‘Peace House Community Journal’ Archives
What Time for Forgiveness?
Peace House Community-A Place to Belong By MARTI MALTBY As you probably know, a Japanese Olympic official was fired on the eve of the opening ceremonies because of comments he made in a comedy routine about 20 years earlier. The comments were determined by his superiors to be racist, and so he was relieved of his duties. (I haven”™t heard the comments so I can”™t comment one way or the other about the accuracy of that interpretation.) This is not the first time that someone has been punished for a comment or action from the distant past that resurfaced as the person took on more responsibility. There was a time when such comments and actions were often overlooked or excused, allowing perpetrators to continue to act in the same way without having any reason to change. While I am glad that society is doing a better job of proclaiming what sort of behavior will or will not be tolerated, I am concerned about how easy it would be to move too far in the other [...]
Life vs. People
PEACE HOUSE COMMUNITY: A PLACE TO BELONG By MARTY MALTBY I recently read “Ghost Rider,” Neil Peart”™s memoir, recounting a 55,000 mile motorcycle trip he took to help him deal with personal tragedy. His 19 year old daughter died in a car accident, and ten months later, his partner of 22 years died of cancer (although Peart claimed the real cause was a broken heart). Lost in grief, he left his house in Quebec and rode to Alaska, then south into Mexico and Belize, before returning home. Early in the book, Peart mentions how the deaths changed his perspective on life. Before that point he led a blessed life, untouched by death or disease, with a job he enjoyed as the drummer of Rush (arguably the most successful Canadian rock band of all time). As you might expect, being in a world famous rock band brought many people into Peart”™s life, who sought to befriend him superficially, in exchange for what his fame and wealth could do for them. His [...]
Peace House Community: A Place to Belong
Pleased to Almost Meet You By MARTI MALTBY I stole the title for this column from Colin Hay, the lead singer from Men Without Hats. His song “Pleased to Almost Meet You”™ is a tongue in cheek commentary on how people these days tend to talk a lot about getting together without ever actually meeting. The song opens with the lines: I'm pleased to almost meet youThe pleasure's almost mineI can see that you're busyPerhaps another timeI'm pleased to almost meet youHere let me get that doorNo need for conversationThey do say less is more Before covid hit, I heard many people talk about being too busy to spend time with friends or family. After covid hit and everyone started interacting through video chats, the discussion focused on how much people missed face to face interaction. Now I”™ve heard debates about whether workers will want to come back to the office or stay at home, whether we will keep connecting with far-flung friends through our phones [...]
