This is a departure for Decoder, a link to a video showing an address in March by a woman who died last week. Rachel Barkey was dying of cancer when she spoke in March to a women's group at Westside Church in Richmond, B.C. and passed away on July 2, She was 37. It's really a departure because this isn't really an address - it's a sermon and that's makes me nervous. Moreover, it's about Barkey finding her strength through Jesus. Decoder is more a "whatever gets you through the night" kind of blog, not meant to support any religion, and that's putting it mildly.
But a friend of Barkey's who just came back from her funeral told me about the video earlier today and I found it incredibly moving. A mother leaving everything she loves. What struck me when I listened was her courage, her love of her children and husband and her ability to show such strength in the face of death. I honour that. I have seen people of different beliefs - both in my personal and profession life - face death with grace and courage. It is not easy and we none of us know how we'll do. Barkey had her answer.
To me, this seems a fitting offering for a Friday afternoon in summer, on the brink of a week off. If it's not your cup of tea, give it a pass.
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Nash for NDP: Peggy Nash will run for the NDP presidency in August. Very interesting. I thought she might go the Ontario leadership, but she didn't. Is this the first step of a plan to run for the national leadership at some point?
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Boo to meterologists: Can't help it, I'm addicted to CFTO's late night weather report, even though I keep vowing to give it up. How could you not like Dave Devall who retired in April after breaking on-air longevity records? Then, Anwar Knight immediately became my guy.
But.
Why won't they let us enjoy anything. Okay, so this summer's a bit of a bummer, but we've had lots of nice days in Toronto. (Try Montreal!) But they've got all this fancy-dancy equipment that allows them to predict 82 days down the road and they're hell-bent on using it. They can't just tell us it will be warm and sunny tomorrow, and maybe for a day or two after that, but rather warn us it will all end by next week with whatever blah-blah is blowing in from Wichita.
It's too much information. Plus, half the time they're wrong anyway.
Let us live in the weather moment. Please. At least on occasion. They're not alone, by the way. They're all the same. Let them give us short-term forecasts and, maybe, towards the end of every week, a broadcast that looks ahead three years if they want, and I won't watch.
Sorry about this. Just blowing off steam. And yes, I know, capturing the weather moment is just going outside, and an easy fix for me is to just stop watching. But that's easier said than done.
Decoder is back Monday, July 20. They've already told me when it will rain next week.
The only thing bummer, to me, about this summer (besides not having two nickels to rub together) is the fact that almost no one but myself likes the weather. I hate hot weather and endless sunshine would make me nuts. I love rainy, gray days. Or maybe something twisted in me likes liking something that makes everyone else miserable. Who knows? ;-)
Posted by: Arby | July 16, 2009 at 04:20 AM