'whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." mark twain.
having intended to write a word or three about the results of the quebec election for a while, they only began to take shape in my mind while having a camera painfully inserted into a part of me that i'm pretty sure was not meant to receive it. and the irony of that fact was not lost on me.
many people live in their heads. many others, of course, live in their hearts. i, however, tend to live a little lower down my anatomy, a fact that occurred to me as i waited for that highly anticipated prostate examination at the gatineau hospital. my bad days and good days are largely influenced by that general vicinity. my world view may even be coloured by how i'm doing down there. and whether i believe in a god or not i realized might have much to do with the outcome of that procedure.
i was concerned at the hospital, as i always am, that my french is very poor. in fact, my french is virtually non-existent. when i try, it comes out as a confusing cacophony of french, hindi and spanglish. my buddy john told me not to worry: "asshole's the same in french and english." strangely, i found that important bit of knowledge reassuring as i was hoisted unceremoniously up onto the gynecological-style chair with the help of a lovely young quebecois nurse.
trying hillariously to converse with the congenial girl, i apologized. and an older nurse from across the room remarked: "we're still living in a free country." and that just about summed it all up for me. in my twenty-two years living, loving, working, owning a business, travelling and teaching in quebec, i've rarely if ever had a problem. as far as i've ever been able to tell, the vast majority of the people don't care if you speak swahili. they don't care if you wanna wear a turban, hijab or diapers, which i may need to consider soon enough.
it has been my personal experience that, when someone does not want your company or no longer wants to be your friend, they let you know one way or another. bill 21 and bill 96: these are pretty direct and obvious hints as to who is and who is not welcome in quebec, according to the current government. well, i'm not going anywhere. this is my home. i have my ideas why the caq government was so handily re-elected, but this is still an incredible land filled with loving, caring people. all i know for sure is that i'm fortunate to only have one asshole to deal with. the quebec government is riddled with a bunch of them. by the way, there may be a god.