Report # 1017
Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great weekend so far. On Thursday night I talked with my grandmother and I was able to book a flight to Calgary on July 3. I will stay a week and head back home on July 10. I plan on going to Mexico on July 13, but I haven’t booked that flight yet, but I’ll definitely do that today. Even though Calgary has been through a lot with the flooding, it will be my last chance to go there before I go to Mexico, so I had to go at this time. Everything is alright where my grandmother lives so it will be fine, I just probably won’t be able to get out and explore places as much as usual. Ultimately though I’ll be there to see my grandmother and aunt before I go, so I’m sure it will be a great visit.
I worked my last day on in the office on Friday, and just like that, after one month and one week, I’m done working there already. Everyone was super nice, and the guy who runs the practice said that he’s sorry to see me go and that if I’m back in town in the future and I need work I could always give them a call. The supervisor even said she would write me a reference letter, which I never asked for, as I didn’t want to ask for one seeing as I was only there for just over a month, so it was a nice surprise. Of course I definitely did my best while I was working there, but I missed a few days and I was there for such a short time period, I didn’t think of asking for one. So it feels good knowing that they enjoyed having me there and that even though it was such a short time, I was able to find such a nice place to work.
Yesterday I ran to Tim Hortons in the morning, came home and vacuumed the house, went grocery shopping, and ran with Parker in the afternoon before swimming in the pool and sun tanning. It was a pretty humid day for her and just over 28 C (82 F) Today is already hotter as it’s 31 C (88 F) so summer is definitely here. There have been some heat warnings issued as further away from the ocean it will be much warmer, but of course if people use common sense they shouldn’t have a problem. I will definitely go for a nice run in the heat this afternoon…. I always love doing that !
Today my grandmother and her friend will be coming over for dinner and we’ll be eating hamburgers, so that will be a good meal. This evening I’ll definitely check out flights to go to Mexico, and aside from that I’ll just be enjoying the great weather. Tomorrow I definitely plan on heading downtown to walk and take some pictures and of course enjoy some of the Canada Day festivities. So today I wanted to talk about some things regarding diversity, race and religion. I am sure some of the things I talk about will be somewhat controversial, but I have to talk about these things sometimes.
A local MP (member of parliament) has suggested that April should be “Punjabi Heritage Month” in Canada. This would be a month to celebrate and promote the Punjabi culture and people. (For those people who don’t know, Punjabi is a language from India, mainly in the Punjab province.) Firstly I will say in my city, there is certainly a large Punjabi community, and these people have certainly added a lot of culture and diversity to the city and been great members of the community, helping with many charities and really adding a lot to the city. It’s great to have diversity and certainly there is a lot of Punjabi history here, and I’m sure in other parts of the country as well.
That being said, the idea of having a Punjabi Heritage Month for Canada is absolutely ridiculous. Canada is a multicultural country, and there just can’t be special months set aside for one group of people. There are sooooo much diversity in this country, and so many different groups of people that it just wouldn’t be fair to give some groups special announcements while other groups don’t get anything to celebrate their history and culture. And while in my city, having this sort of month would certainly mean something to many people, there are so many parts of Canada where the Punjabi community is very small, or maybe even non-existent and people there would just not understand.
In my city we already talk about and celebrate the Vaishaki Parade, and Diwali, and a lot of residents are very engaged with these events… why is an actual Punjabi Heritage Month needed ? So I oppose this sort of proposal 100 %, and I would say the same thing for any other proposal that tries and create a special month celebration for any single group of people. I would certainly support something such as Cultural Diversity Month, where Canada as a whole can celebrate cultural diversity in our society and learn about and take part in events celebrating the many different cultures, but for just one group of people absolutely not.
Of course the people who choose to come here should put themselves as Canadian first and foremost, they should certainly be proud of where they are from, and having a month that allows the many different groups of people in this country to celebrate, embrace, and share their cultures, foods, celebrations, and history with Canadians all across the country would be a wonderful thing. So my main point here is that diversity, immigration and celebrations of different cultural events are a wonderful thing for Canada, all cultures must have equal opportunities to share their customs in Canada, and creating a month to celebrate just one groups’ culture is 100 % wrong !
As I’ve said in previous blogs, I enjoy talking with and meeting people from other countries. It’s fascinating for me, and I just enjoy it so much. I try to be an informed person to what is happening in this world and to know at least a little about many of the different countries in this world, but of course I could always learn more. From time to time I’ve talked to people from other countries and I’ve gotten into some interesting debates with some of these people. I can certainly understand why this happens, because a lot of how a person thinks and what they believe in, has to do with where they were born. Obviously I would think much differently if I was born in the 1950′s in Iran rather than the 1980′s in Canada… this is just obvious !
A few weeks ago I was talking to someone from Turkey and it was an interesting conversation to say the least. Turkey is a Muslim country more or less, though the people there certainly have more freedom than they do in other countries such as Iran or Saudi Arabia. I was talking to a girl from there about a whole different range of issues, and we certainly clashed on a few fronts. She was not only 100 % against same-sex marriage some of her thoughts on gay people in general were just horrible. And I can bet a lot of people from certain countries think the same way. Basically they think that people just choose to be gay and they are disgusting people who are ruining the planet with their behavior and well I could go on and on, but it’s just very sad they think these horrible things that are so wrong.
I tried to debate with this girl saying that they are not bad people and they are not hurting anyone, and that they should be respected like anyone else, but of course she will always think the way that she does. Honestly I thought some of the things she said and thought were not only 100 % wrong they were very hurtful. Of course this doesn’t just have to do with her personal beliefs, but based on where she was born and the way she was raised and the customs of her country. I can imagine even in cities as open as Vancouver, it can still be a challenge to be a gay person, but in many places in the world it is way more than just a challenge, it is illegal and downright dangerous to admit to being gay. These attitudes just have to change !
Even in this part of the world there is much more work to do to create an equal world for gay people, so I can’t even imagine how much more difficult life would be on the other side of the world. Things are slowly getting better over here, as the recent US supreme court decision has shown, but there is much work to do over here…. and much more work to do on the other side of the world. I’ve always said that no one has to agree with same-sex marriage, but they have to understand that it’s not their life and they have to respect the lives of other people and respect that they should have 100 % equal rights as well. And that respect is clearly missing in the minds of too many ignorant and closed minded people in this world.
And of course when I’m talking with these people from far away countries, our discussions and disagreements go far beyond things such as same-sex marriage, but to religion as well. I was talking to some Muslim people and I was saying how its horrible that so many people have such terrible ideas about Muslims and they think things that are so false. I brought up the Boston Marathon Bombings and was trying to make the point that the people responsible obviously weren’t true Muslims, but extremists, fanatics, and just very sick people with crazy beliefs. Unfortunately many ignorant people will see these sort of attacks and think ridiculously untrue things about Muslims, which is very sad an unfortunate.
Are there Muslim terrorists in the world ? Obviously ! But there are Christian terrorists, Jewish terrorists, Sikh terrorists, and agnostic and atheist terrorists as well. I’ll never understand who someone can be so stupid to think that only people from one religion are terrorists. The truth is very few people from any religion are terrorists, and when there are terrorists they can be from any different religion ! And anyone who is a terrorist obviously is not a religious person anyways because no religion would ever support any type of terrorists attacks and the killing of people… that is against everything that any religion would stand for. So really the terrorists can’t claim to even be religious to begin with… they are just cold-hearted and sick cowards who carry out their disgusting plans and may or may not use a religion as an excuse of doing what they do.
Now as I’ve stated earlier, I’m 100 % supportive and appreciative of diversity, and I think it’s wonderful that certain countries have so much diversity, so much culture, and so many people from many different countries and walks of life….. this enriches all of our lives. We all need to be respective of these people and their religion…. no matter what it is. If a Muslim woman wants to wear a Hijab, burka, or Abaja, they should be respected 100 %, and if they don’t want to wear any of that, they should be respected 100 %. Certain countries fail to respect these choices such as Iran, Saudi Arabia (its a law for women to use them) and France. (it’s a law for women not to use them in Public)
Being racist or discriminatory towards anyone based on their religion, way of dressing, language, where they are from, sexuality, that is all 100 % wrong and anyone responsible for harbouring any sort of hate towards different people is a disgusting human being. So I can’t even begin to imagine how hard life would be for certain groups of people in some countries. And there is no question being a Muslim in parts of the world can’t be that easy. And of course the same thing is happening to Christian people in other countries as well as there are always Christians being persecuted and this is 100 % wrong as well. So I am saying that it doesn’t matter if it’s a Christian person being persecuted or discriminated against, a Jewish person being persecuted or discriminated against, or a Muslim person being persecuted and discriminated against, it’s 100 % wrong !
Now going back to some of the conversations I’ve had with some Muslim people, I have told them that I feel that Muslim people need to open up more to people from other walks of life. Obviously they don’t want to be misunderstood, and they want to be treated with respect and equality when they are in other countries, but the truth is that I find many Muslim families to be very closed minded. For example most Muslim families won’t support being with anyone in a relationship unless that person is Muslim as well. How do they expect to be better understood if they continue locking out people from other cultures ?
Now of course I could say the same thing for people who are Christian or Jewish…. if they are only supporting their people from being in relationships with people of the same faith as well, then they are being just as bad. This type of discrimination and closed-mindedness is not helping our world and if too many families continue with these attitudes of exclusion, racism and discrimination will sadly continue being far more rampant than it would if more people were accepting and supportive of those who fall in love with people from other countries and cultures. I just hope in the coming years more people will decide to open up in terms of their beliefs and how they see people from other countries and the friends they have and the relationships they are in…. this will open up so many more doors in the world and I strongly belief the world will be a much better place.
And when there immigrants to a new country, the people of that country should be welcoming and respectful and make these new people feel like they belong. A country full of love and a willingness to help one another regardless of where they are from and the beliefs they hold is certainly a much better place than a country full of discrimination and hate. And if I was to give a message to new immigrants as well, it would be they have to open up as well. If they just come to another country to only hang out with people of their own country or religious group, and make no effort to fit in to their new country and the people that live there, well then they are not being much better than the discriminatory and racist people, and that certainly is something they should be ashamed of as well.
So shame on all of the closed minded, discriminatory, and racist people out there who make the lives of those from other countries and those of different nationalities and racial groups difficult, and shame on the people who move to another country and choose to lock out the people of that country and only continue their lives as if they are in their birth country…. you are all contributing to a more hateful planet and if you all don’t change your ways, nothing will ever improve. Certainly the world is a much easier place to live for different types of people in other countries than it was 50 years ago, but it’s 100 % evident that there is still much work to do. We should all roll up our sleeves and do our parts to make this world a much more accepting and friendly place where people from any country and any culture can mix well with one another and be the best of friends.
Anyways, for the next question:
What do you think about cultural diversity, mixing in more with people from other countries and cultures, and the problems that we all face such as discrimination, racism and ignorance ?
So I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend and Happy Canada Day for tomorrow to any Canadians ! Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.