Archive for July, 2011
“Canada . . . the undefinable.” ~ Canadians
July 27th, 2011 | 
Author: Wednesday, July 27, 2011. I am so happy and grateful that there are those who attempt to answer the seemingly unanswerable question–“What is Canada?” English Professor B.W. Powe of York University, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is such a one. ~ Doc Meek
[I read the English version: TOWARDS A CANADA OF LIGHT. ~ Doc]
From the book jacket:
“Towards a Canada of Light is a visionary work of political philosophy that dares to re-imagine Canada. It suggests that Canada stands out from the rest of the world as a shining example of diversity and tolerance.” – Thomas Allen Publishers
“Gloriously poetic . . . . Read aloud to anyone you love.” – Vancouver Sun
“Powe has discovered the roots of an informal Canadian democracy and shows us its poetry and wonder.” – The Toronto Star
” . . . a soaring alchemical vision. When I read the first few pages . . . I had to put the book down to catch my breath . . .” – Pico Iyer, author of Cuba and the Night, and The Global Soul
From the book itself (pages 81 & 127):
“If the leaders of mankind were more aware, when by chance they come into minor powers they might exploit others less.” – From The Gateless Gate, a collection of koans first recorded by a Chinese Zen master in A.D. 1228
“I listened to a taxi driver, in Ottawa [Ontario, Canada], who had emigrated from Mozambique [a country in southeastern Africa]. He said, ‘Canadians don’t have troubles. Not really. You only have bellyaches’.”
Thank Professor B.W. Powe for your “undefinable definition” of Canada!
Doc Meek, Date, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
P.S. A lyrical excerpt from Professor B.W. Powe’s Towards a Canada of Light (page 156):
” . . . what unfolds here [in Canada] could be original, rich, quietly audacious, full of eccentricities, respectful of the enigmas of difference. Evolution over revolution, metamorphosis over Armageddon–these could be our credos.”
“An overly formulated and detailed constitution is a recipe for fanaticism.”
“Let us sustain our native irony for all things official, absolutist, imposed and unitary.”
“Rather then look for political unity–an ultimately futile question and pursuit–let us look for harmony, the deeper arrangement and cohesiveness of contraries.”
“Let us welcome what is multiform, flexible, personalized, paradoxical, unwonted, curious and protean.”
– English Professor B.W. Powe, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
“The White Rose” ~ Inge Scholl
Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Today I am grateful for those who do what is right–no matter what. Two who did this were students Sophie and Hans Scholl. ~ Doc Meek
Image from: http://www.amazon.com/White-Rose-Munich-1942-1943/dp/0819560863/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311210329&sr=1-8
I remember Mahatma Gandhi saying that we must not look to the possible consequences of an action; we must choose the right thing no matter the consequences.
Hans and Sophie Scholl were students during the Nazi regime in Germany and they chose passive resistance rather than acquiescence to brutality. They paid the ultimate price for doing the right thing. And they did not regret it. They kept their honor and dignity to the end.
I am grateful that I was able to read this inspiring and heartbreaking account during World War II years.
Thank you, Sophie and Hans, for showing us human dignity in the face of the ultimate sacrifice! And thanks to Inge Scholl for bringing this account to us! And thanks to Arthur R. Schultz for translating it from German to English so that many more can benefit from this example.
Doc Meek, Wed, July 20, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA.
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” ~ Robert Robinson
Thursday, July 14, 2011. Today I am grateful for the artists and poets and musicians that inspire us with the Love of Our Heavenly Father and His Son Yeshua [Jesus] the Anointed One. ~ Doc Meek
Image above by P. Anton Wahyudi’, from: http://awsx1966.multiply.com/journal/item/11
LISTEN TO THE VIDEO: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uslytyVrWFw
”Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing is a Christian hymn written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson penned the words at age 22 in the year 1757[1]. The words of the hymn are in the public domain.”
Below is the version sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the YouTube Video above.
1. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
3. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
4. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Text above from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_Thou_Fount_of_Every_Blessing
Thank you, missionary/artist P. Anton Wahyuki’ and pastor/hymnist Robert Robinson for your inspiration!
Doc Meek, Thurs, July 14, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
“The world breaks . . . ” ~ Ernest Hemingway
Tuesday, July 12, 2011. Today I am grateful for the knowledge that obstacles and crushing defeats can be a means of greater strength and character. It’s just that I can’t feel that in my heart right now. 😮 Maybe later, eh? ~ Doc Meek
VIDEO: Water breaking on rocks, from YouTube: http://youtu.be/LhZUiIg3uJc
“The world breaks everyone
and afterward
many are stronger in the broken places.”
– Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961); novelist, Nobel Prize winner
Quote from: http://www.values.com
Thank you Ernest Hemingway for your universal insight for all of us!
Doc Meek, Tues, July 12, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
Posted in learning, learning differences, Learning Difficulties, learning solutions, overcoming learning problems | 
Tags: active learning, brain rules, changing your behavior, changing your mind, Doc Meek, docmeek, Dr J Collins Meek, Dr Meek, Ernest Hemingway, grateful, gratitude, happiness, head heart hands hope, Hemingway, hope, humility, J Collins Meek, J Collins Meek PhD, self-involvement in learning, success, world breaks everyone | 
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“A gondola and a taste of Italy.” ~ Doc Meek
Wednesday, July 6, 2011. Today I am happy and grateful that I was able to spend my 17th Wedding Anniversary with my beloved spouse Jeannette. ~ Doc Meek
A gondola and a gondolier
Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice
I didn’t have the money to take my spouse Jeannette to Italy for our 17 Wedding Anniversary, so I rented the Venice Room in the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
We slept in a gondola in the Venice Room at the Anniversary Inn, and that gave us a nice taste of northern Italy. The gondola was anchored to the floor so we didn’t get seasick! 😮
Image from: http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/7-venice
Doc Meek, Wed, July 6, 2011, Sherwood Park, Alberta, CANADA
Posted in learning, learning differences, Learning Difficulties, learning solutions, overcoming learning problems |
Tags: active learning, brain rules, changing your behavior, changing your mind, Doc Meek, docmeek, Dr J Collins Meek, Dr Meek, grateful, gratitude, happiness, head heart hands hope, hope, humility, J Collins Meek, J Collins Meek PhD, self-involvement in learning, success, Venice, Venice Italy |
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