This weekend, as per family tradition, I am spending the Thanksgiving holiday at the family cottage, away from the stresses and demands of urban life. Here, amid the fresh air, the spectacular panoply of brilliant autumn colours, and the rustic charm of life in the wilderness, I find a peace and tranquility that is a welcome relief from my usual day to day concerns and tribulations. It is also where I indulge in a family ritual that has been going on for generations, namely the annual hunt for wild mushrooms.
I need not remind you that this has been a difficult year for many reasons both external and personal. The war in Ukraine continues unabated, with each day bringing with it more news and scenes of needless death and destruction. The Russians know that they are losing this war, but cannot bring themselves to admit it, and so they continue to send their missiles and drones in a vain and useless attempt to demoralize the Ukraine population, who remain firm and resolute not to submit to amoral and immoral Russian barbarity. To make it worse, Putin continues to send increasing numbers of poorly trained and poorly equipped Russian conscripts to die in waves on the front line, where they are nothing more than cannon fodder. He places no value on human life and is more than willing to sacrifice them to satisfy his perverse need for conquest and domination.
This past week, global peace was disturbed even more by the surprise Palestinian attack by Hamas militants against Israeli settlements near the Gaza strip. The drums of war are once again beating loudly in the Middle East as the conflict between Arabs and Jews enters another cycle of bloody fighting.
Closer to home, the political farce in the U.S. continues as the American justice system slowly grinds on, trying to put an end to the cancer of the ultra-right MAGA movement stoked by a psychopathic egotist named Donald Trump who has strived for the past decade to end democracy and responsible government in the U.S. The Canadian political scene may be in somewhat better shape than the American one, but it is becoming obvious that Justin Trudeau is a spent force that is losing the trust and support of many of the Canadians that elected him. In Europe, reactionary right-wing parties are growing in strength and influence in countries such as Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and others, threatening the unity and cooperation that has made the EU such a strong and positive union in recent decades. In Israel, there has been a sharp increase in polarization and a swing towards authoritarianism under the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu that is destabilizing the fragile peace of the Middle East. In Asia, China is engaging in its own saber rattling, as it seeks to expand its power and influence, while North Korea continues its malignant military belligerence as its people starve.
There is indeed no shortage of global developments to make one fearful and uneasy about the future, and yet we cannot overlook the positive developments in recent years that have been overshadowed by the negative events that tend to dominate the news. On this Thanksgiving holiday, we do have many things to be thankful for. Let us not forget how over the past two years, the world came together in a massive effort to overcome the scourge of COVID which threatened the lives of millions of people throughout the world. We must also be thankful for the remarkable international effort that was made to help millions of Ukrainian refugees displaced from their homes by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Canada has played a leading and commendable role in this, accepting close to 200,000 Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war to date, and approving the applications of many hundreds of thousands more. In addition, there has been a concerted and unified international effort to provide the necessary military and humanitarian aid to enable Ukraine to mount an effective and strong response that has stopped the Russian bear in its tracks, and is enabling Ukraine to start reclaiming territories occupied by the Russians. It is a strong indication that most of the world’s countries are determined not to allow blatant imperialism to succeed in our day and age.
On a more personal basis, I am grateful that my eldest daughter, together with her husband and my grandson will be relocating from Oklahoma where they have been living for the past few years, to our hometown of Oshawa, where my daughter has been offered a professorship at the local university. My little family circle will once again be within easy and convenient distance to enable us to maintain and strengthen our family ties. This Thanksgiving holiday is bringing us new hope and optimism.
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