So the provincial government has now spiked the gas rebate.
First it was the seniors’ increase in income tax and then, the biggest shock of all, the increased cost of medications.
I wonder how many more nightmares seniors have to suffer before our elegant and progressive premier is politically satisfied. If he keeps it up, we poor seniors will be longing for the past!
And speaking of the past, we must remember that it was the seniors who built this country and in times when things were more difficult!
I lived in Saskatchewan in the 1930s and ’40s, spending early years of my ministry in country parishes — each with three or more churches.
I got to learn a lot about farm life, especially in the fall when there were crops to be harvested. Some years there was little and even almost nothing.
These were the times when hardship was at its worst due to dry, very hot, windy days.
I well remember those dust storms that removed the precious topsoil and brought with them the excessive heat.
Farm folk were very hard workers and very friendly. They cared for each other.
They loved their church and local school, and they developed fine communities.
They treated each other as they treated themselves, and greed was a foreign word.
Nothing like today where bonuses are and will be the blessings for the rich, the favoured and supposedly capable few!
I admit that there are tentative attempts being made today to help the poor, the homeless and the disabled. But it is nothing compared to the ’30s and ’40s! Then, everyone helped everyone and that generosity puts to shame the generosity of today!
So allow me to tell you that there were better days!
The crime rate in our society is shocking: assaults, break-ins, murder, theft, crimes of all kinds, which fill our daily newspapers, day after day, are common! And there is a constant clamour for more police officers.
They are a restraint but not a solution!
The solution lies in the hearts and the intelligence of our citizens.
Our secular society continues downwards and inwards.
We need a generational change and a look upward to the wondrous, majestic, mystery of a world given to us: some say by God; others say by chance, evolution, and black holes, etc.
But whatever we say, it is above us and if we don’t rise up, our society will go from bad to worse!
I say, God help us!
Rev. T. L. Leadbeater
Red Deer