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29
Mar
2022
Sunday March 20, 2022
For St. Patrick’s Day earlier this week, I wore a green T-shirt and an Aran Islands sweater. And orange underwear. Covering all my bases, so to speak.
Ireland, as I’m sure you’re aware, has been troubled by conflict between the orange and the green. The Protestant and the Catholics. The north and the south. Monarchy and republic.
Today, Ireland is relatively peaceful. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 largely eliminated the violence of “The Troubles” – 30 years of bombings and shootings.
Unfortunately, bombings and shootings continue in other places. Most notably these days in Ukraine.
And the suspicion, the ill-feeling, that plagued Northern Ireland for generations now shifts to other groups.
The CBC’s National newscast reported a few nights ago that over 600,000 people who have Russian connections, or Russian names, or who sell Russian products, are finding themselves treated with same suspicion
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: Russians, internment, suspicion
Sunday March 13, 2022
I love coincidences. Today’s coincidence is the name Volodymyr. Or Vladimir, if you prefer the anglicized Russian spelling. As a person who intuitively roots for underdogs, I’ll use the Ukrainian spelling. But it’s the same thing, either way.
There are four Volodymyrs involved in this coincidence.
There’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the comedian with no political experience who came out of nowhere to become Ukraine’s president, and has since shown himself to have leadership qualities many other nations might envy.
There’s Volodymyr Putin – yes, same name, but usually with a different spelling – who sees the burgeoning democracy led by Zelenskyy as a threat and wants to take Ukraine back into Mother Russia.
Tags: Putin, Ukraine, Saint, Zelenskyy
12
Sunday March 6, 2022
I love coincidences. Coincidences are like bits of information floating on an ocean of meaninglessness until they drift up onto a beach and a passer-by – me – fits them into some kind of pattern.
Today’s coincidence is the name Volodymyr. Or Vladimir, if you prefer the anglicized Russian spelling. As a person who intuitively roots for underdogs, I’ll use the Ukrainian spelling. But it’s the same thing, either way.
There’s Volodymyr Putin....
Tags: Putin, Ukraine, Volodymyr, Vladimir, Saint
26
Feb
Sunday February 27, 2022
Two important things happened on Tuesday February 22.
On the international scene, Vladimir Putin thumbed his nose at world opinion and declared two sections of eastern Ukraine “independent states.” The next day, he sent “peacekeeping” troops across the border to invade Ukraine.
The second event? I had to have my dog euthanized.
Guess which event I will remember for the rest of my life. You’re right. The personal always trumps the universal.
Tags: Ukraine, euthanasia, veterinarian, Pippin
25
Sunday February 20, 2022
I usually build my Sharp Edges columns around a current news item. The Rev. Kenneth Bagnell died in February. That’s the end of the hard news for this column. The rest is rumination.
Readers of my age may remember Bagnell as the editor of Imperial Oil’s award-winning periodical, The Review. And before that as a columnist for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. And before that as Managing Editor of The United Church Observer magazine
Ken was my immediate predecessor at The Observer. When I first went there in 1968, I lived in his shadow.
But this column is not a eulogy for Ken. It’s about mentors.
I look back on my life as a succession of mentors.
Tags: mentors, Bagnell