April 2001 - Nr. 4
Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader
Easter is just around the corner. We associate this time of year, regardless of specific religious background as a time of renewal. Spring is the time when our eyes should feast on new growth and glorious colour. Sunshine and balmy air should kiss us.
Unfortunately
I cannot report any progress into that direction. The glacier in my garden
is still there, smaller, but still very much there! The grass is still brown
and flowers only bloom in pots! On my glacier!
Toronto has adopted the weather patterns of old, the ones I remember from when we first arrived in Canada in 1968. Since then I have prayed every year for an early spring so green, that the Easter bunny can hide the eggs outside in the grass and behind bushes with fresh tiny leafs on them. But this has happened very rarely and this year it seems even further off than usual.
From Germany I hear that spring has finally arrived there. I must admit that I am jealous!
What keeps me warm are the unpleasant prospects our Mayor Mel Lastman has intimated for the future. I get pretty hot under the collar when I read that we will have to pay a toll to go to the park, or have to pay every year a hefty fee for our pets. Cats are not to leave the house after 6 p.m.! Who thought of that? And they, like all other animals, better have their tags on, or else they shall feel the human hand of wrath.
There are all sorts of other rules and regulation proposed to handle the shortfall in money, so Mel can keep his promise of "No tax increase!"
I promise if such inhuman ideas become the norm in this town I will leave. But this is not the solution. We know that if we do not prevent this from happening it will happen everywhere else too. The insanity will roll right over Canada if not stopped at the root.
The problem is that not enough people participate in the democratic process. And why? Because we have stopped trusting it! Too often have we been asked for our opinion and the authorities went ahead and did what ever we said no to anyway! We have become slack, folks. Our freedoms and rights need active protection. Standing by the fence or sitting on it is not enough. Decisions are no longer based on the will of the people but on the advice of e few carefully placed so-called authorities. They are not the ones that put the eggs into our basket. We have to look after those ourselves. All the idiotic suggestions also involve our children, which will be taking to the cleaners, or their parents. What galls me the most is the early cut off date: April 1st. is this a bad joke? We have hardly heard about this.
But never mind, we celebrate Easter anyway when it finally comes. Hopefully the weather is kinder by then and restores our aspirations of a liveable and better future.
We all have our own customs for this season. Let us keep those alive so we do not have to live in an online future with everything available only @.com!
And by the way, you better check out our contest! Count all
the LTU/itravel2000 airplanes that have been distributed all over the paper
and mail your
answer in. You might win 2 tickets to Düsseldorf by LTU. Read
the instructions very carefully and follow through. Next month will be
another chance to win!
In the meantime, have a wonderful spring beginning, a great Easter and take some time out to figure out what it all means to you personally.
Until next time
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister.
( Editorial )
Comments to: editor@echoworld.com
