Support your dream in spite of challenges. Proof in point. Let’s call him Oscar. Fellow comes to Canada from Nigeria hoping to find a better life. Canada refutes his foreign credentials. He has no money nor family support from back home. Works night shifts doing security / warehouse work while attending courses full time during the day (yes, I asked the same question – when does he sleep?). Still finds time to study outside of class and work. Earns a scholarship. Lives in something like a dorm room.
He’s a quiet type void of distractions with a persona well suited toward maintaining goal oriented commitment. He calls upon his higher power inwardly only and acknowledges interim wins without fan fare. Oscar would recommed – to support your dream, let it percolate in confidence because few would be privy to your elements. It’s a simple unfolding fate fueled by your passion.
Today I join Oscar in celebration of his convocation from the faculty of Instrumentation Engineering Technology.
New community mailbox keys came with a letter signed by Canada Post’s “Senior Vice President of Business Transformation”. Does this mean that transforming the way mail is delivered is going to be a perpetual activity in which layers of executive involvement will be required? I remember the days when executive management entailed a CEO, a President and perhaps three Vice Presidents which headed up Finance, Sales and Marketing, and Human Resources. Your post office apparently has a “Junior” VP of Business Transformation and your price of a stamp has grown from twelve cents in 1979 to eight-five cents today. Expect an announcement for the celebrated position of Junior Vice President of Mailbox Graffiti Removal in the near future. However; I’ll happily fetch my own mail and eagerly anticipate if I can strike up a conversation with a neighbour momentarily suspended from the cell phone fixated glare.
Everyone is shocked. I haven’t spoken to one person yet who saw this NDP majority landslide coming. In retrospect, the passion at the ballot box was a healthy endorsement of democracy in lieu of climate rife with wasted taxpayer money and untrustworthy politicians. Many would purport the ruling Progressive Conservatives as elitist and out of touch. Even the sudden exit of Jim Prentice after having won his seat had a scent of arrogance while he shunned his constituents and superimposed a semblance of family responsibility to cover for his great escape in a debacle partly of his making. The old boys club is no more. The halls of power in parliament have shifted and for the sake of our economy dominated by the oil and gas sector, we hope that calm words from Rachel Notley translate into rational policy.
NDP administrations in other Canadian Provinces have had difficulty hosting an economic climate of vigor through words and deeds which business leaders had come to believe as threatening to progress. Business equals risk and risk deploys capital. Capital seeks homes where returns are reasonable and regulatory hurdles are in line with good common sense. All stakeholders are provided due care.
Trouble arises when irrational sentiment blurs the common good. Cause and purpose can be superseded by competing interests lost in the internal dynamics of an operating environment. Fearful that followers will lose faith if concessions are undertaken for the betterment of sound policy, leaders become distracted by whispering chatter of intransigent discontents.
Alberta is embarking upon an experiment of inexperienced politicians whom first must become versed in parliamentary procedure. They’ll come to learn the nuances of drafting legislation that will impact the lives of a constituency. Time will tell if they possess the capacity to be balanced, open, and sensible.
