Taking Time Off

Some time ago my wife suggested to me that she was going to be taking the third week in September as holidays and highly recommended I do the same. I agreed. And so this week I have been on holidays. Tough to figure out what it really means to be on holidays. Not that I have never taken time off before. But I do not remember ever taking a week off when we did not have a trip planned. I suppose I still have that farmer mentality. When “hanging” out at home there is always work staring you in the face. In my case, being self-employed, taking time off is not a big deal but does take significant effort. So I don’t go to the office but I am still connected. With modern technology it takes more of an effort to disconnect yourself from work. The Blackberry went with me where ever we went. And I have yet to learn to ignore messages or emails “till I return to the office”. So each day I did spend some time communicating with clients.

We did take some time to play golf. Remember last spring when I talked about the deal we had made? My wife was going take golf lessons and together we would take dance lessons as well. Well, we had done some dancing, culminating in some “real” dancing at our son’s wedding. However, the golf part of our deal remained somewhat lacking. So with the good weather we had this week we golfed a couple of rounds. Good times.

We also went and watched a movie. Now, you have to understand that we do not often go to the movies. We seem to have very different ideas as to what a good movie is. Two weeks ago we had gone to see a movie as well. At the time I wanted to see Contagion while Rose suggested The Help. The reviews on The Help were non-existent and I had seen some previews about Contagion. A medical thriller. Looked interesting. Contagion won out. We went. We watched. We were disappointed. Not much of a story line. The most interesting, and perhaps scariest, aspect of the movie dealt with how quickly a virus can spread. With the SARS situation a few years ago and more recently the H1N1 scare, there was something eerily real about the movies.

However, a friend told us this week that The Help was an excellent movie so we went and watched it. Two movies in two weeks? Wow. Turns out The Help is an awesome movie. Very good storyline. Deals with racism. The sad part is that stories like this did happen and happened not that long ago. It hit home even more after hearing the story of a banana being thrown at a black hockey player in a NHL hockey game. What kind of society do we live in where some people have this idea that they are superior? The idea that people of different color or ethnicity are inferior. We sit by and watch as it happens in a larger way with the Israelis and the Palestinians. We see racial tensions all over the world. Examples of ethnic cleansing. People thumping their chests and claiming superiority. We choose sides. We are indignant. We are angry. We hope and pray for peace. As we should. And yet we see smaller examples of racism, discrimination, and hatred right in our back yard. What do we do about it? Far too often I am guilty of turning a blind eye. It is much too easy just to ignore. To pretend it doesn’t happen.

But it does happen. Watch the movie The Help. Decide for yourself on how we can make a difference. And then let’s strive for peace. Let’s strive for true equality. Let’s make this world, this country, our community a better place to live. Make it a peaceful one. Make it a good one.