March 11, 2013

• Report # 980

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all had a great weekend. It’s already been three days since my arrival back home from Mexico and I guess I’m all used to everything again. My dad picked me up from the airport on Friday morning and we drove home. I unpacked my suitcase and later on in the afternoon I ran up to Tim Hortons to have my first meal from there in almost seven months. It was great to be able to have the bagels with cream cheese, iced cap, and two chocolate chip cookies for the first time in so long !

  My grandmother came over in the afternoon and she made pizza which was delicious as always. I was quite surprised when I weighed myself and found out I was only 64 kg (140 pounds) I dropped at least 12 pounds while I was in Mexico, which certainly wasn’t due to healthy eating habits, but from running so much. The Vancouver Sun Run is on April 21, and seeing as I don’t think I’ll have gotten an answer on my visa quick enough to be back in Mexico by then, it will be great to race for the third consecutive year.

  With all of the running I’ve done in the last couple of months and not carrying my camera and wallet, starting at the tape, and hopefully not having to stop and tie my shoe laces a few times, I am more than certain I should be able to beat my time last year of 49 minutes and 8 seconds for the 10 km run. I ran up to Tim Hortons again on Saturday morning and my brother and I helped wash my parents’ cars in the afternoon, aside from that it was a pretty boring day.

  On Sunday I ran to Tim Hortons, and just pretty much relaxed at home most of the day, though I walked around the block in the evening. It was still light before 8:00 pm as we had the daylight savings time on Sunday so the days are nice and long now. I’ve had some popcorn in the evenings and watched a few episodes of the Simpsons and that’s been it for all of my excitement. I ran to Tim Hortons once again this morning… already four times since I’ve arrive home !

  Today I’m going to check out some sites and see if I can find any temporary job opportunities that are close to my house. I think it will be challenging, but it would be nice to find something I could do. If I’m unable to find anything, I’ll send an email to the lady I used to work with at my last job and see if they could use my help for a while. It would be cool to be back at my old job helping out for a while, but if not I wouldn’t really mind, as long as I find something….. seven months of vacations is long enough !

  As I would think most people are aware of, last week the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, passed away after his battle with cancer. I was reading some newspapers and headlines after his death, and they were saying things like “It’s good that he is dead” or “No tears for Chavez.” Now I certainly didn’t agree with this man’s policies and there was no question he was bending the rules and really crossing the lines in terms of operating democratically, but I felt articles such as those were unnecessarily harsh and cold.

  I read an article talking about the death of Russian dictator Stalin 60 years ago and then seeing how Chavez died on exactly the same day, but aside from that being a coincidence, anyone who has studied history would know any comparison between the two men would be completely ridiculous. I’ve said before that it was time for Chavez to step aside and let someone else lead the country, and while he never did, now Venezuelans will have a true chance to bring change to their country.

  I thought it was stupid how Chavez put in so much effort of trying to retain power despite how sick he was. Maybe if he put more attention on his health in the past few years instead of trying to be the leader for life, he would still be here today. So while Hugo Chavez was an extremely controversial and divisive figure in his country and around the world, I really don’t think people should be celebrating his death like it’s some amazing thing.

  This man was running an extremely ideological socialist government, but he was not a brutal and murderous dictator. The people of eventually elected this man again and again, and while it was not 100 % fair how he controlled the Venezuelan media for his own political purposes, the voters have to be given some credit. They can’t be stupid…. and if they still chose to vote for this man time and time again they obviously were happy with him.

  A lot of world leaders from other countries criticized Hugo Chavez’s leadership, but that’s not their job. Their job is to rule their countries and do what they can to help their people…. not to involve themselves in the politics of another country. And seeing how many world leaders refused to deal with Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela just because they didn’t agree with his politics was ridiculous. And the leaders of those countries were in turn harming their own countries by not having good business with Venezuela.

  Now I’ve always thought there are so many people in Venezuela who would vote for Chavez no matter what. Especially the poorer people, who Chavez would always do enough for to make them feel like he was improving their lives while he never truly got them ahead. I’ve always thought these type of voters are very dumb people because they don’t even bother to think about the other options… they will just blindly vote for the same person every time. I still think this, but the truth is as much as I think it’s a stupid way to vote, it is their vote and they can vote the way they want.

  So my main point today is that I think the Venezuelan people have an incredible opportunity in next month’s elections to truly move ahead as a country. And while no one should be celebrating the death of a man who died of cancer at 58 years old, it’s a bit much that there are people crying and flooding the streets with tears acting as they just lost their parents or love of their life.

  The same man who ran against Chavez in the presidential election last fall, Henrique Capriles, will be at it again, this time facing off against the Vice President, who is now interim president, Nicolás Maduro. My prediction is that Maduro will win the election as the Venezuelan people will ultimately vote to carry on with Chavez style government, but I really do hope people at least look at the alternatives and truly vote for who they believe is the best choice for their country.

  Some people in the opposition in Venezuela think that the constitution has been broken and that Maduro should not have been allowed to be named interim president, and that the constitution says the speaker of the national assembly should have been appointed. In my opinion though it truly doesn’t matter. They are all friends of Hugo Chavez, so who cares ? The opposition needs to unite and put up a hell of a fight to take these guys out if they really want to bring change…. who is going to be the president up until the elections on April 14 really shouldn’t matter.

  As long as the rules of democracy are followed, the rest of the world will have to accept the results of the presidential election in Venezuela next month. And any country that goes out of it’s way to speak against whoever is elected president, and that chooses to avoid having relations with Venezuela just because they aren’t happy with who the leader is will just be stubbornly ruining some great trade benefits which could be beneficial to both countries, and I think that would just show stupid leadership.

  There will always be leaders around the world that make the news for whatever reason, but all these countries are being led by adults, and instead of name calling and bickering, they have to find out ways to work together and have good relations for the benefit of their peoples and the world in general. Unless someone is truly a dictator and oppressing their people and truly posing a threat to the world, then there is no reason why two countries can’t have good relations.

  So my ultimate point, Chavez was no hero, and he was certainly overstayed his welcome in Venezuela, and his death provides the Venezuelan people with a chance to move their country in a different direction if they choose. However, he was not some murderous dictator either and reading some of the editorials and articles about his death really had me shaking my head. Some people seem to like to demonize anyone they truly don’t agree with, and that’s just going way overboard.

   And while other countries have concerns about the government in Venezuela, it is ultimately the decision of the Venezuelan people who runs their country, and the rest of the world has to accept that decision…. whether they like it or not. And just because people have different ideologies from leaders from other countries doesn’t mean they still can’t have good relationships !

  The truth is that while Hugo Chavez was wrong in his attempt to try and hold on to power no matter what, he clearly did some good things in Venezuela, and the rest of the world has to accept that a lot of his people truly admired that man… and he clearly died being more admired than a lot of other politicians are in the world. And while we may not agree with what he did in Venezuela or his style of politics, we have to respect the fact that a lot of people in his own country truly appreciated that man.

  For the next question:

  What are your thoughts on the passing of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez ? Do you think the media has overreacted in terms of the person he was, or was he every bit as bad as so many people from outside of Venezuela have said ?

  I will leave you all with some pictures that I took from Teotihuacán, the pyramids and ruins in the state of Mexico. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Thursday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 3:37 pm
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