Surgery is Delayed

 Surprise!

The surgery has been postponed until Thursday, October 9th.

I was already in process of being prepared for surgery. I was in the gown, they had shaved me and I was waiting for the porter to take me into the surgery room when the nurse informed me that due to some emergency, my surgery was bumped. I knew that this was a possibility. Emergency surgeries will bump scheduled ones if a life is on the line. There may have also been a staffing issue from what I gathered.

My surgery was only bumped 10 days due to the nature of my surgery and the importance of it which is a saving grace because it would be awkward if it was much more than that.

So, now, I am in this space of time where I have to wait. It's like a surprise vacation that I was not expecting. I'm going to focus on taking care of my mental health and fortifying my constitution.

As the surgery got closer, it was harder to sleep. The night before the surgery, I only got maybe 15 minutes of sleep due to stress. I know the stress will spike again as the new date approaches, but hopefully I can be more calm.

There is a decent possibility that I get bumped again. I spoke with surgeon's assistant, and she mentioned that staffing has been a challenge. The surgery will happen and I know I am fairly high priority for the surgeon.

Despite this delay, I am still thankful for universal health care. I would not be able to afford this surgery under a privatized system. I don't blame the doctors or the hospital.

I fully blame Danielle Smith and the UCP government. Healthcare is under the purview of the provincial government and the UCP time and time again have undermined the public healthcare system. Public healthcare works when it is funded and supported. Like many conservative governments, they do want to cut spending to the detriment of services that the public needs so they can give tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. 

Smith has been pushing to privatize healthcare since she entered office despite a privatized healthcare system has been the ruin of many American families. Her government have put unnecessarily cruel new restrictions on AISH that makes it harder for those with chronic illnesses to have a decent quality of life. She restructured the healthcare system unnecessarily and has put down a foundation that can lead to privatization.

The hospital wouldn't be having staffing issues if we put money into system so they can give healthcare workers a good wage and they can hire more.

This is not just affecting me. This issue affects all Albertans.

But if I do happen to die waiting for this surgery. It is her and her government's fault.

There is all this talk about how the physical violence enacted by Luigi Mangione is beyond the pale. However, the American healthcare CEOs enact violence and kill people all the time with a stroke of a pen. That is violence beyond the pale.

If the UCP doesn't want the deaths of thousands of sick Albertans on their hands, they need to fund the healthcare system.

Anyway. I'm coming up with more island-themed activities for my impromptu vacation. If you're around in Edmonton, hit me up and we can both live on #islandtime!

The Day Before Surgery Update

(The following is the text from an email I sent out to people who were interested in being updated on my surgery. Some people may have missed being added to it, so here it is.) 

Hello!

You're receiving this email because you requested to be kept in the loop about the status of my surgery. Feel free to forward this email if someone would be interested in knowing this stuff.

First, I've done a fundraiser and people have sent me money and the response has been really lovely. I should be fine financially speaking for the duration of the recovery. There are also all sorts of extra costs such as getting a powerlift recliner and a bunch of Hawaiian shirts (I don't have many button-up shirts and decided to get the funniest kind of button-up). I'll be honest, to receive the amount I have from folks has been a little overwhelming as I am someone who is reluctant to ask for help. It's been really humbling to receive as much as I have and I hope I can pass it forward when I can.

If you would like to donate, I do have a GoFundMe:  Fundraiser by David Rae : Dave Rae vs. Heart Aneurysm: The Final Showdown! 

However, if you live in Canada, you can just e-transfer: davidjrae@gmail.com

Once again, I should be fine at this point, but if you want to help that is a way to help.

Second, I have set up supports for my recovery. My friend Jamie (whose mom used to work in the cardiac unit and actually knows my surgeon) is going to be there as I go into surgery and will stay with me in the hospital. Then I have a friend from Manitoba, Adriane, who will be coming to stay with me at my place for a couple of weeks. I will be giving your email to these two to potentially send an email once I have made it through surgery. I left their email in the To: line of the email so if you see an email from them, you don't have to be suspicious. I trust them to not harass you to join an MLM.

I have made a Google Sheet where people can sign up and bring me food. I sent it out yesterday, which is TOO LATE TO BE DOING THIS, but I don't know if you know this: real life doesn't care if you have heart surgery coming up and you still have to go to work and do chores and such. It's up now.  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QHwBQ29iGKNJoEQQzcFm0NcgVSpIg8YSyN7Eg-hPtzU/edit?usp=sharing

I am being admitted into the hospital tomorrow at 5:30am MST. The surgery is estimated to be 4-5 hours. It is to repair the weakened aortic root. This weakening is thought to be due to a genetic condition that I haven't officially been diagnosed with called Marfan Syndrome. I don't have all the symptoms, and so I may have a milder form of it. Essentially, it is a condition that affects connective tissue and can then impact the skeleton and circulatory system. You know how I'm tall, gangly, hyper flexible at the joints, and can faint easily? Those are all signs of Marfan. So, I owe much of my physical humor and stories to this condition. A real mixed blessing as it were. There is no real cure for it, because it is genetic. For milder cases like mine, the only way it impacts me is that I would need surgery at some point. And this some point is tomorrow. I should theoretically only need the one. My cardiologist has been tracking the progression of aorta for the last decade (when I fainted at the hospital visiting my now ex-mother-in-law. Hospital people don't handwave fainting away like I did). He was waiting until the right time to book the surgery. If we did it too soon, I may need another one later in life. If we wait too long, the aneurysm would burst and I would be gone in minutes. My brother, Darwin, passed away because an aneurysm burst in his heart that he had no idea about. Since it's genetic, it's a real possibility that he had a similar situation to mine. So, I'm actually lucky that my mother-in-law broke her hip while riding her bike down a half-pipe (fully true. That happened to her. I have no idea why she did it).

The odds are very much in my favor for this situation. The surgery has a 98% success rate. I am young and relatively healthy. Edmonton happens to have one of the best cardiac units in the country, if not the world. My surgeon is known to be one of the best in Canada. I have free healthcare. I have so many kind people helping me out. Final Fantasy Tactics will be released on the day of the surgery and it is pre-ordered, so my video game needs are taken care of, which I know you are all concerned about.

There is a 5% chance that when they get in there, they may need to also replace a heart valve. I have a bicuspid valve which is where a normal heart valve has 3 flaps, one of mine only has 2. It has been working well despite missing the flap. The surgeon said that he would prefer not to replace it because my natural bicuspid valve is better than having a mechanical one which requires medication for the rest of my life and may need to be replaced. However, if he gets in there and it is a worse problem than it first seemed, they will have to put in the mechanical valve. I hope not, but I don't want to hear clicking for the rest of my life!

I will be in the ICU for about 2 or 3 days, then moved to the... ward? Gen pop? Whatever the place where patients stay that is not the ICU. Solitary confinement? Anyway, I will be at the hospital for about a week. I plan on racing the other patients and talking a lot of smack. Maybe pick up a girlfriend.

Once home, I cannot drive for another 5 weeks or so. Then I should be allowed to get back to stealing specific high-end sports cars with Nicolas Cage. (Remember "Gone in 60 Seconds"? I liked that movie. Probably doesn't hold up, but it started with "Black Betty" which is a great song)

You can tell I am starting to get antsy writing this email because I need to throw in more jokes to make this fun for me.

Recovery is to take about 3 months before I'm back to where I was before. Less for the heart, but rather for the ribs and core muscles to repair. This is full open-heart surgery, so they have to break the ribs (GAAAAAHHHHH) to get in there. As I said before, I got a powerlift recliner because I will have to sleep on my back which is not how I normally sleep (I sleep on top of piles of money with many beautiful ladies). The powerlift is there to reduce the strain on the core muscles. I won't be able to raise my arms much for the same reason, and so that's why I needed the button-up shirts. Since I will be wearing these Hawaiian shirts, I am proclaiming that these next three months I will be on "island time" because I'm a comedian. Not a good one, but technically I try to make jokes.

I will not have much energy at the start and that's why Adriane will be there at the start of my recovery and I am so blessed to have her help. I cannot thank her enough. Once she heads back to Winnipeg, I should be in a spot to be able to do the basics on my own.

I also want to recognize Jamie and Cheryl Pratt who have been an immense help in the lead up to the surgery. Being able to sit down with them and go over information about the surgery, get their insight, and being there on the calls with the medical team has been nice.

Of course, I want to thank everyone else who has been there in various ways of support through donations for the auction at the fundraiser, donating time and energy to the fundraiser, donating money to me, to those reaching out with kind messages, to those who will send me food once I'm out.

This is a tangent, but this moment has really reminded me of something. One of the things I've thought about over the years is what is heaven like, if there is such a thing? Even Christian descriptions of heaven never appealed to me. We gotta sing for 10, 000 years and then sing for 10,000 more? The idea of living forever is terrifying to me, even in paradise. It makes the idea of heaven not seem appealing whether it is on that existential level or the experiential (like seriously, that's a lot of singing!). What I've come around to is that whatever the afterlife looks like, it will be good. It will be right for us.

Maybe we simply cannot understand what it is like until we are there and it will be easy to live forever. Maybe there's nothing and when we go, we spiritually evaporate into nothingness.

Regardless, even if there is no heaven, I have known heaven. Jesus described the Kingdom of Heaven being "at hand". The most common understanding of that is that heaven is coming soon. That it is a thing in time. When it is your time to die, you go to heaven. But that's not really what "at hand" means. When your sword is at hand, it means that it is within reach. It is more like an action than an event. There are moments in life when things are as they should be. It is like a sliver of heaven that makes you believe that things can be good and just.

Yes, this will be a hard time for me coming up. It is daunting.

But my goodness, with the number of slivers of heaven I have experienced in the last couple of months from the kindness of people from across my life, I have a 2x4 of heaven. This metaphor broke down there.

What I'm saying is, even if there is no literal heaven, I know heaven is real, because I have already been there several times when I have experienced love from dear friends and for a moment, even in this dark time, things are right.

Thank you for bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to me again and again.

To wrap up, here are the ways you can help include:
1) Visit me if you can. Whether when I'm in the hospital or at home. That brings me so much life.
2) Prayers and kind messages. I love hearing encouragement and how our connection matters to you.
3) Sign up for meal drop-offs. This is probably the most pressing thing at this time.
4) Send money if you'd like. This is not as important for me.

Expect to hear an update sometime next week.

Thank you, everyone.

- David "Heartbreaker" Rae
or

- David "The Broken Heart Valentine" Rae
or

- David "Island Time" Rae

or
- David "Avoiding Getting Ready for Surgery Because He is Nervous About It" Rae

An Atypically Typical Christmas

 Now that Christmas is done, I wanted to take a quick moment to reflect on it. For the previous two years, I would get together with a friend everyday of Christmas and hang out, and then I would post a picture and a little summary. This year, I still got together with a person most days online, but I didn't post about it because I figured a bunch of screen shots and a summary everyday saying "I had a video chat" would not be satisfying.

However, I did feel like I grew and came to a couple of realizations because of the experience. I didn't get together with as many people, one because I personally find a lot of phone calls and video chats to be a bit of a drag. I'd rather be with the person. But I also realized how much I haven't had a conversation with a lot of folks and it helped me feel better and less disconnected. I think I'm going to continue to actively reach out to people and have more of these kind of calls throughout the rest of the pandemic.

The other thing that was interesting to me this particular year (and I said it in every one of my phone calls) is that while most people were saying how this year's Christmas was strange and how for me it was one of the most "normal" Christmas' I've ever had. Some people were relieved to not have to be so busy while others were heart-broken that their tradition was broken or disappointed that it felt like any other day. Suddenly a lot of people I knew had a Christmas that I typically have.

My roommate, our downstairs neighbours, and I all got together for a Christmas supper together in our apartment. I made mashed potatoes and gravy, sat at my own table, and was at a table of equals. Everyone of us were on the same footing because it not typical for any of us. And that's where I had the feeling that this was as close I've had in a long time to the typical Christmas experience. Over the years, on Christmas, I have been invited to many homes by very gracious people. They want to make it hospitable to those who would be otherwise be alone on Christmas. And that's great. That should continue and I know many people appreciate that hospitality. As someone who is typically one of the outsiders coming to another's home, it typically feels like I get to observe someone else's Christmas and family and good life. Of course, observing other people's Christmases has become my typical Christmas and I've found things I appreciate about it. Such as getting a chance to see how different families interact and I've many things that I want to keep in mind if a family is in my future. This Christmas, I didn't get to observe another's Christmas, I was fully a participant and it was honestly very nice. I hope to have more in the future without a pandemic being the cause for it. "Here we are as in olden days

Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now"

Good Things for Me in the Year 2020

Due to the suggestion of a social media expert, I wanted to share this post that I originally had on my Facebook. I am not one to question experts, so here it is: My good friend, Laena, has done a thing at the end of the last few years of highlighting some of the good things in their life as "a way for me to remember and reflect on the good, and keep me hopeful and driven for the year ahead."

I appreciate that sentiment and would like to share some of the good things for me in 2020.

1) Because I have not been able to perform as much this year, the flip side to that is that there has been more opportunity to rest and not have to be "on" all the time. I've gotten to do other things I like and not feel like I have to choose between as many really things. There's a weird blessing in that. (Although, I do look forward to performing again)

2) I left a job with the most toxic manager I've ever worked with and now work is not something actively harming my mental health.

3) CERB was a godsend. It not only kept me financially steady during an uncertain time, but it distinctly helped reduce my debt. It also highlighted the benefits of a social safety net and hopefully Canadians remember that and continue to push away from the poison of unfettered capitalism.

4) Odd Wednesday had such a fun show early in the year where many of the different sketch groups performed each other's sketches and added their unique flavour to sketches we had seen before. Watching Ms. Perfect Boy make an existential nightmare out of Girl Brain sketches was wonderful. I can't wait to do it again.

5) I've been running a D&D campaign with two different groups that follows the tale of generations of heroes over the course of 500 years with different genres and scenarios throughout and because of various podcasts like Hook and Chance, Adventuring Academy with Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Matt Colville's YouTube channel, I have found and develop a dungeon master style that allows me to better lead a game that is open to player choice and influence. It's been a lot of fun and very rewarding. Plus it is with good friends.

6) Sudokus with weird, kinky rules has lit up my brain over quarantine.

7) I am happy with the Filliam Crowe videos I made over the year. I don't know how to market the character or the videos, but I still really liked spending time as the character who is unendingly positive and silly.

8) I've taken distinct steps to try and address my mental health and I think it's been going well.

9) "Soul" was the right kind of movie that has given me a renewed inspiration to be present and live life and not get caught up in this unhelpful idea that you need to accomplish something great or specific goals for your life to not be wasted.

10) Funny enough, while everyone else's Christmas' seemed to be upended and "ruined" or not very traditional, mine on the other hand, was probably the most traditional one I've had in a long time. I made classic Christmas dishes and served it in my home and everyone else was on the same footing as me as opposed to other years where I feel like an outsider at someone else's traditional family gathering. It was great.

11) I've come to appreciate the evil that is the owning class earning money off others simply because they own things. It has inspired me to have more compassion for those who Jesus favoured in this modern context. If we are to help the poor, the sick, and the oppressed, then we need to change the dynamic and this year has given me more to think about and identified the problem.

12) Gus Johnson makes funny videos and I'm glad I discovered him this year.

13) The video game Hades was a gift given to me and it has been a wonderfully unexpected boon to me.

14) I've gotten to have many calls and video chats with people over the year and especially over the 12 days of Christmas as I seek to spend more time with people that mean a lot to me.

15) This list was longer than I thought it was going to be.

16) Finally, the fact that I got to spend time with Jim this year. Jim was the grandpa of my friends Jamie and Michelle and last November I started to go visit Jim and keep him company at his care home. I got to know him and had a good time connecting with this new friend. Obviously, that stopped when the quarantine rules came into play and sadly, he passed away recently. I won't be able to visit my buddy anymore, but I loved the chance to know him for a little while.

There were still many good things in this year and I hope that there will be many more in the year to come. "Let me go
I don't wanna be your hero
I don't wanna be a big man
I just wanna fight with everyone else"
- "Hero" from the Family of the Year album "Our Songbook" (This song was in my top 10 of Spotify tracks for the year)

For The Enjoyment of Brennan Lee Mulligan

If you don't have any idea what this whole post is about, just know that there is an actual play show called Dimension 20. Each season is a different Dungeons and Dragons campaign set in a weird world. The current one is one that involves food people in the style of Game of Thrones. Makes sense? No? It's sounds like gibberish? Fair. But this is not for you, it's for me and Brennan Lee Mulligan. I'm not nearly as talented with drawing as some of the other artists in the Dimension 20 fandom, but I wanted to submit just some of the members of the "Grand Slam" mercenary guild in Calorum, who will work for anyone if the price is right. They have no love for the Bulb or the Hungry One because they believe they have uncovered that there is a darker force out there that they have to fight in the end time known as the "Paar Kinglot".

The members are:

- Grilliam Sixstack the Seconds of the House of Pancakes. Ceresian fighter (formerly a Bulbian paladin). This oathbreaker has turned to holding an ancient variation of a trident made of an unknown substance. Grilliam claims that it a relic of the Hungry One and he has made it his weapon named "Last Meal" (or the Devil's Fork). He has maple-glazed plate amor, forgoing the helmet and instead wearing the fanciful hat of the artists from the Dairy Island known as a beurret. He also has burnt pancake shield. He is the face of the Grand Slam due to the House of Pancakes known across all the nations of Calorum for their exploits.

- Greasa Porcine of Carn. Carnian ranger. She is a thin waif of meat like her other siblings who are well loved across Calorum. They are frequently sent as diplomats on behalf of the Meatlands, because everybody wants to add bacon to everything. However, she has decided to use her skill with her hunting bow called "Fat Chance" (or the Grease Bow) along meat-arrows dipped in fat poison that slows down the victim.

- Laeth Tallglass of House Moo. Dairy Island barbarian. A large brute that you need to be aware of and you better be ready to run if you see his milk begin to bubble. He's one of the strongest Dairy islanders you can find, armed with a reinforced Carnian bone hammer called "Bone Chiller" (or the Milk Bone).

- L'oeuf Yolklund of Carton Isle. From a island just off the shores of the Meatlands. Rogue. L'oeuf is hard-boiled, hiding her face except for the crack in her shell so she can see. She is small and elusive and one of the most potent members of the guild. Armed with a bunch of shellrikens (or throwing shells) along with her signature lantana blade, "Yolkrunner" (or the Brittle Blade).

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9 HOT Ideas to Improve Your Society that You Just Have to Try!

In the last couple of weeks I posted a series of Facebook posts that were essentially decrying the landlord/tenant dynamic as we have it in Canada. At one point in the comments, I was asked, "If you were king for a day (or however long you need) what changes would you make to alter the current system/mindset?"

I fully believe the question was genuine and not just asked so that it would turn into a "gotcha" question where my ideas are dismantled out of hand.

I've been thinking on some ideas for a while and I thought that I would try something out of the ordinary where I would take the ideas I've heard about and put them into my pitch for how I would improve things.

I'm going to try to keep my focus on Canada, although, I should note that I will comment on the American system as well, because they have such a prominent impact on the thinking in Canada and I believe that their system needs to be improved as well.

Now, at the outset, the discussion that prompted this response was centred on rent and property ownership, but frankly, the system is such that everything is tied in with each other. I am going to pitch a variety of ideas and although I would love if all of them were brought together, I still believe that each of them individually would help Canadian society. Since this is a post for social media consumption, I will also not dive super deep into things but rather it is to paint a broad picture. There are nuances to any of the topics I bring up, but I am not a politician or political scientist or economist, but rather someone who has listened and observed these topics across my own lifetime.

The undergirding for my philosophy and approach is based in this concept that I refer to as "divine imagination". There may be a different and better term for it, but essentially, I understand that the things I pitch will require Canadian society to be more generous than it is. This usually brings push back, but I am being informed by my understanding of the teachings of Jesus that calls for us to bring about the kingdom of God, which is at hand. Something so close to what we can do, we just need to have the will to do it.

The other main idea that undergirds my thinking is that the economy is to serve society and that society is not there to serve the economy. The economy is a tool but as soon as it becomes more important than people, we have missed the whole point. We need to adjust the economy for the benefit of people.

I will also remind you that I am a layman and I know that experts would need to refine or better explain these ideas. I don't have references ready at hand as I write this, because, let me just check my notes, I am also being overwhelmed by day to day life and I don't have the time to properly list my sources. I will give the synopsis in this post and if people doubt my idea, then I point them to sources later.

Here are some of the changes I would like to see:

1) Most importantly - housing for the homeless. It wouldn't have to be elaborate. People who have a place to a stay for free so they can get their feet underneath them. It is cheaper to give housing along with someone to help guide a homeless person than many of these shelters that only help day by day. With a permanent place, it would be easier to get a job, to avoid being exposed to the elements and thus reduce illness and strain on the healthcare system. Prevention is always cheaper than reacting to a problem. If someone is completely desperate for shelter and food in the current system, the best way to do it is to be sent to prison. That's messed up.

2) Clean water to reserves. We are willing to build pipelines for oil to benefit the economy but not basics to benefit society. That's messed up.

3) Universal basic income - the main argument against it is that it would make people lazy. I disagree. The one thing that the pandemic has proven to me is that I get supremely uncomfortable in doing nothing. The thing is, the stuff I want to produce or do may not be seen as profitable even though want it. They just don't want to pay for it. I am specifically talking about art. Many artists are okay with not making a million dollars, they just want to create. And many of those artists are what inspire and encourage others. And in the moments when a person is left to themselves, they frequently turn to the beauty of art. The pandemic has shown it to be so. If you had no books or movies or music or podcasts, your quarantine would be more hollow. If you have kids, where do you turn to? Art. Even if you don't show them a Disney movie or paid one cent for art, you, at the very least, told them stories or encouraged them to use their imaginations. That is tapping into artistic energy. People who use their lives to be artistic help you to feel, think, express, and reflect life. Just like I would turn to a mechanic to help me fix a practical problem with my car. But we don't pay them. And I get it. Paying for art feels weird. But I believe that it should feel weird that people who make art to not be paid.

Also, a note on this, when UBI has been tested before, they found that people didn't just up and quit their jobs. The only people that worked less were people like single parents because they could spend more time with their kids. Or people could spend more time getting training to do a higher skilled job. It's happening for some Canadians who are receiving CERB right now.

UBI helps people live the lives they are suited for and would be best for society.

Now, the question is always, where does this money come from? How come we slow right down when it comes to helping the poor and yet corporations in Alberta can get a $4.7 billion tax cut and it is rushed through the Legislature.

The theory of trickle down economics has never worked. You give to the cuts to the top, it never makes its way down. However, you give money to the lower socio-economic groups and suddenly the engine of the economy is running better because poorer people will use money and not just stash it away.

Automation is coming into more and more fields and most jobs could potentially be unnecessary because of it. So when is the hard working lower and middle classes going to see the benefit of a society that is the most productive it has ever been?

UBI is one of those things that give people a minimum structure to work from that is more than zero.

Now, you may point out that this will just enable welfare queens. Which is not really a thing that exists. But sure, some people will take advantage of the system. You're right. And some people would be making money for doing little. You'd have some lazy guy make thousands of dollars for no work. But you should remember that the other way is much more catastrophic for society. On the other end, you have people taking advantage of the system and ripping away millions and billions and I guarantee you that they are not working so much harder than the average blue collar worker to earn it.

4) Habitat for Humanity should be the standard way of getting a home - At least how it was originally designed to be. (In Edmonton, the local chapter has reneged on it's contracts and it is awful and wrong). You help build a home, you owe a certain amount of hours both in building your home and to the community, and you get the deed to the place. Your work earns you a house. It should not be your work plus a down payment that you may never be able to save up for because you barely afford to live.

5) If you want a second house to own, it should be much more than the market price - I would astronomically more. The pandemic proves this point again. Remember how there were people who bought all of the toilet paper and you were lucky to get some? And those people then turned around and tried to sell it at a profit? Remember how furious you were about that because it was unfair and selfish? Guess what? Those people were capitalists through and through. They played the game right. Here's the thing. Life is not a game you can win. Specifically, our communal life is not a game where one person can win. Suddenly, there were restrictions on how much toilet paper you could have to make it fair and reasonable for people to have access to a basic necessity. Some places had increasing costs to buying more toilet paper. It made sense, right? It made people take what they needed and leave enough for others to also have. Well, you have companies and people buying up more houses than they personally need and then turning around and benefiting from a necessity for life which is shelter. Shelter is even more important than toilet paper but we are okay with the system because likely, if you're reading this, you have a place to stay. Some people are struggling to maintain a place to stay, even before this pandemic happened.

6) Rent should not be used to earn profit. - Rent should be: Property taxes (which are designed to pay for local schools and infrastructure) + utilities + wear & tear + the smallest amount for convenience. That last fee would essentially be for paying the land lord for maintenance on the place. Acting almost as insurance. The alternative to this if the rent is to be higher is to be for the sake of selling the home to the tenant. If the tenant wants to pay more per month, they are building equity in the place. I know there is more to explain in this, but I am painting with a broad stroke right now.

I know some of you may be thinking, "but renting out is one of the ways of getting a return on my investment!"

Correct. And it's messed up. That's super messed up. That is making it so that people who have not been able to build up wealth will continue to not build up wealth under the arbitrary distinction that you "own the land". How can someone own land? What makes it yours?

7) Defund the police and reimagine the role of the police - The police are the ones called in to solve far more problems than their scope really should be and they don't often receive training to handle beyond a limited scope. People trained in mental healthcare and deescalation would be better suited in dealing with someone who is having an episode and should be at the forefront dealing with a situation that involves mental health, not just cops that are trained to be react violently with efficiency. Let's divvy up the responsibilities of the cops (along with their budgets) to other individuals.

8) Fund needs of the community - by addressing the underlying issues that lead to crime, you will have less need of police. Oh, and look, if you cut the funding to police (who often receive an inordinate amount of a city's budget to the point where Halifax spent half a million on a tank for it's police force. Halifax. For the police. A tank, in case you missed that. For Halifax. You know the one in Nova Scotia. The place is not a war zone.) you suddenly have more money.

9) Corporations are taxed for profits made in the country - this is where funding would come from. You make money in Canada? You pay taxes in Canada because you have benefitted from Canada's infrastructure and your money will help keep that infrastructure strong. Close up tax loopholes that inordinately benefit multinational corporations. Now, I know that some may point out that corporations would avoid Canada because of restrictions put on them. Corporations are simply out to make as much money as you're willing to give them. Canada (and especially the States) have fallen for this. I chose I random country. McDonald's in Norway pays $15.98 (in American dollars) per hour for a new hire. After four months, it goes to $19.63. Now, it's not that McDonald's executives have more love for Norwegians because of lutefisk. If they could, they would pay them as little as possible. Even if that amount is not a survivable amount. Back to my point, Norway despite these restrictions, still have McDonalds. The cholesterol clown is still making money there. Politicians need to have more of a spine and a servant heart and make the corporations pay their share.

Also, if you really hate the idea that someone would be a welfare queen as mentioned a few points ago, I should say, you know what. There are welfare queens. Too many. They take advantage of the system to the tune of millions and billions. It's corporations like McDonald's and Walmart that pay their workers so little, that the workers then turn to the government anyway to get financial aid. These kind of corporations are the ones benefitting the most. Get them to pay into the system. Heck make it so that if they want to avoid taxes, they have can pay their employees more.


Now, you've may have made your way through all those ideas and think to yourself, "but no one can become a billionaire in that kind of system.

Yeah. That's a great point.

That's the best point.

If you think that it is our right to be able to gather up so many resources so that you can live an extravagant life because the system says its okay to do so while your fellow humans struggle to survive and in fact are heavily impeded from getting ahead, guess what? You're awful. You are either the dragon in their cave hoarding riches or you want to become the dragon.

Yes, the world came from a place of survival of the fittest and a dog eat dog kind mentality, but it's actually been us working together that has been thing that helped us to survive as a species.

You taking care of others is the thing that will help you live better. The pandemic is another great example. Want to protect yourself from getting Covid? Make sure your neighbour is able to get the health care and financial assistance they need so they don't have to come into work if they're sick and expose a bunch of others in order to pay rent.

The ideas I presented demand that we have to be okay with not being as extravagant as we want to be.

And that is a hard pill to swallow. It's uncomfortable.

It would seem "impossible". It is a challenge, but I also believe that it is a better way.

The alternative, where we can be rich and keep other humans back makes things tougher in a different way.

"'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" - Matthew 19:23-24

Let us not serve the system, let us make sure the system serves us.


"I don't mind stealing bread
From the mouths of decadence
But I can't feed on the powerless
When my cup's already overfilled"
- 'Hunger Strike' by Temple of the Dog

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Someone Who Never Read That Book

A couple of days ago, I made a few posts that caused a lot of debate and discussion.

The noticeable element was how passionate people got. For some, to attack the idea of rental and tenancy was preposterous or perhaps a sign that I should look at buying my own place (oh to dream a dream!). Others agreed with the words I spoke and vehemently came into the discussion seeing the injustice in such a system.

The thing that has weighed on me since then has been the place that social media plays in the space of public discourse. I saw people from different realms of my life come into a discussion and hold passionate debate. For most people, this was a debate with a faceless opponent. The only connection to the people on the other side was me as a mutual Facebook friend.

However, for me, I saw people from across my life, whom I all appreciate and have held good memories of have an anonymous fight. Whether it was people from my hometown who knew me as the weird gangly keener kid, or it was people who went to college with me and knew me as the weird gangly slacker man-child, or it was people who went to the camp I was a leader at and knew me as the weird gangly child-man, or it was people from Edmonton who know me as the weird gangly old child comedian, you can all agree is that I’m weird, I’m gangly and I'm idealistic.

I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone who is a friend or an associate of myself, that everyone is a person. I mean, that’s a given. We fundamentally know that. However, in the midst of a debate that matters close to the heart, it can be easy to distill people down to a comment and a profile picture.

Also, before I get too far into this post, I want to say that as you read this, that I'm not saying anyone went too far or that they poisoned any conversation. I want to offer a reminder. A reminder for all of us to keep in mind as we deal with interactions on the internet. In fact, I think it was pretty civil. But I think a reminder in the midst of an issue of passion is important to keep people anchored.

Regardless of whether you fully agree with my sentiments of a few days ago or are dismayed by my thoughts on the status quo, I want to say that I appreciate that you are bringing your experience, understanding, and passion to the discussion. The people I saw that responded clearly care and I know that you genuine believe and stand by your words and want a fair world for people to have the ability to thrive.

I want to highlight for people on both sides, myself included, that when it comes to convincing people to your side, that you need to remember that it is really difficult for a person to see a perspective that is not their own. It can backfire on you especially if you do give the other person grace. On a visceral, human level, you are hurting a person. You are attacking a person’s identity. It is very difficult for a person to change their mind and if you’re not careful, you will only entrench the other person more in their position. Here is a clip of a show that delves into this human phenomena: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NydsXl32s 

That’s why when I offer ideas or responses, I try to do it as gently as possible. I try to attack ideas, not people. I try to sympathize with people I do not agree with. Not to be weak or submissive or not to hold my position without conviction, but rather that I may actually win people to my side.

This also is echoed in the Bible itself. When Paul speaks about sharing the gospel (which means “good news”), he says this in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23: “Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”

A fantastic example of this is Daryl Davis, a black man who has convinced multiple members of the KKK to leave the white hoods behind. If you have not watched him speak, please do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORp3q1Oaezw

Obviously, the topic my post was talking about is not nearly as drastic as that. But I wanted to highlight Daryl, because even in the most extreme example, the way he won people over was remembering to have empathy and to remember the humanity of the other person.

When someone sends a reply to my idea with a jokey tone, I respond with a jokey tone because I know they do not mean me harm. If someone is sincere, I respond with sincerity because I know they are being vulnerable with something they earnestly think and believe.

I don’t do this well all the time. It’s because I care and I get passionate and I might say or type something that is too much. It might be, in my mind, funny or “smart” or right, but when I cross the line it really communicates that I am willing to dehumanize the other person. And at that moment, I have lost. The idea I wanted the other person to embrace is rejected, not necessarily because I was wrong, but rather I was right in the wrong way.

What I am hoping is that if you’re reading this, regardless or whether you agreed or disagreed with my posts, you are considering your words you may have said to someone else. Maybe you said something that went beyond the ideas and it was meant to hurt the other person. If you think you may have, please consider reaching out to them in a private message and apologize even if you still stand by your position, whether it was on the posts I made or if it was on post completely unrelated to the ones I posted. Not only will this repair a basic connection with another human who has thoughts and feelings, but who knows? Maybe it will make the other person give your words a second read and consideration.

As an aside to specifically my fellow Christians who may have followed this link (but even if you’re a HEATHEN!!!?!?!?!!!!, perhaps you will find value in this thought), what I thought was interesting was that it was a lot of Christians that upheld and defended the status quo. That held to the common thought that if a person works hard and made wise decisions, that it was very possible to navigate the system in place. That one is rewarded if they behave under the system. This echoes the friends of Job who accused Job of some supposed wrong doing that must have put him in a place where God must punish him. In reality, Job had done nothing wrong. In fact, if you read the book of Job you find out that he went above and beyond what was required of him to be righteous and despite this, he lost his wealth, his kids, and his health.

Just because things are the way they are, doesn’t mean they are right and just. The prophets in the Bible attacked the status quo and those who thought they were holy when injustice and neglect of the poor abounded. Jesus was an enemy of the state and the religious authorities. Just because some Christians scoff and denounce generous ideas, remember that grace and forgiveness of sins is the utmost generous idea there is.

What Christians need to embrace is the idea of divine imagination. What of the Kingdom of God could we try to bring to earth? How can we participate in God’s work of making His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven?

The thing I see often lacking in the church is a lack of divine imagination. They are willing to embrace the status quo as opposed to challenging oneself to embrace the example of Christ and examine whether or not the status quo is actually unjust and broken.

As an aside to specifically to my fellow left-leaning friends who may have followed this link (but even if you’re a RELIGIOUS ZEALOT!!!!?!???!, perhaps you will find value in this thought), you can learn from the long tradition and admittedly uneven history of missionaries to understand that you need to have empathy for people if you want anyone to take your thoughts and consider them. If you want your brazen ideas to take hold in the heart of another individual, you need to remember that this an individual. Perhaps influenced by a system or several systems, but they are an individual, too. If you are quick to summarize a person in one word, you are in danger of viewing a person as not a person.

As an aside to specifically people who find themselves outside of both of those previous categories who may have followed this link (but even if you are A STEREOTYPE!?!?!??!!!??!!, perhaps you will find value in this thought), we need to remember that our survival is tied in with each other. Even if you think that everyone else is stupid and shortsighted, your well being is tied in with others. The reason humans have survived and thrived is because we work together. We learn from each other, we strengthen each other. 

As an aside to specifically to myself (but even if you have PROPER PROPORTIONS!!!!?!??!?!?!, perhaps you will find value in this thought), you can’t summarize people too easily. Life is complex and you can’t assume that you have the answers. You’re likely wrong in the nuance and the specifics. The best you can do, is offer the little understanding you have and be willing to accept others and be willing to take on the hard task of examining yourself especially when challenged on your thoughts. Who do you think you are? And why are you not eating more?

In conclusion, some people may think that I’m a bleeding heart liberal and others may think that I’m a melted brain Christian and others may think that I’m simply a weird, gangly man-boy-child-guy that is earnestly taking his understanding and trying to make this world a better place (I think of myself more as the King of the Sega Genesis) but I truly believe that this world needs to be more creatively loving.

If you feel like I’ve wronged you or treated you poorly or you would like to continue a discussion with in regards to this or other things I have said, please reach out to me. 

Now, may you go into the world and love others as yourself and may justice roll down like a river.

Or in other words: Remember, I’m pulling for ya, we’re all in this together. Keep your stick on the ice.

"The road is long, with many of winding turns

That lead us to (who knows) where, who knows where?
But I'm strong, strong enough to carry him - yeah
He ain't heavy - he's my brother

So long we go, his welfare is my concern
No burdon is he to bear, we'll get there
But I know he would not encumber me
He ain't heavy - he's my brother

If I'm leaving at all, if I'm leaving with sadness
That everyone's heart isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another.

It's a long, long road, from which there is no return
While we're on the way to there, why not share?
And the long doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy - he's my brother."

- "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell