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2007-04-01 - 6:19 p.m. I'm furious with my friend because he is going to buy a house in Saskatchewan as an "investment". I hear this a lot from Albertans these days and it's started to really get under my skin. Not, however, to the extent that it gets under my skin when he's going to do it. I think because he makes a practice of bashing Saskatchewan - most likely to get under my skin. If you'd rather die than be caught east of the Alberta border - well, don't buy property in Saskatchewan. I pointed out to him that this is just driving up the prices for the people that actually live in Saskatchewan. I mean, seriously, you can't afford to buy a house in Alberta so you'll go to another community in another province to buy (when you have no intention of living there) and help make it so the people there can't afford to buy houses either. Nice. His argument was that if he didn't someone else would and he'd be no better off. That argument isn't even worthy of a retort. I was mad when I went to bed, mad when I woke up in the night, and I was still mad this morning. And, as you can probably tell, I'm still feeling a bit pissy about it now. That's a long mad for me. I find myself saying to myself, "I hope he gets burned" I hope it turns out really, really badly. And then I have to wrestle with myself because I practice not wishing harm to any sentient being, so how can I wish harm to someone I care about and want to keep in my life? But, let's discuss my own lack of integrity just for a moment. Today, in Safeway, a woman in the line-up in front of me was in a scooter and one of her many purchases had slithered from her lap. She couldn't pick it up without losing the rest, so I picked it up for her. She didn't even bother to say thank you. After I was rung through, in the split second before my change rattled into the dish I realized her change was still there - a lot of change. I scooped it out and pocketed it, saying to myself that it was my tip, my "thank you". I could have given it back: the DATS bus was still outside. I didn't. I just wasn't in the mood to chase her down and return it. So, you know, it's all about how we justify our lack of integrity (big or small) to ourselves.
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