Maybe someone should ask for an RCMP investigation into the people behind the referendum!

Just kidding!!! I am only being facetious!  Everyone knows it would be silly request an RCMP investigation just because you don’t like the results of a thing, right?  ouch.

Very sad to learn the sudden death of Bela Blystone in that accident.  To me, Bela was a soccer Mom to Ryan, and a smiling face in Summerland.  I know Bela touched a lot of people.  This is a very tough bit of news for many.

Bela’s death & life were last on my mind as I fell asleep trying to make sure a mutual friend had the news, and first thing this a.m. as I consider Ryan…and his young friends.  All are being impacted.  And her husband.

On a blog called “interrupted expectations” I found this, sung by a group called “Superchick”:

After all this has passed
I still will remain
After I’ve cried my last
There’ll be beauty from pain
Though it won’t be today
Someday I’ll hope again
And I’ll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

As is my way, I can try to express my feelings by highliting some great quotes & verses:

Robert Frost said “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on”

Ironic from John Lennon “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”

Maya Angelou “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Really, the ultimate verse I must consider is from the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes 3, this is a book that “does not pretend to preach the Gospel, rather it encourages the reader to a God-centered worldview rather than falling victim to frustrations and unanswered questions”:  Ecclesiastes Chapter 3

A Time for Everything

¹ There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,  a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,  a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Vancouver+longboarder+films+breakneck+ride+down+Zealand+highway/3310406/story.html

And check out the entire Summerland long weekend info at http://www.summerlandchamber.com/newsletters/jul16/marketing/index.html

Just a heads up that if u see this guy…STAY AWAY AND CALL THE POLICE.  This is a REAL reason for a Summerlander to call the police.

http://communities.canada.com/vancouversun/blogs/communityofinterest/archive/2010/07/05/the-millionaires-of-cape-roger-curtis-the-day-the-music-died.aspx

Our Summerland boys played against bigger, older, more experienced teams and the boys did themselves proud as a group of improved players.

First game, first play, Connor made a courageous rush to catch the ball against a big, agressive striker and took a cleat to the inner thigh.  If the ref called that cleat to the thigh, a red card would have gone to their best player and the game would have remained nil nil, their best player gone, our goalie injured.  Instead, that ref rewards the play, their goal stands while our injured goalie can only try to stand.

Also against a team of older, bigger, rougher players, Joe perseveres to score a beauty with an exceptional effort and the wonder of that moment is taken away by an off side call.  No cleat, no injury, no fallen player…just a linesman that decided to negate the young guys effort.

One ref tells our team before the game that soccer is a contact sport, and shoulder to shoulder is fair play, and “play on” is how it will be.

Another game, another ref, decides part way thru his game he needs to be important, he wants to be a big part of the game…so he calls a foul on Joe because Joe happens to be running toward an oppostion player that trips on his own ball.

That is soccer!  One ref chooses a non call on an agressive play that leaves a boy injured on the ground, and both boys are amazed that no call was made.  A different ref chooses a total intervention call on a zero contact play, and both boys are left wondering why the whistle was even blown.

Both calls completely dictate the play for that game…and that is soccer, an agonizing mix of rules and freedoms!

For my part, I would much rather our boys learn to suck it up… yes it was an agressive, intimidating play, but… “play on”… a non call is my preference, by far.

What I (and Don Cherry, too) cannot stomach is the ref that needs to insert himself into the flow of a game, all of a sudden, just that NEEDFUL effort at “being important, too!”

And, there it is, a call that should NOT be made is made…by an important person…at the expense of all the effort of the players, on both teams.  Suddenly, you realize well and good, that ref is important, too.  Because he makes the call, he is important, too, that needful ref.

It was a great weekend, thanks for your excellent effort, boys!

It’s a new day here in Canada, eh!

Canada hosted the fantastic Olympic Games this year, and the world watched our country erupt with joy and in peace.  Canada partied!  Canada came out positive and inspired because the joy, passion and exuberance of ordinary Canadians overwhelmed the usual negative naysayers.  Those 2010 Games will long inspire Canadians to rise above the negative, to focus on the positive and to reach for excellence.

This Canada day, let’s make a positive choice to rise above and strive to be our best, with others, for others.

Canada 2010 recently hosted another international event, also positive and inspiring.  However, as can be the Canadian way, the negatives voices overwhelmed the G20 world leader summit.  Daily we heard of those poor innocent protesters being treated unfairly by the bad police.

Sorry, but those “bad police” are the same ordinary people who serve our country every day!  Canadians know intuitively that these fine men and women choose to put their lives on the line to protect all that we hold dear…and yet, the media screams their same old disparaging garbage about the Canadian heroes the rest of the planet look at with trust, with pride and with envy!

Canada is a world leader with the most trusted national police force on earth!  You would not think that to listen to the media, now would you?

This Canada day, remind yourself we have the most stable political system on earth!  Think of our firefighters, paramedics, search & rescue, and disaster relief teams that serve the rest of the world in times of need.  This day, ponder the strength of Canada’s justice system, religious freedoms and artistic freedoms, sexual preference freedoms and civil liberties.

Canada has a welfare systems that provides a social safety net higher than the majority of earth’s citizens can ever hope to achieve.

Canada has the strongest banking/economic system on earth and vast areas of pristine and well protected environments.

Canada’s recreation opportunities are the best on earth.  Canada has clean water and plenty of it, an extensive network of education institutions, national health care, food distribution & road networks, electricity, gas, phone, cable, internet and lots of shopping centers.

Canada is in fact the world leader when all is considered.  I think you should know that.  I think you should act on that.  I think on this Canada day we can be thankful for that.  I think we need to step up and contribute to that.