Sense of Adventure

If you want to live a great life you need to have a few adventures. It's easy to slip into routine and stick to what you know. There are times you need that as a bit of a break but it can't be ongoing in perpetuity. 

I'm amazed at how many people never look for adventure. I'm even more surprised at how many people decline opportunities for something new when it is presented. I understand if there is a scheduling conflict or something out of your control preventing you from trying something new. I don't understand when people don't have a reason not to try it and still don't take advantage of the opportunity.

I was thinking a bit today how my life would be if I didn't try some things that were presented to me. They lead into each other. and have created a life I think is worth living. Some of the key opportunities were:

I joined Air Cadets as a 12 year old;

I learned to fly gliders at 16 and aeroplanes at 17;

I went to university; and

I took a job in and moved to Ottawa.

There were a lot of other great moments and adventures but those were key and a bit out of my comfort zone. I think learning to fly is a bit out of most people's comfort zone but it's really out there for a teenager. I learned a lot about myself on those courses. Since I still fly today, it's easy to say it was a pivotal in my life but I think it would have been true if I still wasn't flying.

If I didn't learn to fly gliders I wouldn't have gone to university. Now you need to realize that I truly believe a degree doesn't guarantee a job but it does open the door to employers to show off who you are.

Moving to Ottawa has been a big and positive change.  I love living in Sandy Hill and walking to work. I have met many interesting, fun, and talented people. It jsut feels like a great place to live.

All of these and many other adventures were outside my comfort zone. It wasn't that hard to jump in but I never really knew what to expect and not knowing is part of the adventure. It's the part I like because that's where the amazing things happen.

If We Could Change, How Should We?

I've been thinking about change a lot recently. There are a few reasons. The Liberal Party of Canada has chosen a new leader.  I don't specifically speak about work here but change is in the air at the office. It's spring, a season of renewal and change.

Through all this, I'm not sure what would be a good change. Back in the fall of 2010 I started a new job, in a new city, in a new province, in a new region of the country. It was a big change but I can say that I'm happy I made the switch. Overall I think my life is better. There are things I would still change if I had the chance but I can easily say I'm happy with my decision to make a change.

All that being said, I feel that more change is coming. I think it's coming on a national level in that what Canadians want is shifting. I think that it's coming on a personal level in some way shape or form. What I'm not sure of is this feeling coming on because there is a desire for something different or a clear path to something better.

Nationally, I'm starting to sense that Canadian's shifting priorities are ready to focus on something else. We did pretty good getting though the economic setbacks and most people are still above water but I get a sense that Canadians are finding the world a bit bland. They are safe but not inspired. They know its good but don't want to seem to make it great. There is a lot of wait and see instead of lets do something great.

However, maybe that's not most Canadians, maybe it's just me.

I don't seem to have that same adventurous feeling I do at times. I feel like I have to grind through everything. It's not a chore but its not inspired either. It's a follow the rules time not a change the paradigm time.

Another reason is I am getting older. It's nice to be comfortable. It's nice to be stable. It's not exciting and you don't get a rush but you do have a predictable life.

Don't worry, I'm not bummed out and I'm not going to do something stupid or dangerous to feel alive. However, when you spent a lot of your adult life going places on short notice and your plans for the day were often upset for something urgent or exciting opportunities popping up last minute, the predictable life is just that, really predictable.

I don't how how things are going to change, I gave up soothsaying a long time ago. I wasn't very good at it. It is a bit exciting to think there is new different and possibly exciting around the corner even if it may be new but bland. I just have a feeling that we are all going to be looking at some change, in some way coming at us. That is exciting and a bit scary, as it should be.

Being Bad

I don't really know why bad people do bad things. I think they may to advance their cause or ruin someone else's day.

Yesterday during the Boston Marathon a device exploded in the finishing area. This is terrible. It's wrong. There is no way to describe it any other way, and their shouldn't be.

All that being said there is something good people can do.

There are a couple of images of Fred Rogers floating around the internet with the following quote "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

It made me thing a bit. This is what I realized as I read that. The bad people will try to do bad things, sometimes they will be stopped, sometimes they will be successful. That's not the important part. What really matters is when the bad people do bad things good people help each other get over it. Not because we have to but because we want to.

If we can help each other when it matter then they can't win. It becomes less effective because we lean on each other to get through it and we do it not because we have to but because we want to.

I'm not saying we want tragedy so we have a reason to help each other. We should be doing that every day. I'm just saying when these bad things happen we just have to change how we help each other.

So, the next time something bad happens, if you are in the position to help someone somehow, help them. Don't do it because you have to, do it because you want to and we will take the power away from bad people. 

A New Trudeau

I don't know who I'm going to vote for in the next Canadian federal election. It's still over two years away and a lot can change between now and then. That being said, The Liberal Party of Canada has chosen Justin Trudeau as it's new leader.

I'm not sure what to expect from this. I have been disappointed by the Liberals for a long time. Stefane Dion was not a good choice for the leader. I'm sure he is a nice man and tries to do his best but I could not support the idea of him being the face of Canada in the international community. Michael Ignatieff treated the Liberal Party like a hobby. I didn't like him either.

So far, Justin Trudeau has not alienated me.

There are some things he has going for him. This may sound trivial but he has great hair. It matters in a business that image matters so much. He can give a speech, also very important in politics. Those two things along with his famous father give him star power. Again this is important in politics.

He can start to remake the image of the Liberal Party. Right now, they seem like an old and stogy party. Trudeau is a young 41 and he may be able to get younger Canadians excited about politics. He may be able to make things that matter to people under 40 a priority.

There are still a lot of questions about the man. He hasn't said a lot about what he would do if he was running the country. He may have great ideas, he may not. Today we just don't know.

It's too early to tell if Justin Trudeau can fix what's ailing in the Liberal Party of Canada. It's too early to see if they can become a credible alternative for Canadian. If I can give him one piece of advice, drop the "Canada's natural ruling party' rhetoric, That doesn't sit well with anyone but card carrying Liberals and there are not enough of those to win the election.

North Korea

For many years when people ask me what scares me I always tell them heights, snakes, and North Korea. They either scare me because I don't understand them or can't control them. If I fall from a height, I don't have aerodynamic control to land safely. Snakes just freak me out, I don't understand why they don't have legs and can go days without eating and then eat a giant meal.

Then there's North Korea.

I don't understand it and I can't control it. I think it's so scary because nobody in the world can understand them or control them. Good information is hard to come by and there seems to be no logic on why they do what they do. They do not behave normally in the international community. They don't have a free and open press. The information that flows into the country is heavily censored.

Every news article that I have read, that I know about independently of that article has had some form of error. That's ok. The main points are usually close and if there are competing news agencies, the whole story will eventually be told. Unfortunately, in North Korea, that isn't the case and it's scary.

It doesn't appear that the national leadership is accountable to the population but I really don't know. If you are not accountable to the population there is no reason to make decisions that best benefit the people that live in your country. This is scary.

We don't know the true credentials of their leader. We don't know exactly why he was deemed worthy. We don't know much of anything and this is scary.

There has been a lot of sabre rattling lately. There has been a lot of anti-western rhetoric as well. We don't really know why. Maybe we really don't want to know why. All of this is scary. We don't know what they will really do.

It may seem a bit strange for a pilot to be afraid of heights but I'm only afraid if I don't have aerodynamic control during my descent. It is perfectly natural to be scared of North Korea. We don't really know anything about them and can't control them.