Most of us have gotten complacent. Until recently, in North America and Europe, stable governments brushed a Goldilocks-just-right veneer over the surface of many of our lives. The lion, terror of the forests, weighed down by the years and regretting his past prowess, was at last attacked by his own subjects, grown strong with his weakness. The horse approached and gave him a kick; the wolf, a bite; the bull, a stab with his horn. The unhappy lion, languishing, sad and morose, could barely roar he was so crippled by age. He awaited his destiny, without complaint. Then he saw the donkey come running toward his den. Oh! That’s too much, he said. Now I really want to die. It’s dying twice to…

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The Trans-Pacific Partnership is inked. The US isn’t part of it, of course. Instead the government took the opportunity on the same day to impose new steel tariffs. No one benefits when the US refuses to cooperate with its trade partners. One day two wanderers on the sand encountered an oyster the water had washed up. They gorged on the oyster with their eyes. Pointed it out to each other. But, when it came to the eating, well that was contested. One was already reaching down to pick up the prey, when the other pushed him and said, It’s best to know which of us will have the joy of consuming. The first who saw the oyster should be the swallower.…

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Once upon a time the NRA was about marksmanship, a pursuit often associated with old-fashioned notions of honour and excellence. In that story of bygone times, the Second Amendment slumbered in peaceful obscurity on the banks of the Potomac. Then in the 60s and 70s, their paths began to converge. So that when, in the early 90s, there was talk of moving the NRA to Colorado Springs, to be closer to the Olympic training facilities — remember that sporting spirit? — the proposed initiative precipitated an NRA leadership coup. A breeding dog near her term, not knowing where to put down her imminent burden; was so convincing that in the end her companion consented to lend the pregnant dog her hut. Where the dog shut…

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More than a decade ago we renovated our bathroom, during which the light switch migrated from left of the door as we entered to right. To this day, my hand will sometimes reach the wrong way. Habits are great, until … well, until habit slips into an inescapable groove. The light switch is a simple example. A reminder of how hard it is to break a habit. Other habits are harder to notice and harder still to break. For myself, I’m thinking of mental habits in particular. The way I’ll default to the weird comfort of familiar negative self-talk, instead of exploring the nuances of a situation that didn’t turn out the way I hoped or wanted. Everyone has faults they fall back…

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What I Did for Love — A Fable About Dental Health Marc Chagall, 1929 Our two pigeons may be reunited, but here is a glimpse of the darker side of how far astray we might go in Love when under Folly’s spell, especially if the object of our desire is part of the in crowd and we are not. Sevigné, whose attributes serve as a model to the Graces and in whom all that is beautiful flourishes; in your indifference, might you be favorably inclined toward the innocent game of a fable? Might I, without annoying you, offer this tale of a Lion beaten by Love? Love is a strange master. Happy are those who may know it only by the telling and not by its…

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Some months ago a friend was telling me about his new love, who lived in another country. He wanted to marry her, to have children with her, but at the same time, he didn’t want to lose the freedom he had to travel as and when he liked. He asked me if there was a fable, which could light his way. Two pigeons shared a tender love, but one, feeling a little bored at home, was crazy enough to want to undertake a voyage to a distant country. The other one said: What are you going to do? Do you really want to leave your dear friend? Absence is the greatest heartache. Not for you, of course, so cruel. But maybe the…

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Admiring the Total Eclipse of the Super Blue Blood Moon Last week, I set my alarm for 4:45 a.m. to have a look at the total eclipse of the super blue blood moon. I was tempted to put that expression in all-caps, it sounds so dramatic. And I was tempted not to set the alarm, because I was skeptical of the amazingness in store for me. Maybe that was because I’m Canadian, a culture not prone to overstatement. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in its understated way, is less promotional in its lunar eclipse materials, staying away from the term supermoon, which entered US galactic promo lingo when it was coined by American astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979. The alarm startled me from…

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Money may make the world go ‘round, but we should not conflate that with authenticity or integrity. Our world mistakes profits for progress, and making money has replaced making things of value. Greed is good again. Politicians and business leaders, the priests of our age, size us up for our market potential. While we are currently in a worsening cycle, greed is hardly new, as this 17th century fable reminds us. A dead man went on his slow way to take possession of his final resting place. A priest went on his merry way to bury the dead man as quickly as possible. Our corpse was in a carriage, well and duly packaged. Dressed in the robes, alas! Robes of winter, robes…

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Instead of Tariffs, Let The Sun Do Its Work Gustave Dore, 1868 Watching the fierce sun melt snow off my windows and roof before it is even 8 a.m. got me thinking about solar power. Yes, I’m a renewable energy type. And Trump’s new tariffs on solar panels are bad news on that front. A woodcutter had broken or lost the wooden hilt of his axe. The loss could not be immediately repaired. So the forest had a period of respite. Finally, the man begged the forest, with humility, to let him ever so gently take one single branch to refashion a hilt. He would go elsewhere to make his living. He would leave so many oaks and so many pines standing; those trees…

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In the latest installment of the long running drama that is our perennial love affair with covert operations, an ex-CIA agent is accused of…