One of the ‘Page Sages’ always seems to have a snarky comment when you really don’t want to hear one.
But, to be fair, sometimes they make a lot of sense. Sometimes, indeed, they do include some tidbit of wisdom that gives one a perspective on this big world around us.
This most recent comment had to do with the TV ads asking viewers if we were ‘nose blind.’
Even if you haven’t seen the commercial, you know what we are talking about. Nose blind is that circumstance when you get so used to a stink smell, after awhile it doesn’t bother you any longer. In fact, many times you don’t even notice it.
Got a smelly bathroom with a diaper pail? Well, visitors to your home sure notice the smell, even if they are too polite to mention it. Same with the reek of tobacco smoke. Or something dead some place.
Nose blind is indeed a problem. But let’s expand that.
How about, ‘dirt blind?’ Or ‘pothole blind.’ Or even ‘price blind?’
How many of us are so used to garbage and litter blowing up and down our streets, we don’t even notice it any more? How many are so used to dodging potholes on roads, streets and highways, we barely give them a second thought? How many are so used to paying high prices for groceries or gasoline, it isn’t even a coffee shop topic?
It’s the old, old story about a frog in boiling water. Toss a live frog into a pot of boiling water and it will most likely jump and skedaddle right out of that pot in a flash. But if you want to cook a fresh frog, put him in a pot of cold water. Then turn the heat on. Right up to the moment of his demise, it will be merrily swimming around in the nice, warm water. You can call that being ‘heat blind.’
Too many of us are like that. Surrounded by so many things that really we shouldn’t put up with, but they all just keep creeping up on us. Then one day . . . poof! The bad stuff is all normal. Nothing can be done about it. Too much work. Nobody else gives a rat’s butt. Blind! Blind! Blind!
Any examples around you?
There are some other interesting and similar effects.
One of them is how we, as people, will put up with a worsening condition (like the frog in the water) and even when see a better situation, we really don’t think very much of it.
One example is a Best Looking Home contest some communities have. We can drive, walk or bicycle right by an outstanding home once or twice a week. Maybe see a picture in the paper and want to go look at the place. We will admire it and the amount of work that went into it.
Then we go home, kick some trash away from our back door, look at the high grass and weeds in the yard, and plop down on a couch, crack a beverage, and not give the world a second thought.
Or how about our local politicians? Most of them are quite big on conventions and out-of-town meetings. And most of them come home saying, “I really learned a lot.”
How many come home and say, “Gosh, there sure are some good ideas how to keep streets clean.” Or “I really was impressed by the attitude of some of the other people I met there, how positive they are about their towns. We can do better right here in our own community, no matter how good we think we are already doing.”
And if they are driving to some meeting someplace, how many have ever taken the “less beaten path,” checking in on small towns along the way, snooping at how things look? Even try to phone ahead so they can meet the mayor or reeve or a councillor or two just to chew the fat? The answer is, not many at all.
Of course, we are all quite sure our elected officials are contributing a whole lot more in other ways, right? And the new people who might be seeking office surely have their own ideas, also right?
All thoughts to ponder as we look forward to municipal elections this coming October.
“If environmentalists had been with us a century ago, the Canadian Pacific Railway would now be approaching Thunder Bay.”
“It is much easier to make people fight for their country than to make them work for it. But, of course, human beings have always preferred fighting to working.” – Richard Needham
“Why would I want to exercise? If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.” – Grandma Smithers
“They are always going on about men in their sixties not exercising enough. If they really want us to exercise more, all they have to do is make the TV remote heavier.” – Grandpa Jonesy
We’re a big fan of tourism. Especially local tourism in our great part of Alberta, the north!
But of course, here in Alberta, just about everything you get to read about has to do with mountains, the Calgary Stampede, and Edmonton K-Days. But that’s what happens when most of the payroll for Alberta Tourism is paid to people living in Edmonton of Calgary.
Saskatchewan doesn’t have mountains, but it does have thousands of lakes. So of course, that kind of tourism is a big deal. Alberta has mountains, but not a whole bunch of lakes. Once again, results speak for themselves. Oh, well!
We always find it interesting to read about numbers. Our fine Alberta Trivia book says Banff at times can get up to 50,000 visitors per day on a busy summer day. That’s almost the entire population of Grande Prairie!
Sylvan Lake is said to increase from 17,000 or so regular residents to 35 or 40,000 or more on a good summer day. That’s an extra 20,000 or so!
La Crete? Grimshaw? Joussard? Hmmm! We’re all pretty happy if we can pull in a couple hundred or more on a good weekend. Maybe 3,000 or even 4,000 on a weekend like the High Prairie Elks Pro Rodeo in High Prairie.
No direction to go but upwards.
This just in from the Page tweens and teens telling us what their “Chat” is up to these days: “Looksmaxxing” is hot.
And if you are “summerizing” yourself to do so, make sure to “check the UV” for the best days to tan. Don’t overdo it, of course. We’re not sure if we’re trying too hard doing “aura farming” when we are talking about this. Our tweens tell us not. But we think they are just “glazing” us.
Less than three weeks to the High Prairie Elks Pro Rodeo!
Plan to enter the parade, known as the biggest little parade in the north.
Have a great week and enjoy the summer!