On the Fear of a Pandemic

As much as I would like to be optimistic about preparedness over the issue of this Avain flu which is supposed to get genetically modified and decimate world populations, the impact is not as great as some doomsday callers are trumpeting. Like any flu or widespread epidemic it is going to hit the aged and the very young harder. On the grand scale of things that is part of the selective process of population control in the first case. That sounds cold but it's the hard truth; populations are not just controlled through natural death, wars, car accidents or a localized hurricane. In fact, ironically recent statiastics show most of the control has been through these pandemics that make a larger dent in world population levels compared to the other other causes combined.
It seems trivial for Quebec to work out a political solution to the problem especially when it can't even resolve the more immediate problem of building a super-hospital. Canada has a pandemic plan but it also had a plan to restrict mad cow disease and that reoccured recently out westdidn't it? Who knows how many other incidents of mad cow occurred and were never reported. Most of us sre still living, right?
Extending that agruement to an expected pandemic, birds are going to respect borders even less than cattle do and whether we have the politics in place or not there is always going to be other factors that will favor the spread of the virus. That said there is still no need to alarm people about a possible spread when the chances of direct contact with carrier birds is so low, it takes time for genetic modification to occur and the media just loves a juicy story, so why not something about mass deaths on a global scale.

About the Issue of Moving Away from the Plateau:

I am living the life of a starving artist these days. With faded pants and shabby shoes I read
the hour and crave dinner invitations. So why not honor initiatives happening to save neighbourhoods from becoming condovilles? Well I will show my support but am too realistic to fool myself that a picture on an empty is going to delay the coming of cement trucks. Guess it's something like destiny. As much as I'd like to I think that gentrification is inevitable, it happens as housing demands grow as do property values while there is always a strata of the population that gets squeezed and eventually can no longer cope with the increased cost of living. Ergo the exodus of artists who are generally less affable, to a lower income area which was St. Henri years ago. I might actually make the move since I am being squeezed on the plateau but I might not.
Having experienced yearly rental increases has gotten me to produce more here as time as progressed. So I think that feeling the pinch is in a way a catalyst that gets me to recycle my creative juices faster. I like to think of myself as willing to accept a challenge now and then so why not the challenge of facing an increased cost of living without moving away!
The plateau has provided me with a wonderful view of a spaciuos park from a facing balcony which I can use to paint on. It has offered me access to galleries, bookshops and cafes which are my favorite haunts and once more I have cultivated contacts over the years, so am reticent in giving that up. Why start all over again for the price of saving a few dollars a year. I respect the decision of others who will make that move for the sake of principle or because a rental increase of 5 bucks. It is 5 too much but I would rather seek an alternative solution to the age old problem of richer property owners making condos out older dwellings. Maybe it's time for me to think affluent instead of being a defeatist! Besides I need the richer people to buy my artwork.

With maturity comes the need to devote more time to oneself, I think. But there will be cultural and political groups out for free information at the expense of my inner peace. Sound selfish? Not when you consider one such movement mentioned more than political agitation and I don't want to be associated with violence. There I am living up to sharing the same birthdate and non-violent philosophy with M. Ghandi
Such a political group wanted my participation, the spokesperson saying they need capable minds. That was after I had a small conversation with one of their young zealots who tipped the scale at the end by saying Canada had no constitution. If that were the case, I wonder what Trudeau brought back from the UK in
1984 called the Canadian Bill of Rights. I realize we're very much an American satellite but to imply we're not a sovereign state and expecting my adherence was too much for me to give this movement credence. So when arguments become tepid I need more room to find authenticity.