There are probably a whole lot more than eight things I don’t understand. I mean, quantum physics isn’t even on this list, although after watching almost nine seasons of Big Bang Theory, I still don’t have a clue what it’s all about. Higgs boson, Schrodinger’s Cat, and all that. Has me stumped.
But here are eight things of the more common variety that leave me scratching my head:
1. Leaf blowers. People buy these things to blow leaves and grass clippings off walks and driveways. They blow them all off their property, onto the street. And then a wind comes along and blows them all back. Really, if you want to get rid of that stuff, pick it up and work it into your garden. Or bag it and throw it out. There is nothing more useless, or self-defeating, than leaf blowers, it seems to me.
2. Carbon cap and trade. Somebody had this bright idea that we could improve the global climate by putting a price on carbon, and then allowing those who emit less of it to sell their excess capacity to those who emit more. How, exactly, is that going to reduce carbon emissions? It isn’t, of course. It might keep things somewhat more level, but that’s not the goal. I dislike taxes as much as the next person, but paying fines in the form of a carbon tax for excessive emitters is something industry will understand and may spur some positive action.
3. The current assisted dying proposal by the feds. I am a very strong supporter of assisted dying, providing the proper safeguards are in place. It is something I fully expect to partake in myself one day when the end of the road is in sight. But the new law will not allow me to state now, while I am (reasonably) coherent and of (largely) sound mind, what I want done when I don’t have control of my mind anymore. That’s just plain dumb. I can make my wishes known when I am well into a state of dementia, the proposed new law says. Problem is, at that point I won’t have the capacity to make that decision for myself.
4. Salaries of professional athletes of all sorts. Obscene.
5. Crosses in the ditch or median marking past highway fatalities. At some point, we all need to let go of the past. Look ahead, not back. Not suggesting we forget, but the future beckons. Those types of very public monuments, seems to me, do little for closure and are more about show.
6. Cement streets. I understand them. But I don’t understand what took so long. Fifteen years or so ago, when I was a member of our city council, I advocated using cement for roads. It was working fine, and still is, in Winnipeg. But we were told that it wouldn’t work here; told by the same people who said four-way stops wouldn’t work here. Glad we’ve finally caught up to the new millennium.
7. Apologies for old wrongs. I know, this is a totally politically-incorrect view. So be it. Not talking about the biggies where morally corrupt and illegal things took place, but many things were done 60, a hundred, two hundred years ago that were culturally and legally acceptable at the time, and were done with good intentions and the best information available. No, we wouldn’t do some of that again, but we cannot apply today’s morality, today’s cultural practices and legal guidelines retroactively. Besides, I have enough of my own wrongs to deal with.
8. Donald Trump supporters.
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