12.19.2012 08:09 AM

What’s important

Ontario Liberal debates are important, fiscal cliff is important, Canadians in space are important, gun crime and mental illness are important, the world ending on Friday is important.

Me? What’s important to me is that Son Two is now a teenager.  That means three of the four of them are teenagers!

This makes me feel simultaneously old and terrified.  Carry on as you were.

10 Comments

  1. Peter says:

    everybody should read this Hill Times article and how the Harper Conservatives Cabinet ran a secret vote behind closed doors that basically gutted and killed a piece of 30 year old legislation that required gun retailers to recorder who bought what…Vic Toews was the “hero” here…not only that…but now Canadians can buy arms from across the border…and we’re talking assault rifles…read this…and the various quotes Toews made in committee…it’s make you sick to your stomach…at how these Reformacons are endangering the average Canadian with their ideology and rhetoric…

    http://www.hilltimes.com/news/politics/2012/12/18/critics-slam-feds%E2%80%99-decision-to-scrap-records-of-rifle-shotgun-sales-in-wake-of/33252

    • Ted H says:

      That is correct, there were requirements that existed prior to the Gun Registry, that were wrapped into the Gun Registry but were not reinstated after the Registry was eliminated. There is less oversight of deadly weapons than there was 30 years ago. Canada is one of the few “civilized” countries that has weakend our gun laws in the recent past.

  2. Cath says:

    Get used to it Warren. It doesn’t get any easier either.
    I have now wonder if Peter actually read or understood this post. I’m thinking, um, nope.
    Merry Christmas to you WK!

    • Warren says:

      You too my friend.

      No, he didn’t read it.

      • Peter says:

        Yes, I did read it. But the point was simple. Let’s start with what we can control and handle from the get go. Keeping certain weapons off the market. Not making it easier. Mental Health treatment is a very, very tough issue to deal with. So many intangibles. Yes, we need better treatment facilities, better programs, more money…all of it…but that takes time. Real time. Meanwhile there are too many mistakes being made in the treatment of mental health. The “shooter” in Newtown…if this is at all true…was on medication supposedly. Anti-psychotic drugs. This is not a perfect science. What if that was the cause behind this aberration of evil? How often health care professionals use a process of trial and error. How man young people, rather than pick up a gun, go the other way, cause themselves harm or even suicide.

        Mental health is serious business. Properly approached it saves lives and builds a better society. But if I were to say to you…there’s a very sick person next door, unpredictable and fatalistic…and there are also guns at that person’s disposal…what what would you do first…remove the weapons…or prescribe that person therapy and medication.

        You have to stop the bleeding before you can deal with saving a life.

        And tough gun laws is a start.

  3. Ted H says:

    A friend of my was talking to a co-worker whose son had recently entered the teenage years.

    Having teenagers himself, my friend asked if the aliens had taken his brain yet. She said, “oh no, he is a good kid, helps around the house, does dishes, he’s not like that”.

    About two weeks later she said ” I know exactly what you mean”.

  4. sj says:

    Mine turned 13 ten days ago. So far so good. Made the honour roll yesterday, but still needed to be told to take a shower.

  5. JamesHalifax says:

    Warren….

    You do know, that when your childs age begins to end in “teen”……..the expecations for allowance goes up.

  6. Swervin' Merv says:

    Reflecting on the fact that “Ontario Liberal debates are important,” I was impressed yesterday (again) with both the policy proposals and compassion of Glen Murray–who nevertheless may be unelectable outside of Toronto. My two sons, having survived being teenagers, would both understand this apparent contradiction.

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