avatarSai Ezra

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“Appearances are everything” Unknown

Does anyone actually present themselves in public?

At the base of the majestic Niagara Escarpment, fresh tilling of the soil bringing forth the aroma of the earth, sat a village, several to be closer to the truth, near the shore of Lake Ontario, of one of the Great Lakes separating this part of Canada from the United States of America.

A freeway buzzed merrily between the two, supplying goods between countries. It was 1960 and to me it seemed a simpler time, before the two hour commutes to the metropolis from the ever expanding suburban landscape. Orchards of peaches abounded, along with fields of apples, pears, cherries, and all such good things that flourish in certain climates. I could walk from one end of the village to the other and be physically sick at the end from scrumping peaches, plums, pears, and cherries along the way. Where are they now? Housing developments cover much of the farmland today, climate alterations forced the end of peaches, replaced by a more fruitful seller, the wine grape. Oh yes, it takes a certain amount of frost, and how deep it goes, to keep a peach tree producing, not just economics, for wine is more lucrative than peaches, but necessity drove the change. Gone is that magical place and time, nigh on thirty years by now, progress, humph!

Most of the people in that time and place used masks in public, never air your dirty laundry kinda folks. Under their masks could surface any appearance, and some were truly ugly. Who picks on a three year old? The people consisted of three distinct types; deeply religious, the wrong deeply religious and Others. Bullies were usually Others. Sadly, over the passage of time, the enchanted land became mostly Others. I can’t say one way or the other about the religious and their religion. For even the right and the wrong were both the same flavour of religion, Catholics had no place here.

A few hundred people, half on one side of the highway, half on the other. Oh they talked, not to each other mind, but about. How can one expect any civilization to continue when the same god is worshiped differently, oh not always differently, but you have your place I have mine. There are many places and peoples in the first world, free world, where the money is world, that have caste systems. You are from this community in the old country, ergo you go to this church, you live on that side of the tracks you go to this one. This side of the line you belong to this school district, literally we could see the school from our balcony, 400 yards max…nope gotta take a school bus to the other side of town.

Speaking of lines, who decided to move them, the metaphorical ones I mean. Generally speaking, for civilized people when I was young, you did not hit a woman. You opened doors for women, you brought them flowers, you treated them like the precious beings we all are. Happy wife, happy life. When I got a bit older you did not open a door for a woman, you treated them as you would a man. Today you are afraid to call her a woman, wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Perhaps I can illustrate this point with little story… There is a recreation center I visited a few times, the small town of Drumheller in Alberta didn’t have a budget to allow for the repair of a faulty mechanical system, which, when running, created an unbearable squealing at quite high volume in the men's changeroom. Apparently the town owned facility had to allow me into the female change room if I stated I identified as a woman. What? Let’s put a little perspective on this. The recreation center is located in a fundamentally Christian Alberta town, fairly puritan in morality, frequented by mothers with children and older retirees. As for myself, no one would describe me as effeminate in appearance, my facial features are rather large and framed by an equally large beard, all this held up by a stereotypical, quite average, male body. Yet they had to let me in, no matter how many people I offended. When did the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many? Why is everyone trying to change everything? Some things are the way they are because they work for the greater society, if you don’t like it move. Oh wait, that’s why so many things are getting changed. Why do people leave their homes for another, then try to make the new place like old place, why did you move?

Toward the end of my naval service beards became unacceptable. This meant in order to sail you had to shave. Historically, if you were unable to sail, “unfit sea”, because you didn’t meet regulations, you couldn’t be in the navy. Then the line moved, certain religions claim a beard as an inalienable religious right, look that up. The Navy accommodated them, and changed the rules, these individuals didn’t have to sail, so while the rest of us mugs were putting in six months a year at sea, these folks got office jobs, home every day, domo arigato. Time for me to find a new religion. I looked at it, almost converted, then realized the beard is an affectation, not a religious requirement. I couldn’t in all honesty pull the scam, instead I changed my life to one accommodating of my beard, this is how large clubs with members function. I certainly wouldn’t wear hockey gear to a golf club. You join a club, you play by their rules, otherwise take your ball and go home.

Masks
Appearances
Hypocrisy
Fake
Society
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