We tire of unpredictable weather, the damp morning chill, wet socks and lost mittens. Winter keeps reminding it is not through with us.
We have suffered long enough.
The streets are tired and dirty and the time change only makes things darker in the morning.
We need a brighter view.
We need, now, the renewal that comes with spring.
03/20/2023 j.g.l.
Progress comes less from planning than participation.
Dreams and wishes require action and attention.
Start moving.
03/19/2023 j.g.l.
If we wait too long
for the stars to align, for
some kind of hope, or
some kind of sign,
if we let our lives hang on
still-bated breath, we will
forever wonder
what is still to come
or what we have left. If we
don’t own the moments,
or make them our own,
will we ever feel like
we’ve made our way home?
If we can’t be honest
with others, and especially
our selves,
can we ever explain why
or how
we once felt?
If we wait too long, it
may never arrive.
Stop waiting,
start doing,
start feeling alive.
© 2016 j.g. lewis
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
It’s graffiti I have been walking by almost daily for a couple of months; a message of protest from the days leading up to Ontario’s last provincial election in June.
The message disturbed me then, as it does now. The words “Don’t Vote” go against what I believe in and strike at the core of democracy and our right to participate in the process.
The message, then, seemed to strike a chord with a majority of Ontario residents and less that 45 percent of eligible voters bothered showing up at the polls in June. As a result, we ended up with a majority Conservative government whom, among other things, seem intent on stripping down a healthcare system already in crisis and gutting public education.
Ontario is not getting the government it needs (and deserves) because people didn’t exercise their rights.
Today is municipal Election Day in Ontario and, if advance polls are any indication, we seem headed towards disgustingly low voter turnout.
Now municipal elections, traditionally, never seem to get the attention they deserve anyway, and that bothers me. These votes, directly, affect where and how you live. Votes today are about the community you should care about. Mayors, city councils and school trustees control a great deal of tax revenue and influence decisions going well beyond the four-year terms they are elected into.
Your vote matters; so vote, if you care.
Don’t vote if you don’t care, but be assured not voting is more of a problem than it is a solution.
10/24/2022 j.g.l.
