May you live in interesting times

“May you live in interesting times.” We are all familiar with that expression. When I first heard it, decades ago, I thought it was a blessing. We, in the west, are so afraid of boredom and so desperate to fill every minute with something other than ourselves, that this seemed a positive wish. Of course, now I know that it is really an ancient Chinese curse, and a very wise one. Right now I think many of us would welcome a little boredom! However, it is safe to say that May is going to be, for better or worse, an interesting month. We have the American primaries, which are costing more money that the World Food Bank currently needs to feed over 2 million people. What the actual election campaign will cost is impossible to predict – makes you proud of the Canadian system, doesn’t it.  Our leadership campaigns may be brutal and bloody, but in three days it is all over! Then we have the price of gas and the melting ice caps, the looming water shortage, and on it goes – talk about interesting!    Life in May, like every month, can be divided nicely into fantasy and reality and for a change we Zoomers come out ahead in both! Last month we looked at the fantasy wasteland of TV and many letter writers agreed that in terms of shows for our generation it is ‘pretty slim pickings’.  Still, some viewers pointed out that there are a few of these ghastly ‘reality’ shows that actually support the values that Zoomers grew up with and still live by – but apparently totally failed to pass on! They then suggested a link between the themes of these shows and the current complaint that so many people out and about in our streets seem so angry. We keep reading about road rage, and mall rage, and parking lot rage, etc. Many suspect that the anger of those between the ages of 20-45 is based on sleep deprivation.  It seems many of this generation are lying awake night after night worrying about their debt load or tossing and turning because their tyrannical toddler is sleeping in the master bed while parents are sleeping on the air mattress or in the bathtub, or failing to sleep, as the case may be. (check an April issue of MacLeans).   In the first instance, there is a show called ‘Til Debt Do We Part’ that comes into the homes of these poor misguided souls and exposes their total inability to manage their money with any degree of intelligence. We meet young couples who are $400,000 in debt and juggling ten credit cards – no wonder they can’t sleep! Enter the older wiser woman who sits them down in front of the North American TV audience and lectures them on basic budgeting. Nothing fancy, just the ordinary rules that if you spend money you don’t have on things you don’t need you will soon have bills you can’t pay. She talks to them as though they are children although often these gormless ninnies have children of their own! She makes them follow the same sorts of rules that you and I would give a child and tries, not always with success, to make them financially mature. Zoomers can only watch and listen and shake their heads while feeling good about their own lifelong habits of budgeting. Seems we were right all along.   The second set of shows about tyrannical toddlers may be harder to watch. On the other hand, maybe yelling at the TV can be seen as therapy? There are a few of these with names like ‘Super nanny’ and ‘Nanny 911’ that once again expose incredibly inept parents to the cold eye of the TV audience, who then watch as the older wiser woman teaches these overgrown babies how to be the adult in the family, instead of giving that role to the three year old. It may be that zoomer values of manners, respect, rules and limits may be gaining ground! We can only hope.   On the positive reality side, May in the Okanagan is always a month filled with great and ‘interesting’ things for all of us. It is our reward for surviving another Canadian winter. In the south we have the 11th annual Meadowlark Festival with over 100 events focused on nature, the outdoors and climate change in the Okanagan. That is then followed by their International Children’s Festival at Okanagan Lake Park. In the north we have the Ozone Drama Festival in Armstrong and the 17th annual Cherryville Gold Panning Championships- fun for the whole family and make sure you bring your camera!   Spring Teas and Blossom Festivals are everywhere, many of them fund raisers for their communities. The classic car folks are back again, waxing and polishing and preparing to show their beautiful cars up and down the valley. Our many Farmer’s Markets are opening up again with more and more of us committed to the idea of eating locally whenever possible.   Spring has come at last so let’s enjoy all that May has to offer – but save some energy for the other ‘interesting’ months to come!

 

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