Blue is the colour

The following appeared as my Google Reader's "teaser text" for a Time Magazine article:

'Speaking in a Muslim kingdom, Benedict tries to unite Christians and Muslims against the tyranny of "reason"...'

That line doesn't appear to actually be in the article, at least not that I could find in a cursory read, which led to a somewhat less entertaining and/or inflammatory read than I'd hoped for.

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THE FEEL-GOOD BLOG POST OF THE YEAR, THIS ISN'T

Spent a couple hours this afternoon wandering up Jasper Avenue, asking local businesses if I could hang the latest Gilbert Bouchard - Missing Person poster in their windows/on their walls.

Every once in awhile, I contemplate doing some kind of volunteer work, and while I'm semi-ashamed to admit I never really have, certainly not on any kind of extended basis, stuff like this afternoon hammers home one of the things that's stopped me: it's depressing.

I started the walk feeling kind of good about myself: here's me, doing what is pretty indisputably a Good Thing, just for the sake of doing it. Then I have to deal with Other People, and ask for their help. Not at all in my comfort zone, but I force myself to do it anyway, because, damn it, it's not asking too much and it needs to be done. Out of all the stores, bars, and coffee shops I went into, only one outright refused to hang the poster--Mac's, around 117 street or so. A couple took a poster and promised to ask their managers if they could hang them tomorrow.

So people don't suck, and some were nicer than they had to be to someone who was asking them to do something for nothing. The standout of the afternoon was the guys at cannabis culture shop Shell Shock, who expressed something like genuine emotion over the idea of someone going missing in the bizarre fashion of Gilbert's disappearance. This is the primary reason I'm not going to make a joke about how getting a poster in there's a good thing because potfolk are renowned for their keen observational skills.

So, yeah. People don't suck, which should make me happy, and I'm helping out, which should also make me happy, and instead, I'm totally bummed. And that was just after a couple hours. If I were to get into volunteering, I'd want to do it at either the food bank or the suicide prevention centre, as both those things (albeit in different cities) helped me when I needed help. But I'm pretty sure if I tried offering either my time, rather than money, I'd end up needing help from one of them again.

So I guess what I'm saying is, happy Mother's Day.

And also, my feet hurt. Stupid non-winter footwear.

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TO-DO LIST

1) Phone almost everyone I've ever met.
2) E-mail pretty much everyone else.

I am never going to catch up on this stuff...oy.

A