't we call this for what it it," she writes.  "This is the behaviour of sexual perverts.  It is the behaviour of deviants and it is the behaviour of incompetents who have failed as patriots and leaders."

When I taught Business English at Algonquin College after I retired, I realized the hypocrisy of the whole mess.  The Muslim female students in my classes wore the Hijab, but were also plastered with makeup, bright nail polish and high heels -- all symbols of come hither sexuality.  They also had designated washrooms.  We were not permitted to use these facilities, but they could use the regular washrooms anytime they fancied.

The Pinecrest Pool was another example.  They closed the pool to the public -- in spite of your tax dollars paying for it -- for Muslim-women-only swim times.  In Calgary, where I used to swim, Muslim women could also enter the pool fully-covered, but G-d help anyone else who decided to wear a shirt or any other garment.  

In Afghanistan, the useless deployment and death of so many Canadian servicemen and women to protect the country from itself was a tragedy.

    

 

Swimming

"Wading into a cool lake on a hot summer day, stretching you arms out in front of you and diving in, then coming up for air and gliding through the open water.  It's always a transforming experience.  A new element.  A new world.  The mind freed by the meditative rhythm of each stroke, each breath."

That was the editorial in 'The Globe and Mail' yesterday.  I was surprised they would feature little, ole swimming, but they did.  They called it "the elixir of life" and said it was a pleasure every Canadian should be able to enjoy.

Spray Lakes pool, where I do my 40 laps (1K)

I agree.  As you know, I am a regular swimmer in both open water and pools, but many Canadians -- especially immigrants -- cannot swim.  This is hazardous in a country with so many lakes, oceans and rivers.  Every year, approximately 460 Canadians drown and those that survive cost the economy $200 million in rescues.

That should never be.  Swimming lessons abound everywhere and if you live in Canada and can't swim, take a few.  I grew up swimming and so did my kids.  I was a lifeguard and swimming instructor as a teen and loved the job.  I even saved a couple of kids at Brighton Beach, where I worked.  All in a day's work.

When I was nine, I nearly drowned -- or should I say, someone nearly drowned me.  It was at the beach at our cottage.  I was swimming and suddenly saw this wild-eyed girl coming toward me.  I knew she was drowning and I knew she was going to grab me.  She did and pushed me under.  I struggled up a few times, scratching her in the effort, but she was a teenager and much bigger and she prevailed.  

She was screaming and finally, as I knew I could not get up one more time and was going to die, someone pulled me up by the hair and into a boat.  I was hysterical and in shock and spent the rest of the day in bed.  

I will never forget that awful day 68 years ago.  But I kept swimming because that experience taught me that drowning would be one of the worst ways to die.  Absolutely terrifying.

Last year, starting my daily 1 K around it bay.

Swimming is physical, but it can also feel metaphysical.  For many swimmers, me included, the act of swimming is a tonic -- a restorative, a stimulant, undertaken for a feeling of vigor and well-being.  Until I can't, I will keep plowing through the water.

After my annual, 2K swim in Lake Windermere, B.C.