In which Kristen goes down the rabbit hole

I just watched Survival Lilly's Youtube video about the European Union's moving to a digital ID and wallet for everyone. She makes some good points about how unnecessary it is, and showed how it works in China currently. I admit I found it chilling. I don't even own a cell phone. I and a lot of other segments of the population will be essentially eliminated.

It got me to thinking -- all of this will only work if we go along with it. The Grand Reset can only be defeated by a Grand Refusal. If we all boycotted it, they'd have to listen. If they won't pay us if we don't have a digital wallet, then I guess we don't go to work. If we can't get into grocery stores without a digital ID, then I guess we don't shop. How long would it take before everything ground to a halt? You see, the government needs us to be good little workers and consumers. And even government officials have to eat, and they rely on the same supply chain we do. If farmers stopped selling to conglomerates, if truckers stopped shipping, if packagers stopped packaging, if water treatment plants closed down, and if the media stopped pasting officials' faces across the globe...how long before the government started listening to the people? I bet it wouldn't take long at all. But you can't protest against a system you rely on. We have to get people to prepare and have at least a short-term supply so we're not shooting ourselves in the foot.

Some people say "If I don't go to work, they'll replace me with a robot." Maybe true, but first they'd have to scale up the production and programming and installation of robots, and that requires miners, engineers, electricians, truckers, and lots of other humans. If the workers don't produce the robots, the robots don't replace the workers. Besides, robots don't make good consumers. They need us humans for that role.

We have more power than we realize, but we have to be united in our refusal to participate. They've spent a lot of energy over the past few years getting us to splinter into polarized groups, to sow discord among populations, to make us see our fellow humans as competitors. We no longer say "We disagree," but we say "If you disagree with me, I hate you." It's interesting that they've destroyed unity just before they bring forth a system that can only be resisted if we're united.

Another dream...

Last night it was about replacing a leaky window. I think the renovations are starting to get to me. 

Dreams

I don't know. I thought nightly dreams were supposed to be mini escapes from reality, or ways of working out problems subconsciously, or bursts of creative formation of ideas. I've heard people tell of marvelous and thrilling dreams in full technicolour. Shouldn't dreams be about flying over the ocean like a bird, or discovering treasure, or dancing in starlight, or solving mysteries?

Maybe so. Maybe for other people. Not me. Last night I dreamt about dehydrating potatoes.

Remembrance Day Observation

It is November 11th, the day we pause to acknowledge the veterans and those affected by war, past and present. The busiest day of the year for us bagpipers. My husband played for the local Army-Navy Club here in Mississauga, which kindly gave the band a sum of money for participating. And the band is going to gift the money back, because the sad reality is that the Club is without heat because they're unable to afford the $70,000 it will take to fix their aging building's system. A Canadian winter approaching, and our veterans don't have heat.

This is shameful, and I want to do something about it. Why is there no government funding to support and update our local Legions? Legions and places like the Army-Navy Club play important roles as community hubs. In some small towns, they are the only social venue operating other than, perhaps, churches. They are probably the main reason bagpiping has stayed alive and vibrant in Canada, too. 

So this is a call-out for awareness, for compassion, for action. I'll find out what the best way is to go about fund-raising (a GoFundMe campaign, perhaps? I'm not tech-y and will have to do some research). Let's do something to give back to this organization that has done so much for Mississauga, and the veterans who have done so much for Canada. 

Garden still going in November!

My garden has been really weird this year. Peas finally coming up in late summer, green peppers still going in late October, and right now, in mid November, I have tomatoes blossoming and I can still go out and pick green onions, bok choy, lettuce, and kale for my morning omelette. The plants don't know if it's summer or winter. One day we get a hard frost, and the next day I'm out in my t-shirt, raking the few leaves that have started to fall. But lots of leaves still on the trees. Ah well, roll with it. This is our new unpredictable reality.

Picture below of about two thirds of my carrot harvest this year. I've frozen some, pressure canned some, and dehydrated some. All bases covered!

Apples and Visits

My good friend whom I've known for 51 years came to visit last week, and we had fun just hanging out, doing puzzles, walking by the lake, watching movies, gathering hickory nuts, and yacking. She's the lovely type of low-maintenance guest who is always up for an adventure but content to sit around reading too. Whenever she comes to visit we do a project, anything from hauling rocks to weeding the yard, and she's an incredibly good sport about the construction sites I plop her into. This time the project was washing windows and polishing windowsills. She went home on Friday, and now...reality hits. I have one and a half bushels of apples to process, three buckets of hickory nuts to crack, carrots and onions to harvest and preserve from the garden, tools to clean and put away... and then the blessed calm of winter.

God's Parenting Mistake

The world is on fire, and everyone seems to be fighting over what part of this burning planet others are allowed to stand on. Nevermind that our hair is in flames, just stay on your side of the wall. I was horrified by Ukraine, by Armenia, by so many other conflicts. This week I'm flabbergasted by the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Each side is firm in their belief that God gave them a certain portion, and they take that to mean "No one else is allowed." Nowhere did he say "Use it to indulge your sense of superiority and oppress others." What if God gave them that land with the expectation that they would use it to shelter and feed others on it? To take stewardship and care of it and ALL its inhabitants? And if we truly believed God gave us this land, this earth, wouldn't you have thought we'd have taken better care of such a gift? 

Perhaps He gave certain inheritances to our ancestors, but that doesn't mean WE still deserve it. I suspect we don't. I suspect we've forfeited any right to this entire planet through our own cruelty, mindlessness, and self-centeredness. This tiny, burning earth deserves better. Right now, I wouldn't mind if God took us all out. Blew the whistle. Right! Everyone, out of the pool! If you can't share nicely, no one gets it!

I suppose, if we wanted to, we could blame God for starting all this conflict in the first place. After all, He made the fundamental parenting mistake of playing favourites (He's done that a lot throughout human history -- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph to name a few), and anyone can tell you that only leads to sibling rivalry. Maybe instead of asserting our rights and summarily dispatching others from off our planet, we should address that fundamental problem, and get rid of the concept of favourites.

I know it isn't as simple as territorialism. There are a lot of other factors at play, and I have no idea how this will be sorted out. Meanwhile, I'm personally on the side of the children and animals and plants. I'm not too impressed with adult humans right now.