ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

Religion and politics don't mix.

Someone a little wiser than me made that statement. Religion as it implies, means you believe without compromise. Politics means you negotiate, leave lots of room to wiggle and in some cases give up on some of your ideals and goals. And haven't we seen lots of that lately? A prime minister gets sworn in and 10 minutes later does exactly what he decried a few months earlier. And on religion, we see on the other side of the globe in countries we still don't understand, people who will burn embassies, demonstrate in the streets and burn flags over a political cartoon.

I just mentioned this because as I look at these events from the verandah, I say to myself, "Boy am I glad I decided to write about nothing!"

It's far safer and also very good for your health to avoid both those topics. So on tap about nothing this time around is some wisdom I picked up from someone who is actually older than I am. At the time, we were talking about a specific problem that some people face when they mature, specifically Alzheimer's. I don't really know anything about what happens to a person when they get this debilitating disease but I do know that it can get so bad you can't even remember what a bathroom is for, let alone find it. So this wiser-person-than-I looked down at her most recent boo-boo, a broken wrist and said she'd take this malady any day instead of Alzheimer's. And for good reason. This person has a memory like a steel trap; she even remembers what she ate for dinner on Christmas Day in 1940 something. I forget what I had on my toast this morning for heaven's sake!

So what she said is far above a story about nothing; memory is everything! Memory helps us avoid pitfalls, memory lets us teach others, memory keeps us on the straight and narrow. Although I have a hard time justifying some aspects of history in schools, generally, history is about memories. It is about stuff we shouldn't forget. We as individuals have our own personal history and it should be cherished. Mine is as rocky as they come. Some stuff, I'd like to forget. Like the time I thought Tarzan could really leap from one hay mow to another with the help of the hay rope. Whoops, just a tad short. Ooooo that smarts! There are good memories too. Things you never forget, like shaking hands with John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson (not at the same time, of course). I must mention, I saw Tommy Douglas from a distance (just to keep some political balance here). I learned some life lessons from George Morris. One thing I'll never forget the old sage taught me was to always hang around with people smarter than me. For me that was easy. Yes, I met our Queen as she greeted and actually spoke to our son (have a picture to prove it and our son would like us to lose it). Oh memories are great.

Here's a little sidebar to this yarn. You'll note, my memories were not about work. Try it out on yourself and I think you'll come to the same realization that when it comes time to meet your Maker, don't expect your friends to look down at your casket and say, "He never missed a day on the job."

OK, back to the yarn. What if you lost your memory? Much like your computer crashing and you never did a back-up. I feel for these victims. My friend with the broken wrist also feels for these people. She too could write a book on what she has seen.

Which brings me to my point about nothing today. We all should be writing or recording in some fashion these memories we have hidden in the old medulla oblongata. Otherwise, they're gone. Just like me.