Severn Suzuki-The girl who silenced the world; March 13 - 19th, 2017

Posted by James (Jim) Ferguson

Greeter this week: John Kay

Recently my wife and I spent almost three weeks traveling in South-east Asia. Although we stopped for four days in Guangzhou, China to decompress on the way over, the majority of our time was spent in Cambodia and Vietnam.

While I could inflict a travelogue on you, and we did see marvelous sights - especially Angkor Wat - I want instead to focus on the people of Cambodia. We were impressed over and over again with the friendliness and optimism of everyone we met. I suppose there is nothing really out of the ordinary about that and it could probably be said of more than a few counties around the world. However I don't think any other country has been through what Cambodia has been through.

Cambodia was plagued with an on-again, off-again civil war through the 1960's and early 70's. Plus in the late 60's and early 70's, the Americans were bombing it heavily to try and stop the Viet Cong transporting men and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. But these were the good times. In 1975, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge seized power. At that time the population of Cambodia was just under 8 million.

Over the next four years Pol Pot killed or let die over 2 million Cambodians. These were not people who died in a war, like in Syria today. They were people who were deliberately killed. And they weren't killed randomly. Rather, anyone who was in a position of power or educated was targeted. The entire population of all the major cities were relocated to rural areas. All the doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, etc. were rounded up and killed, many by being buried alive.

What you notice in Cambodia today is that there are very few old people. Of course, they were all killed 40 years ago. We did meet one man who was 82 and was still teaching. He spoke no English but did speak French which was the language of the schools and intellectuals through the 1950's. He survived by faking that he couldn't read and masquerading as a peasant farm worker. Everyone else he knew died.

So what is truly amazing is that the people today are industrious and happy. Yes, they are still poor compared to their neighbours, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Their libraries still have very few books. But their optimism is contagious and many are learning English in order to support their growing tourist industry.

I seriously doubt that there are many countries that could lose over 25% of their people in the way Cambodia did and come out of it so well.

Inspirational Moment
THE MAGIC BANK ACCOUNT
Imagine, you won the following 'PRIZE'.
“Every morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for your use.
However, this prize has five rules:

1. Everything not spent during each day would be taken away.
2. You may not transfer money into another account.
3. You may only spend the money.
4. Each morning, the bank deposited another $86,400 for that day.
5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time, it can say, "Game Over!"; Close the account, without receiving a new one.

What would you do?
You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right? Not just for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself.
You would try spending every penny, using it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning!

ACTUALLY, THIS GAME IS REAL!
Each of us is the winner of this 'PRIZE'.
The PRIZE is “TIME"

1. Each morning we awake to receive 86,400 seconds - as a gift of life.
2. When we go to sleep, any remaining time is not credited to us.
3. What we haven't used up the day before is forever lost.
4. Yesterday is forever gone.
5. Each morning the account is refilled, but can dissolve at any time, WITHOUT WARNING………..

So, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds?

Those seconds are worth much more than the same amount in dollars.
Remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by much quicker than you think.

Canadiana
Submitted by Vicki Horsfield

The Trans Canada Trail, being promoted since 2016 as The Great Trail,[1] is the world's longest network of recreational trails. It began construction in 1992.[2] When fully connected, the Trail will stretch 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi) from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans. Just over 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of the trail have been completed as of November 2016 and are usable, making the entire project approximately 90% complete.[3]