Blessed.
November 26th, 2009
Faith, Random
No Comments
We are all going to gather on the night of HoHoTO for a wonderful cause.
The funds that will have been raised for such a great community effort
will meet needs that we would not even begin to be able to comprehend –
tangible, wonderful ripples that will make an impact for the greater
good in our community.
We will go home feeling incredible knowing we, among many others, have
helped foster such widespread generosity. As those feelings of elation
start to settle, however, we must never forget that the needs of those
who are less fortunate than us have no end. A daily effort on our parts
must be observed to ensure that they too, get their daily bread.
When the music stops, the giving shouldn’t.
Suicide Statistics
November 26th, 2009
Personal
13 Comments
The Toronto SUN recently released a number of stories regarding the TTC and suicide, namely the subway suicide death toll and a TTC train driver’s account of a suicide. There has been quite a bit of chatter on some social media sites regarding the statistics and why they should have, or shouldn’t have been released.
Personally, I’m all for the release of any statistics — particularly ones that relate to suicide, depression and things that are generally (or frequently) left out of the discussion for whatever reason. Often they’re considered taboo within societies and are closely guarded to prevent copycats. I’m on the opposite end of the argument myself, having been suicidal for a number of years previous: The topic does hit close to home.
My argument is that suicidal people don’t need to hear these statistics to know that suicide by bus, train or any other method is viable: We already spend our days thinking of ways of killing ourselves, how it will affect our families, friends and those around us — or worse, concerns about how it won’t have any effect on them. What suicidal people need is more open discussion, thought, and the topic being less taboo so we have outlets and people we can discuss it with, without feeling alone.
Society needs to be social in order to help one another with their problems.
Pretending they don’t exist is no solution, it only allows them to propagate.
Add your comments.
Sobering statistics:
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Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Canadians between the ages of 10 and 24
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According to a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), more men in Ontario committed suicide in the past 10 years than died in car crashes
Obey Plagiarism: Shepard Fairey
February 18th, 2009
Business, Media
1 Comment
Up until about fifteen minutes ago, I had a real solid respect for Shepard Fairey and his creations from Obey. Despite the recent run-ins with the associated press over his somewhat plagiarized Obama image, I still remained a fan of his work. Stealing or borrowing from the AP didn’t bother me much — afterall, who was he really harming when the photographer of the doctored image even wanted a signed copy!
A’las, that all ended when I completed reading ‘Obey Plagiarism Shepard Fairey‘. I suspect you’ll find the same.
Depressing really, thieves.
Warchild: Emmanuel Jal @ Princess Cinema \ Waterloo
February 18th, 2009
Peace
No Comments
I thought this was particularly interesting, also caught in my google alerts. Former Sudanese ‘child soldier’, now turned (rapper?) and writer will be speaking at Princess Cinema in Waterloo on Thursday for a brief reading out of his book & a documentary showing. The event looks interesting enough to attend, here’s an excerpt and link:
War Child, a full-length documentary about Jal’s astounding life was released in early 2008 to great acclaim. It won the audience choice award at the Tribeca film festival. Now Jal has written a companion novel to the film, also titled War Child.
Scary, University Bible Fellowship – UBF horror stories
February 18th, 2009
Faith
No Comments
I was perusing the web and one of my google alerts for Waterloo brought up this oddity, it’s a story of the University Bible Fellowship and how ‘cultlike’ they seem to be. Quite the read, but very lengthy:
Former Waterloo UBF member speaks out
I honestly feel like playing fireman and somehow rescuing these people out of something like that.