Writer's block

The Future Is In Our Past -

It is hard to pick a column topic when the bright sun streaming through the window is mesmerizing. It reminds me of school when my days were spent looking out the window trying not to put the rubber end of the pencil in my mouth.

Nothing sticks in my mind so much as the health lecture about all those pesky germs flying around the room and where they might have been before they settled on the pencil. There was a "lovely" outhouse not too far away. My imagination could go wild on that thought!

The long weekend is coming, and there is the promise of good weather. That's great for it is not unusual to get snow on the May 24 weekend. But not this year, it seems. The weekend remains the same for columnists though; we have to submit our columns early. Even editors deserve a holiday.

As I sit down to write, I am asking myself, "Do I have writer's block?" I have never had writer's block in all my years of writing, but my mother always told me if you lived long enough you would experience everything.

Then there is the old saying... good things come to those who wait. Wait a minute! It is not good to have writers' block, is it? So what to write?

I wanted to write about the capelin-skull, but it made me think about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That made me think about Rex and Marge Gibbons, who have a house in Florida and are wondering if the oil will hit the Florida beaches.

I wanted to write about plane travel, but it made me think about volcanic ash and plane crashes. That made me wonder about luck, and if it can be considered lucky to have survived a plane crash if your whole family has died.

I wanted to write about the how wonderful Thailand was just a short time ago, but now the country is in chaos with building burnings and eight o'clock curfews, and it made me think about the recent firebombing of an Ottawa bank. There is a fine line that separates Thailand from any other country.

I wanted to write about the King of Thailand and the perfect speech that he gave during my visit to Thailand. The words were perfect but far from reality, like most speeches, because now I hear about the corruption of his family and entourage. But then the opponents are also corrupt, which seems to give more credence to the view that there really is a fine line that separates us all from chaos.

I wanted to write about a road trip, considering everyone will be travelling this weekend but then it made me think about the collapse of the automobile industry, and that I am soon going to take delivery of a new car. It left me wondering whether to worry about the automatic lost of control that can happen to cars.

I wanted to write about sending a gift to someone, but then the payment had to be made in foreign currency, and that made me think about the financial crisis and how much events around the world affect us in our 'out of the way' rural area.

I wanted to write about the news that another young girl has come forward to point the finger at Roman Polanski but that made me think about the Cardinal Marc Ouellet, once favoured to be Pope, who calls abortion a 'moral crime' that is not justified even in rape cases. It made me wonder if the cardinal thinks rape is a moral crime?

I wanted to write about the fact that Premier Danny Williams conceded that taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars for dealing with an environmentally-troubled newsprint mill that the province accidentally expropriated from paper giant Abitibi-Bowater.

However that subject is really too depressing to write about on a brilliant sunny day. Why think about the mess the best legal minds in the province have made of our resources? Like Scarlett O'Hara said, that subject is best left for tomorrow. After all tomorrow is another day.

I wanted to write about the queen of the house (our cat) going to hunt outside, but then she becomes hunted by coyotes. Is this the result of global warming? Polar bears and coyotes can't find their usual food and come to prey in communities? Is it a question of the cat now and humans later?

I wanted to write about crisis. What is becoming of the world? Is it this century's time for a crisis, like the previous century? Are we headed for 1914, or is it finally the millennium damnation that is falling upon us a bit late?

The choices of topics are endless. Anyway, all this is there to remind us even more that nothing is really fixed in this world, contrary to what we like to think, and that we should rather enjoy each and every moment. By the time you read this, I sincerely hope that you will have had a wonderful May 24 weekend.