Beneath the surface

Things happen for a reason. Or so we believe. The problem is that not everything is visible. So when something happens and we don't see a reason for it, we make one up. That can quickly get into tinfoil hat territory if you're not careful.

Even worse, we make up bad reasons. Often we ascribe the worst motivations to other people, that they are doing something out of malice. There's two sayings:

• Walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
• Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity/incompetence.

Yesterday was World Refugee Day, which I hadn't known till I attended to my social media in the late afternoon. I don't hang around particularly cranky people, but some of the reasons I've heard that 'explain' why refugees come here display a level of narcissism that is right up there with Trump. 

It ought to be well known what refugees go through. They are preyed on by some of the most vile people in the world. They undertake arduous dangerous journeys with little hope of achieving their goal. They don't have enough money or food. They put their children on leaky boats, hoping to follow later on another leaky boat. There's more, and worse. Why do they leave? Because all those uncertainties are better than what they have where they are.

So when someone tells me that refugees are terrorists, I laugh at them. These refugees have seen terrorism up close and personal, and I cannot believe they want more of it once they escape. Millions of refugees and immigrants to North America over the last several centuries came because they wanted a better life for their children, and a chance to make something of themselves. Is that so difficult to understand? Why wouldn't today's refugees want the same things? It's almost certain that at least some of your ancestors made that choice, so you getting high and mighty about it is a case of "fuck you jack, I've got mine."

What about criminals, they say. Aren't they all criminals? Crossing borders, stealing food, drugs, whatever? Well, maybe. But consider their other choices. When you support making conditions unbearable in their homeland by cutting trade and aid, and make legal immigration impossible, what is left? Why are you surprised?

This patch of water caught my eye during a walk along the Elbow. At first I thought it was a bird looking for food, and would pop up. I pointed the camera, and waited. And waited. Then a patch of clearer water came along and I realized there was a rock or a stick producing the ripple. I still liked it, and played with the colours a bit to liven up the muddy brown.

Rock of the Day
Linda and I have been imagining how the rocks got all those scars. Trying to imagine a rocky knife fight would have been much easier if I'd drunk more wine first.

Driftwood of the Day
This was one weird piece of driftwood. Normally it clearly looks like wood, but this was almost more like a piece of cast plastic. A huge piece.