fairytale56

01:52 pm: Taxpayers are funding this
No one should be surprised at the unfolding drama of the sponsorship scandal and the huge amount of money that is involved, after all government and corruption and scandal seem to hand in hand. It angers us and we feel betrayed by the very people we elect and who we trust will look after our hard earned money. Somehow though we seem to get over it, accept that it will occur no matter what government is in power, and we hope that whatever other money of ours they have they spend wisely. And we accept that not everyone will agree with some of the decisions they make. Here is one example, and no matter how many times I read it, and how much time goes by, I find it incomprehensible that my government sees this as worthwhile.

"Three Vancouver heroin addicts have started getting their fix for free--as the first participants in a government sponsored study on the effects of controlling junkies' supply. The study is trying to determine if addicts who are given a fix will be able to put the time they would have spend trying to find the drugs to better use. For the next two years the recipients will report to a heavily secured safe injection site in Vancouver's downtown Eastside three times a day, seven days a week...By the time the two-year trial program is over more than 450 people are expected to get free Health Canada approved prescriptions for pharmaceutical grade heroin. In addition to free drugs and medical care, study participants will also recieve $150.00. With $8.1 million in funding from the federal agency Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a second site will open in Montreal in Aprilfollowed later by a third in Toronto..."

I, for one, will be following the outcome of this study earnestly. I am keenly interested to know if any of the 450 heroin addicts manage to do ANYTHING worthwhile with all the extra free time that they have now.

01:46 pm: Rambling thoughts
Got a call at 7:30 Tuesday morning as I was getting ready for work. David’s younger sister Mandy called to let us know her husband had died—massive heart attack. I was stunned and at a loss for words. Keith had gone into the hospital 5 days previous after having 2 heart attacks but was scheduled for discharge on Tuesday. He was getting ready, in fact, to go home when he was struck down. He was 42. I called David to let him know and we both took the morning off work to spend together and talk to family back home and try to make sense of it.
Keith was self employed and looked every inch the successful businessman. Image was very important to him. He had two cars, a big house, took vacations, however he also worked long hours and maybe didn’t take enough time to relax. Very nice man and I enjoyed his company. He was intelligent and well spoken. He had a wonderful family, 4 beautiful kids aged 8-19. I am sure they would have given up the material accoutrements to have a few more years with their dad but for some reason he had different priorities. Did we like him more because he had a big house, a new car and surrounded himself with expensive items? Not at all. In fact, that’s the trouble with trying to keep up or build an image. It takes so much energy to project what you want others to see that there’s little left to devote to the core self. And that’s what makes people who they are. Keith was a nice person but perhaps not confident enough in who he was at the core and felt that he needed the appearance of financial success before people would like him. If he realized that we liked him for who and what he really was instead of working so hard to be perfect or live up to such an unreasonable standard he set for himself, he might still be alive today. His wife would be happy and I know his children would be.
The work/life balance. Sorting out priorities. Putting off things today …but what if tomorrow never comes. Understanding that making a living is not the same as making a life. Perhaps Livejournal will be an outlet to explore some conflicting thoughts, rationalize others and try to make sense of things