Okay, I admit it -- I’m a sentimental softie. I get upset when I hear about instances of injustice; I’m skeptical about widely promoted solutions; but I’m reduced to blubbering by unexpected acts of kindness and compassion. Maclean’s magazine devoted its entire May 30 issue to “The Great Fort McMurray Wildfire.” I turned the pages with something like shock and horror. Devastated homes. Exploding trees. Walls of fire beside the highway. Glowing embers falling like hail. Evacuees huddled in fetal positions on cots in emergency shelters. It’s not as if it’s the first time I’ve seen the results of a wildfire. I lived through the 2003 Great Fire of Kelowna. I watched as towering flames crested the ridge south of the city, roaring northward. I was out on the lake when one of the famous Myra Canyon trestles blew up -- a black mushroom cloud erupted into the sky. A couple arrived at our door at 4:00 a.m., two of about 33,000 people evacuated from their homes. Their home survived. Another couple’s didn’t. It vaporized -- quite literally, vaporized -- from the heat of the fire. They lost everything. Thirteen years later, they still find it hard to talk about. And Fort McMurray was much worse. Some 88,000 people evacuated; 2400 homes and businesses destroyed. An area the size of B.C.’s entire Mainland and Fraser Valley reduced to charcoal. Maclean’s photos suggest that hell might seem hospitable.
Disasters also bring out goodness But we too easily overlook the good stuff. Not one person died in the fire. Those 88,000 people got out of town without a single death -- the only two deaths were in a traffic accident 200 km away from the conflagration itself. Firefighters laboured heroically, around the clock, saving 85 per cent of the city. Communities throughout northern Alberta opened their doors, gathered food and clothing, took dazed refugees into their homes. All across Canada, people responded with generosity that expected nothing in return. They donated over $100 million to the Canadian Red Cross. They shipped food and toys and clothing. According to Maclean’s, a two kids in Toronto raised $2500 at their lemonade stand. News reports told of southern residents realizing that the evacuees might get stranded on the road. So, among others, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Edmonton loaded up their trucks with gasoline and water, and headed north, towards the flames. On Mothers’ Day, buckets of flowers appeared for the evacuees at the Northlands Centre in Edmonton. Pet rescue groups who got into the shattered city saved more than 400 pets left behind by the sudden exodus. But story that really got to me involved a woman heading south. I’ll quote the Maclean’s story: Nikki de Leeuw “pulled to a stop at a roadblock in Wandering River, a whistle stop south of Fort McMurray. Her truck was running on fumes when a police officer reached in the window to hold her hand. “You just tell us what you need,” the officer said, gripping her palm in his. “What can we do for you?” I choked up.
The image of a cop-- burdened with flak jacket, radio, pistol, Taser -- gently taking a traumatized driver’s hand, to find out what she needed, catches my heart. In de Leeuw’s case, she needed a quiet spot to calm down, to let the dogs out. Volunteers found her there, brought her coffee, filled her car with gas. This is how things should be.
Bad apples spoil the barrel And then, last week, I read about a B.C. couple who allegedly travelled to Claresholm in Alberta, pretending to be Fort McMurray evacuees, so they could collect donated food and clothing. Police arrested the man and charged him with fraud. People like that give compassion a bad name. Why bother helping desperate people, we think, if we’re just going to get ripped off? We fail to do our math. Two people, compared to 88,000. About one-fifth of one per cent. In other words, 99.8 per cent did not cheat the system. But we prefer to get outraged at the few who let us down. The doctor who botches a cortisone injection. The lawyer who neglects his clients. The investment broker who feathers his own nest. The senators who pad their expense accounts. We need to remind ourselves that they’re the exceptions. They don’t represent their professions. They distract our attention from all the people who do their jobs honestly, decently, and conscientiously. They’re jerks, who should be treated with the contempt they deserve. So that the rest of us can properly celebrate the goodness that flourishes among us. ******************************************************** Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved. To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca ********************************************************
YOUR TURN
Lots of interesting mail about statistical the causes of autism, and about autism itself. 
Jerry Flynn supplemented my statistics about autism: “In Canada, the explosion in Autism in children likely mirrors the unprecedented tragedy that is ongoing in the U.S.! In 1950 - just 1 in 25,000 children had Autism; in 1970 - it was 1 in 2,500; in 2000 - 1 in 150; in 2004 - 1 in 125; in 2006 - 1 in 110; in 2008 - 1 in 88; in 2013 - 1 in 50 (down to 1 in 27 in populated cities)! No government on earth can afford such staggering - and climbing - health care costs!” Jerry also offered his own cause: “Why does no one connect today's tragic explosion in Autism in children with the comparable explosion in wireless technology? Each and every wireless device emits hazardous "low-level, pulsed, NON-thermal radio / microwave frequency radiation"? Devices such as 'Smart' meters, cell phone towers, cordless phones, GPS satellites emit microwave radiation constantly - and never shut off! “Tragically for all Canadians, the Government of Canada refuses any dialogue whatsoever on pulsed, NON-thermal wireless radiation, which scientists have long linked to Autism and a host of other neurological diseases, as well as diseases of the central nervous system and immune system, etc. All people, politicians included, need to realize that today's NON-thermal radiation - which, tragically for us all, is invisible and virtually undetectable - is cumulative, i.e., it all adds up from each and every wireless gadget on the market - like smoke thickens in a room full of an ever-increasing number of people smoking!”
Isabel Gibson agreed that “correlation is not proof of causation. Not even a perfect correlation is proof of causation. My father liked to say that eating pickles caused death. After all, everyone (100%!!!) who had eaten pickles before 1850 was dead! It’s so easy to see in a contrived example, and so hard to believe in our day to day.” Isabel quoted Aurie Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.” She went on, “That's the world we live in, I think. And where the biggest threats came from the guy in the next cave (or from any human agent, for that matter), that line of thinking was probably pretty good. Where the biggest threats seem to come from unintended consequences, it's not so useful.”
Tom Watson connected the need to be cautious about causes with the controversies over climate change: “No matter what evidence environmentalists use to back their claims that our lifestyle is having an effect, those who deny any cause and effect decry the claims as just more claptrap from a bunch of loonie lefties who too easily jump to conclusions.” Much of the controversy, Tom suggested, is that “people of like points of view tend to clump together, and there are plenty of ways that assist our doing that. No matter what we think or believe, we can always find a sizable like-minded ‘tribe’ with which to associate.” Tom drew my attention to an article in the New York Times, by Frank Bruni, “How Facebook Warps Our Worlds”
Laurna Tallman asked a provocative question: “Why not start with cures of autism?” rather than looking for causes of it. She also referred to cures for asthma, epilepsy, dementia, Alzheimer's, and mental illness. Laurna claims, “Music has cured all of those conditions and symptoms that accompany them. How does music accomplish those healings? By altering the strength of the ear.” Laurna relayed how “Norman Doidge, a prominent Canadian psychiatrist, describes one cure of autism in Chapter 8 of The Brain's Way of Healing that was accomplished by the Tomatis Method of ear stimulation.” Laurna believes very strongly in this process. I don’t have space to include her rationale -- she has written an entire book on it -- but if you want to follow up, I’ll give you Laurna’s e-mail -- rtallman@xplornet.ca 
Charles Hill tossed in this offering: “There may be another explanation for the sudden rise in autism. That is, the refusal of current society to admit that there is a bell shaped curve in intellectual intelligence. In the '60s, we learned to give intelligence tests. No more. We are, otherwise, all ‘equal.’ If a student was not achieving at grade level, it was the fault of the school. The other alternative was to label them with a medical condition. I'm not saying that autism doesn't exist. It is, however, a convenient way of dodging IQ, intellectual ability.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
This column comes to you using the electronic facilities of Woodlakebooks.com.        If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the “Reply” button.        To subscribe or unsubscribe, send me an e-mail message at the address above. Or subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message) to sharpedges-subscribe@quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at sharpedgesunsubscribe@quixotic.ca.        You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.        I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedgessubscribe@quixotic.ca
PROMOTION STUFF…
 Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah – the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.com Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up,  http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)  Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>  Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com  Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town – not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.  Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net
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