Saturday May 13th, 2006 at the Crossroads, the morning air was shattered by the roar of motorcycle engines as the bikes were fired up and the bikers headed for the highway. As they headed down the roadway the growl of their engines seemed to hang in the crisp morning air, only slowly fading into silence. All this ado was not about nothing, but was about raising money for the cause of helping the homeless to find homes and regain their joie de vive. The bikers had gathered for breakfast at Crossroads before heading out for their ride. A bag was passed at breakfast and several hundred dollars were raised. To those that organized the ride and to those that participated, I extent my thanks on behalf of my fellow homeless. They hope to make it an annual event, one of the many small contributions needed to address the issues and problems of homelessness.
It is upon this type of involvement and community support that the success or failure of any homeless initiatives will rest, for without the support of the community any initiative will fail. So if you are wondering if/what you as an individual can do here is the example of what resulted when one of your fellow citizens felt she needed to do something to contribute to the homeless and her community of Abbotsford.
Monthly Archives: May 2006
Deductive reasoning?
Reply to www.somethingcool.ca about welfare issue May 8, 2002
Say there Fred … Did you really mean to write the third example of: “Deductive reasoning is the key element… Sadly, this special ability given to us by whatever force is often misused, or in the case of some us living in British Columbia, not used at all. This was clearly evident in the newspaper at least twice this week” in your logic piece in the May 1, 2006 issue? Because you clearly demonstrated a lack of deductive reasoning in the statement: “Which is, of course, why welfare is at $510 a month. The purpose of this program is to give only the amount needed to acquire the most basic of necessities: as in rent, and a little bit of food. While collecting these meager funds, the welfare recipient is expected to be looking for a job, the acquisition of which will provide the person with the money to live that comfortable, happy lifestyle we talked about earlier.” Even if one chose to accept your premise that $510 is enough to provide the most basic of rent and food, and I would challenge you to demonstrate that $510 could meet those basic rent and food necessities, There is a hole in your reasoning, not to mention a total absence of the logic required to qualify as deductive, sufficiently large to fly a 747 through. Toiletries, garment cleaning, transportation, newspapers, communications are only a few of the costs required to find a job. How do you propose that the welfare recipient be looking for and acquiring a job when you provide no funds to accomplish this task?
Now it seems to me that anyone capable of “deductive reasoning” would immediately recognize the reality that if you want someone to accomplish something (employment) you need to provide them the tools (expenses) required to do the job. To expect job seekers to be successful, you need to provide them sufficient funds to cover the expenses that must be incurred to find accomplish said success. Requiring job seekers to rely on ‘abilities’ such as telepathy to communicate with prospective employers or teleportation to travel to submit résumés or attend interviews seems irrational and most definitely illogical. Clearly demonstrating a total lack of “deductive reasoning”.
You see, but you do not observe …
I was at an organization that shall remain nameless, let us call them SA for convenience. I was planning to attend an al-anon function (through the generosity of fellow members) celebrating 55 years of good work. So I sought out a washer and dryer so that in return for their thoughtfulness, I too would be thoughtful and have clean, sweet smelling garments. I turned on the washer and asked for the gift of laundry detergent. I was handed a sandwich sized baggy cantaining a mysterious white powder.
I have no doubt that if many of the writers of ‘letters to the editor’ and their like minded citizens had seen this exchange they would wrap themselves in self-righteousness braying “see, I told you they were all druggies!”. What then when I poured this white powder (laundry soap) into the4 washer? Well, heads into the sand with the other ‘Spuds’ lest they see something that disproves theiir vision of reality.
Me, I just poured thje soap into the washer and looked forward to tomorrow. After all in its 55 years Al-anon has helped many of us acheive a clear veiw of reality.