To reach Haiti I need to fly in three countries and navigate four airports. My flight itinerary takes me from Calgary via Los Angeles and Miami to Port-au-Prince.
Airports offer a microcosm of the world that flies in and out of each city. The world seems very small.
Modern airport security procedures are a great equalizer. We are all the same when security is concerned. Everyone is obliged to follow the same rules. Airport security ignores gender, age, disability, colour, culture, faith, and everything else to insure the collective safety of the travellers and the airport personnel. Seems to me that this is good practice for the 21st century.
Canada will welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees over the next few months. I am very proud to be a Canadian. I believe Justin Trudeau. Canada is back. Good on us!!
I am wearing the same pants that I wore when I first travelled to Haiti in March 2010. I arranged for a Canadian flag to be sewn onto my pant leg for that trip. I wanted the world to know that Canadians cared and wanted to help. I didn't care if anyone new my name. I was not looking for personal fame or fortune, but I was happy to advertise Canada.
While negotiating security at the LAX airport one of the security workers called me Mr. Canada, and this pleased me. Earlier in that same line I watched while a person ahead of me waited very patiently for a disabled man to get his gear in the trays. The disabled man had a movement disorder and his coordination was poor. He managed the task, but he struggled, and you could sense that he felt bad about holding up the line. He indicated to the person behind to go ahead. The next man, however, waited and I applaud that fellow for his patience.
The world is small. The problems in the world will get better if the citizens of the world unite in patience and tolerance. I believe this will happen, notwithstanding the recent climate of terrorism and the ugly racist responses of the political right in America and Europe. I believe that someday soon the world will unite in a common cause. We will be obliged to unite because as the world becomes progressively smaller, we will not be able to escape the recognition of our similarities. Differences will no longer drive the equation. Common cause will bind us together.
I think this is why helping out in Haiti is so important.
Airports offer a microcosm of the world that flies in and out of each city. The world seems very small.
Modern airport security procedures are a great equalizer. We are all the same when security is concerned. Everyone is obliged to follow the same rules. Airport security ignores gender, age, disability, colour, culture, faith, and everything else to insure the collective safety of the travellers and the airport personnel. Seems to me that this is good practice for the 21st century.
Canada will welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees over the next few months. I am very proud to be a Canadian. I believe Justin Trudeau. Canada is back. Good on us!!
I am wearing the same pants that I wore when I first travelled to Haiti in March 2010. I arranged for a Canadian flag to be sewn onto my pant leg for that trip. I wanted the world to know that Canadians cared and wanted to help. I didn't care if anyone new my name. I was not looking for personal fame or fortune, but I was happy to advertise Canada.
While negotiating security at the LAX airport one of the security workers called me Mr. Canada, and this pleased me. Earlier in that same line I watched while a person ahead of me waited very patiently for a disabled man to get his gear in the trays. The disabled man had a movement disorder and his coordination was poor. He managed the task, but he struggled, and you could sense that he felt bad about holding up the line. He indicated to the person behind to go ahead. The next man, however, waited and I applaud that fellow for his patience.
The world is small. The problems in the world will get better if the citizens of the world unite in patience and tolerance. I believe this will happen, notwithstanding the recent climate of terrorism and the ugly racist responses of the political right in America and Europe. I believe that someday soon the world will unite in a common cause. We will be obliged to unite because as the world becomes progressively smaller, we will not be able to escape the recognition of our similarities. Differences will no longer drive the equation. Common cause will bind us together.
I think this is why helping out in Haiti is so important.
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