THE TIMES WE ARE IN

What has been happening in Japan is tragic,
horrific, sad and we are profoundly moved to
offering our deepest condolences and prayers
to all the people there who have lost so much
in such cruel ways.

Having said that --

One of the problems with instant everything,
in real time at that, is that we get to know
what happens in Japan (terrifying enough) is
more than we know about our own next door
neighbours in our own cities.

We are shaken off our foundations and tossed
into a kind of reality check that is impossible
to escape. Our anxieties develop anxiety in this
relentless pursuit of being informed.

Canadians are the most connected people on the map
having more ways of communicating with each other
than anywhere else on earth. We tweet and twitter
on all the electronic gadgets everybody owns, and
we do it with each other endlessly.

All this communicating is unhealthy. It throws
perspective out the window. It has become a disease
that is qualitative and classifiable. We are
dis-eased.

All shook up.