Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

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30

Nov

2016

The persuasive power of stories

Author: Jim Taylor

She looks happy. A smile wreathes her face, which is smudged with charcoal. So is her frilly pink dress. She’s on her hands and knees inside the fireplace, one small hand raised in greeting. 

            Our daughter Sharon was eight months old when we moved into our dream home in North Vancouver. The rest of us were busy carrying boxes. Sharon was too young to carry anything, so we parked her inside and carried on carrying. How much trouble can a still-crawling child get into in an empty house?

            Then my wife asked, “Where’s Sharon?”

            No one had seen her. We scattered through the rooms, searching frantically. Panic rising in our throats, we gathered in the living room. 

            That’s when we heard the happy gurgle coming from the fireplace.

 

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: stories, Bible

27

Nov

2016

Ottawa fiddles while victims die

Author: Jim Taylor

 Why do we blandly tolerate government foot-dragging on the 700 drug overdose deaths that will happen in B.C. before the end of this year? As of October, the province had 622 deaths. Two more months will push the toll over 700. And not one of those deaths resulted from drugs administered at a safe injection site. Not one.

 

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: Fentanyl, Drugs

23

Nov

2016

Looking ahead, looking back

Author: Jim Taylor
The death of Leonard Cohen, two weeks ago, prompted me to revisit a column I had drafted several months earlier. My friend John McTavish had sent me his daughter Sandra’s poem, “Valedictory Address”. I found it moving, and I reprint most of it here (these columns do have length limits!) with their permission.
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20

Nov

2016

Mass protests do not equal democracy

Author: Jim Taylor

In the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, everyone seems to agree that democracy is broken and needs to be fixed.

            The system is broken, yes. But what I see people doing to fix it isn’t fixing it.

            Democracy does not consist of removing unpopular politicians by mass protests. Nor is democracy a succession of referenda, on everything from declaring war to naming a ship.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: democracy

16

Nov

2016

Not what you do, but why you do it

Author: Jim Taylor
This story has floated around for a long time. Perhaps the pastor wore the wrong robes. Or forgot to use the Lord’s Prayer. Or even told a slightly off-colour joke. 
Anyway, an irate parishioner accosted the pastor at the door, fuming: “That was disgraceful! If Jesus was still alive, he’d be turning over in his grave!”
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