By MARTI MALTBY
I decided that this month I wouldn”™t mention Coronavirus (it didn”™t take long for me to fail on that count, did it?) because it has dominated so much of the news that I wanted to give you a break from thinking about it. I hadn”™t fully grasped how pervasive Covid has become until I tried to come up with a topic for this column that didn”™t involve Coronavirus, and I failed. Every topic I thought of somehow came back to the pandemic.
As I said, I wanted to give people a break from Coronavirus because of the negative effects the virus is having on our society. I was about to list some of them, but you are probably as aware of them as I am, and if I did list them I would fail even more spectacularly in my effort to give you a break from thinking about Coronavirus.
The best I can do at this point is to offer an alternative to the bleak news, so below you will find links to videos of Canadian humor. I”™m proudly Canadian, and I”™m sorry that many of my incredibly talented fellow Canucks haven”™t received more attention here. In doing this, I do not want to simply wish Coronavirus away or tell people to cheer up. Neither of those have any place in our current crisis. I simply hope to give people a few minutes to forget their stress and recharge, so that when they return to the stress they have a little more resilience for the challenges they have to face. I can”™t solve anyone”™s problems, but hopefully I can help them cope with them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJRDpTUIrJI ”“ for years Rick Mercer had a comedy/political commentary show. In one segment he would visit people with interesting jobs in different parts of the country. This is my favorite episode.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKeUeO5RwPQ ”“ comedian Lorne Elliot”™s commentary about visit Winnipeg in winter. I”™m sure Minnesotans will relate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHTnFwsIA-s&list=RDF6FwSb7zd6M&index=2 ”“ Red Green did make it to the U.S., but if you haven”™t seen him before, he”™s worth checking out. This segment from his show demonstrates the power of lateral thinking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EjPiw0_iIQ ”“ a series of Canadian comedians discuss the Canadian armed forces. This will give you some idea of why Canada isn”™t threatening to dominate the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Sx86Y-dIY ”“ Derek Edwards demonstrates that Canadians may be polite but they can also be bitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5BnAMv50Uc ”“ a darkly funny song from Lorne Elliot about playing with a killer whale. If you”™re not in the mood for a morbid humor, skip this one.
Hopefully these help you find something to smile about.
Peace House Community “Poetical Picture Story”
A SMILE IS SPIRITUAL
People come here from
all over the world.
Peace House is an oasis,
a little United Nations.
Rose”™s place is not all bread and roses.
Who wants to sleep with both eyes open?
Beware, she has bed bugs. They jump.
Tears are holy water. A smile is spiritual.
I keep coming back because it feels good.
We don”™t need the experts.
We need us.
We don”™t come for a sermon.
We come for food.
He”™s a drunk, but we all have hearts.
My favorite race is the human race.
We pray for the human race.
a meditation of words overheard
at Peace House
by Mike Hazard / mikehazard.org
(from Peace House People, an Artist Initiative project funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board)
