Ethiopia - National Museum of Ethiopia

Thanks to the Concierge at the Best Western Plus Hotel Addis Ababa I was met by guide  Mr. Lesanework Hailu of Lesan Tour, (Lesanu.che@gmail.com) (+251 923 48 65 85) in the hotel lobby..  $70 was the cost of the tour with the driver and the car and admissions paid for. What a great way to experience a new city. In the past I’d taken bus tours of the city first day but older I like the slower self set pace.  The cost is more than worth it.

I wanted to start at the beginning. So Lesan took me to the National Ethiopian Museum.  That’s where the remains of Lucy, our 3.2 million year old ancestor reside.

  

I loved the drive through city.  So much is within walking that I understand now why Lonely Planet has a recommended walking tour.’ Everyone assures me that it’s safe too, only to carry one’s possession in front to avoid pick pockets from behind. Mosquitoes aren’t a concern in Addis either but I used my DEET nonetheless

Lesane told me that Addis Ababa was a very young city, hardly a hundred and fifty years old.  Addis means “new” and Ababa means ‘flower”. A beautiful yellow flower grows in abundance here so the Empress named the city thus.   Everywhere we drove construction was taking place, very much like Mexico,  Malaysia and Azerbaijan.   There just aren’t the crowds I associate with China or even Italy, and certainly nothing like Japan.  It’s young and bustling,  much like Cambodia..  It’s only been a couple of decades back that the Communist Socialist Derg reigned with Red Terror requiring a liberation war.  I loved the youth and vibrancy.  The young women, especially at the university, were so beautiful, the men handsome.  

The National Ethiopian Museum is three levels.  In the basement there is a wonderful display of the archeological digs in the Rift Valley which runs through Ethiopia.  Like Alaska and Russia, Yemen and Ethiopia appears to have once been connected.  The history of the earth’s development was displayed with fossils and charts..  I liked the lay out which reminded me of Washington’s Smithsonian museums.  Academic but easy to follow in that sense.  Lesane provided me all manner of information.  The fossils of ancient boars, hippopotamus  and elephants were huge.  Lesane was obvious a lover of elephants who inhabit Ethiopian. “They listen with their trunks against the ground to vibrations. They’re even more intelligent than dogs. Like dolphins.”  As we walked about looking at the exhibits of ancient spears and bows,  I talked with him about my experience of hunting.  He shared his love of birds with so many species of birds unique to Ethiopia.  

I loved the Lucy exhibit.  3.2 million years old.  Walking upright.  I loved how the fossils protected in display had beside them the skeletons of the ancestors showing  the anatomical placement of the bone fragments found.  A skull of a child, called “Lucy’s little sister” was there as well. Rocks used for hunting and lava fragments used for knives before the advent of metal tools were interesting for dating tool making man’s sojourn on earth.

The second floor and third floor had famous Ethiopian Art. Some of the pictures on display were done by the most famous stained glass artisan. He’d paint his work before creating the stained glass masterpieces for the Coptic churches.  Since grand dad was a rancher I appreciated the ancient ploughs on display. Horses were very important to Ethiopians as were the oxen.  We talked of food preservation and the box the students still use to preserve their foods for a couple of days.  “Ethiopians were always great runners. They still have famous marathons here with runners coming from all over the world.  They’d carry their food on these long runs in those woven boxes.”  

I loved the painting of the mother and child with Emperor Sellasie and his wife present.  Emperor Haille Sellasie’s throne was huge.  The vestments of Bishops and clothing of different leaders from the east and west of Ethiopia showed the difference in style. Women’s hair styles also could depict their tribal origins.  

Ethiopians  have traditional or ‘old’ court and ‘new courts’ much like other modern courts.  A short film clip showed the traditional court in progress.  It seemed similiar to our Aboriginal courts with all the community involved.  Often a ‘settlement’ could be agreed collectively to recompense the injured parties, their traditional courts focussing more on compensation than punishment. It made me think our courts could learn more about having the guilty do more for caring for their victims. 

A great drum, bigger than the symphony kettle drum.  “This was the drum  used always for emergencies or political events to call the people. It was sounded on the mountains.”  Another drum, a Christian drum, had one end representing the ‘old testament’ and the other end the ‘new testament’ with music played on it in church. 

Lesane told me the history of Emperor Hailie Selassie making a state visit to Jamaica,  His arrival was associated with t miracles occurred when he stepped on the island causing the people to believe him to be a Godlike and worthy of worship.  “They have a community here where they believe it’s the promised land. They come here as Jews return to Israel.” 

There were many exhibits of abstract art which would have fit well on the walls of MOMA, New York but I liked more the religious art with it’s particularly Coptic slant. ‘Coptics are the only Christians who believe in the Old Testament and New Testament together, having circumcision for boys before 12 days, not eating pork, and then celebrating the Christian teachings of the Trinitarian God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” 

There was a haunting picture of the Derg.  Having been to Cambodia and now Ethiopia which have survived Communist Dictatorships I felt sad for Venezuela now.  Too many western academics remain Vladimir Lenin’s “useful idiots”.  I liked better the paintings of Emperor Tewodros who occasioned the British army military rescue of the English diplomats taken hostage. The other painting I liked was called  ‘Day of Victory’ depicting  the Ethiopians defeating the Italians after Emperor Menelik II exposed the Italian betrayal.

All in all I loved the National Museum. It reminded me in part of the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City.  Lesan was an excellent tour guide and would take me from here to a mountain view point of the city, the University of Addis Ababa and the Holy Trinity Cathedral..  

Uncomfortable pillows so the herders at night wouldn’t sleep too fitfully and during the day they served as seats.

“Victory’

The Derg, Communist Socialist Red Terror era

Emperor Selassie’s Throne

Tewedros who brought the country together but occasioned the British military rescue mission.

Mother and Child with Emperor Selassie and the Empress

Emperor Haile Selassie.

Lucy, our ancestor of 3.2 millions years ago

.
Christian musician

Lion of Judah





Christian artifacts. Each end of the drum represents Old and New Testament


Lesane, my tour guide.




Women always doing the heavy lifting. 

Ibex unique to Ethiopia

Flower, Abbis Ababa,  named after

Ethiopia - Day 3 - Addis Ababa - Best Western Plus Hotel

Bole International airport reminded me of Mexico and Saipan.  A bit more laid back and slow moving lines. By the amount of luggage some of the Ethiopians were carrying I think they must all shop at Costco.
I was glad to have got my eVisa on line saving me standing in the line to get a visa there.  Having printed off the wrong visa, however,  all I could do was show them the eVisa on my cell phone.  The young tech savvy Ethiopian custom agents were alright with this.   I passed through without hassle though being hearing impaired I have the greatest difficulty hearing people talking through glass windows in noisy crowded rooms. She was very patient with me.
I used the money exchange in the custom area.  This was a bit unsettling.  I gave them $300.  A pretty young lady walked away with that and my passport. Now it must have been shift change as suddenly a whole new set of people were coming into the glassed currency exchange area.  They were carrying large wads of 100 Brrr bills with an elastic band around each wad.  All the money appeared  old and  well used. Not easily traceable.   The whole operation looked a bit like a meth lab operation. Without sleep,  I have an overactive imagination, so figured the girl had just left with my money and my passport.    But no, she returned and gave me the largest wad of cash I’ve every held. I could hardly stuff it in my pant pocket it was so large. Now I looked like a lustful Satyr.  The exchange is $100 US to 2800 ETB (Theiopian Brr). I had nearly $10,000 in my pant pocket.
I hadn’t arranged for a hotel shuttle which I could easily have done since the airport was quite close to the uptown hotel.  I avoided the people who came up to me asking if I wanted a taxi or ride suggestinng I follow them.  That was a Lonely Planet recommendation. Outside I approached a lovely young well dressed woman who spoke English where the busses and taxi’s were congregated  Looking out from the airport this was  at the far left of the international parking lot.  I showed her where I was going and she called a taxi driver. I asked the price (always ask the price before getting into a taxi anywhere) and was told 300 ETB.
I was glad that I only had carry on luggage, back pack and wheeled bag. The baggage terminal I passed had fairly chaotic.There were a number of airport security dressed in blue and sand camp.   Everyone was really nice but it was dark.  There’s that Jimmy Buffet, Changes in Lattitude Changes in Attitude thing.  I was definitely in the tropics and felt like I felt stepping off the plane in Malaysia. Just like Saipan, one of the safest places I’ve been in the world,I am suddenly anxious in the dark.  They  just don’t  waste of lot of energy on public lighting.
Once in the taxi the driver who didn’t speak English headed out away from the airport. We were following a larger group of cars and buses when he veered left into darkness down a dirt road. There were pockets of light around a corner store but poor sitting  along the road just like the bad part of DTES or LA or San Francisco.  This road wasn’t paved.  I felt like the last time I was in Mexico and got off the beaten track.
He pulled up beside  large group of men standing by the road.   More  came out of the darkness. I thought, this is it. Here’s where the mugging and hostage taking happen.  He changed his mind as if he could read the hyperactive paranoid mind of the addled gringo.  It was obvious in a second that all he’d been about to ask was  directions  to the hotel.  We just  had to follow  a turn around and there was the Best Western on the other side of the street.   Brightly lit in the darkness. We were suddenly in an uptown district with other hotels more lights and restaurants lit up.  Uniformed hotel help came out to assist me getting out of the car. My bag had to go through a metal detector machine like I was going into court.  I emptied my pockets and cell phone into a tray.
It was only 9 pm.  I’d survived a hostage taking, mugging and had my bodily parts sold to the highest bidder in the 15 minute drive from the airport to the hotel. For this reason I try to arrive in a new country in the daylight. It’s no different when I have to sail my yacht into a new harbour.  I was glad to tip the fellow another 50 Brrr if only because I’d accused him in my mind of being a serial murderer and body parts salesman.  I really was exhausted from the long flight and happy to be greeted so pleasantly by the hotel staff.
It was just like New York.  I kept hold of my bags and checked in without a glitch.  I spoke to the Concierge and arranged for a guide to take me to some museums and art galleries for 3 or 4 hours the next day.  He’s a ‘friend’ who has his ‘government tourist license’ and changes $70 Canadian for one on one day guiding. I’d paid something similar in other places in the world.  $50 to $100 seems a reasonable price for a one on one tour guide with his own car and credential. I consider my kidneys and other body parts are thankful for my consideration of hiring a guide.
When I got to my room he Neilsen had called me and suggested we meet in the morning at 9 am as the museum opened then and morning was the best time to go to the museums. No different from what our day group guide had told us in Rome. The early bird gets less line ups and less congestion.
“I will take you to the National Museum first.  After that I’d like to take you to the top of a local mountain where you can have the best view of Addis Abeba.  Do you like churches.?” Neilsen said over the very good landline phone connection. He may as well have  have been in the same room.
“Yes,” I said.
“Well, I’ll take you to the Palace Museum then. It’s very good for church history. There are other choices we can talk about but that should take at least 3 or 4 hours.
‘Excellent.  I’m a Christian and interested in churches.”
“Good, I’ll meet you in the lobby at 9 am”.
My room is classic Best Western. Motorcycling across the US on my Harley I use them whenever possible.   Like the Holiday Inn.  Clean modern, soaps and shampoos in the washroom, bidet and new toilet, clean sheets, clean towels.  Lots of tech plug ins.  Modern tv I’ve not even turned on yet.  Pleasant decor.  Balcony with city view. I loved my Best Western in Athens looking over the harbour with breakfast on the roof.  The Internet in the room was down but all rooms have internet and the instructions said call staff if any problem. I called in the morning and I just needed the new password.
I unpacked and  had a wonderful shower with hot water. I felt wonderful.  The bed was heavenly too.   I slept so deeply tigers and hyenas could have come into the city, taken the elevator to the 9th floor and torn me limb from limb.   I’d not have woken.
I'd used up $50 of cell roaming data because  I forgot to shut off all the iPhone connection under the iPhone cellular heading. All these apps are still working in the background running up long distance charges. The worst is facebook.  The next worst is the weather channel.   Also there’s a queue so I’m not getting any important messages till all the advertising and trash mail clears the system.  I’m paying for that too.
I woke at 3 am feeling great.  No bed bugs and no swarms of malaria carrying mosquitoes had swarmed under the doorway while I slept.  Now I had text messages with the pharmacists numbers so phoned Vancouver to cover for patients.  All doctors hate the long intro messages that the pharmacists have before a doctor can actually speak to a staff person and then to a pharmacist.  This irritation in Canada is royally annoyin.  It’s worse when you’re phoning long distance around the world and put on hold.  One woman pharmacist was obviously experienced and expedited the process professionally with brief pertinent sharing of critical information in a short to the point call. The other younger woman pharmacist I called was not so attuned.
Having waited  and called through the Electronic Telephone Wall that makes anything Trump is proposing at a border child’s play compared to the digital security that surrounds the pharmacist today particularly protectimg him from the physician, I actually got a human voice.
“Hello.”
“Hello, this is Dr. William Hay, My college number is X.  I’m phoning long distance  from Ethiopia Africa and my cell connection is not very good.” I said.
“”I’ll have to put you on hold and get the pharmacist.”she said.
“Please don’t put me on hold.” I said to the sounds of elevator music.
“Yes, this is the pharmacist. How may I help you.?
“This is Dr. William Hay. I’m phoning from Ethiopia Africa on a poor cellular connection. My college number is X.  I’m phoning about my patient, Mr. Y, who missed seeing me on Friday. He didn’t get the message I was going to be on vacation. Would you extend his prescription till Tuesday. His name is Mr Y and his birthdate is Z.  "
“I can’t find this patient.”  I spelt the patient’s name and repeated his birthdate information.
“Can you give me his PHN#."
“No I’m phoning from Ethiopia. I’m not at the office.  He’s a regular patient of your pharmacy for the last 5 years. He’s a very reliable patient. He has diabetes and a variety of other illnesses.  He  is on a half dozen medication and comes to the pharmacy every week."
“Who am I speaking to? What is your name, doctor?.”
“i’m Dr. Willaim Hay. I”m the psychiatrist and addiction expert . My college number is X and my pharmanent number is Y.'
“Yes, I see the patient’s name here.  But you need to fax me a prescription for me to extend his medication.'
“I’m in Africa. I can’t fax you a prescription. You can extend the prescription for this purpose. The patient is a very good patient who is very responsible but he needs his medications over the weekend.  HE simply didn’t know I would be on vacation last Friday.  Would you pease extend my prescription for a couple of days till he can see my colleague who will be in the office next week."
“I understand you want to give me a verbal order but what date do you want the prescription to run to."
“Tuesday.  From Friday to Tuesday.” I said calmly.
“What date is that?"
“I don’t have a calendar. It’s 3 am here and I’m phoning from my hotel room."
“I’ll need a faxed copy for the prescription."
“I told you I can’t fax a prescription but I’ll have the clinic contact you next week. I’m back in town in a couple of weeks and will be able to sort out all the paper work then."
“What is your name again, Dr. Y."
“That’s the patients name. I’m Dr. William Hay.”  I had to repeat and correct the name of the medication ,spelling it out for her, and then correct her mistakes twice on the dosage of medication.   Then finally.
“Yes, Dr. Hay. Alright I can do that.”  She has that peculiar female tone of voice that says “You are wrong. You should not be asking me to do anything out of the ordinary.  You have ruined my day and you shouldn’t be a doctor.”  I’ve spent years practicing tone of voice not to elicit this response. Servile, begging works best in Canada.
I hung up.
I need another vacation. I was exhausted. I have calls like that daily.  I breathe, let  the stress release.  I wonder if any of my $150 roaming package is left.    I must stay calm. I pray. It’s all good for my spiritual growth.
I texted our clinic manager back. She’ll contact the patient.  She is very good.   The patient was very anxious.   He won’t need to go to the hospital.
I’m going back to bed.  My clock says 630 am. My phone says 430 am. There’s a sliver of pink dawn and it’s lightning up outside. My clock is wrong. A new day.  I’m on vacation. I feel jet lagged.   I’d better shower, dress and have breakfast before my guide arrives.  I’m really looking forward to the famed Ethiopian coffee.

Ethiopia - Day 2 - Frankfurt

I swear by Robaxin and Ibuprofen.  Economy class.  Cramped. Flight Centre didn’t get the aisle seats I requested.  6 foot lanky, old, overweight and irritable.  9 hour flight.  The lovely non English speaking lady beside me leaned into me the whole flight.  As a good Christian on pilgrimage to Ethiopia I silently cursed her.  Meanwhile the seat beside me never filled. I could lean away.  The lady one seat over spilled onto that seat with bags and purses and muttered and fussed the whole flight.  When we landed the lady beside me smiling had me help her get down her bag and her cane.  She walked off ahead of me permanently tilted to the left.  God has a flashy way of showing me my immense character flaws. Judge not! Pluck the timber out of your own eye before you try to take the sliver out of your neighbours.  I didn’t even offer her a robaxin.  I’m sure she could have used it more than me.  We never know the inner turmoil of another.  

Now I”m in Frankfurt. I’ve always liked this airport.  I’ve been through it several times, very upscale, German efficient.  I tried to get breakfast at MacDonald’s but they told me they’d just stopped serving breakfast. 9 am and they stop serving breakfast. I thought of Michael Douglas in Falling Down .A short walk on was a German restaurant.  Tasty little Nuremberg sausages,scrambled eggs and toast. Coffee.  Everyone speaks English. I’m thankful.

I found out why I was setting off the alarms at the gate. I took off my cross and hung my high pitched steel whistle around my neck.  Completely forgot about it.  They hand searched my bag because of all the little bottles of Ben’s 30% DEET mosquito spray.  They interfere with the X-ray and I’m carrying all this tech besides.  

There’s an Air Canada Jet here amongst the half dozen Lufthansa planes.  A child ran by with a Toronto Maple Leaf sweater. I felt patriotic.  Being this far away from PM Trudeau makes me miss my country.  Like an ex lover. All the nostalgic good bits are coming back to me now. I’m thinking why didn’t I just go to Harrison’s. I love Harrison’s.  I’m looking forward to camping next month. Motorcycle season, the Duffy Lake serpentine run through the pine and spruce, snow capped mountains.  I forgot I hate CBC news. I focus too much on the negative and miss the incredible positives around me.  A critical slant. Steal the joy.  Now here I am feeling nostalgia.  Missing my dog, the cat, the friends. I’ve not even stepped foot in Africa. I read Lonely Planet Ethiopia half the night.  Looking forward to museums and monasteries and churches. But the people on the street sound like the Down town east side.  That was Milan and Rome too.  Pick pockets and con artists.  I’ll be a white face in a sea of dark skin.  The tourist prey.  

On the plane I watched the movie, the Accountant, with Ben Affleck liking it even better, the second time through, catching the nuances, seeing the connections.  

I’m tired and looking forward to the Best Western Plus Hotel I’m booked into. Lots of people sleeping on benches here.  Mostly young people.  It’s quite shocking but I’m the oldest person in the hundred or so within eye sight.  Ageism. My self against myself.  I used my electric razor. The young women are smiling at me as we pass.  Travellers. Jet setters.  A reason to get out of Canada. A break from the dominant victim mentality.  

When I first came to Germany, riding accross Europ on a bicycle I loved that the Germans were so intelligent, educated, science and technology and Goethe.  Before Merkel and the Brussels dictatorship.  Germany was alive then.  We were all so young too.  A college student summed it up for me while we played chess in Heidelberg.  “We lost the war. So we had to do something new. That’s why innovation succeeds here.  In the countries that won the war they’re still trying to do everything the old way.  For us there is no old way. The old way for us didn’t work.”   I don’t remember who won that chess game. I used to play chess,drink coffee and talk as young people did about politics, religion, science and arts.  We didn’t know everything like the activist prosyletizers today. We were explorers.  Sharing  thoughts and insights.    Before the fake news and echo chambers.  We loved to talk and listen.  The girls were all so beautiful too. Pheromes filled the air. When we weren’t talking we were dancing and making love.  

The U2 song, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” touched that time. Dharma bums.  

I used to sing to myself while I  walked at night.  My brother did too. Making up our own songs. Musical prayers.  Making music while we walked. A lightness of being.  Making music for music sake. Adding a  spring to the steps.  Now I’m smiling to myself.  Walking about the airport I’ve had nostalgic flashes. The Mont Blanc shop reminded me of the Mont Blanc pen I bought myself for graduation. I worried so much about losing it I gave it to my brother for his office in his home.   The Burberry Store reminded me of the Gallerina on Saipan. I loved buying small gifts there to send back to friends and family in Canada.    Touching the flow, the 4th dimension of Carl Jung, the trusting,  having faith,  knowing grace.  I’m half way there. This evening I’ll be landing in Ethiopia.   Then days of wonder and learning.    

Ethiopia - Day 1 - Vancouver International Airport - Terminal D - 11:30 am

I’m sitting outside Starbucks, sipping an Americano having devoured an egg and sausage sandwich. There’s lots of greenery. Men in Yellow Vests are cleaning the pond.  Getting this far was exciting.

At the Luftwaffe counter the very lovely young lady asked me for my Ethiopian Visa.  I gave her the visa I’d printed off last night after ordering it on line weeks ago.  

“This is an Azerbaijan Visa” she said. “Do you have an Ethiopian one?”  

Of course I did, on the computer but I was suddenly terribly flustered. Besides I’d not brought my hearing aids. I need them for work and feared they’d get lost in travel.  Airports are awful for the hearing impaired. I had to ask her to repeat her request several times, expecting any minute for security to be called to removed the old cementing geaser.  She really was patient and tolerant.  She was very attractive especially in the smart German uniform with the bedevilling accent. I think I reminded her a great grandfather. She took pity on me.

“If you’re sure you have it on your computer. That’s okay.”  I was relieved of fruitless searching my iPad, my mind having gone blank as the line behind me lengthened palpably. 

“Could you put your bag on to be weighed?”  I tried to gather spillage and stuff it back in my bag with the computer and iPhone.  

“It’s too heavy.” She said

“Could I pay for the extra weight?” I suggested.

 “ No. We don’t want it to fall down and hit someone on the head, “ she said.  I suspected she was hinting it could fall on my head and I needed whatever neurons I had left.

“Could you put your carryon on the scale?”  I was sweating  profusely, and ready to submit like a sex slave before a dominatrix. I was  completely unnerved by the wrong visa, now the over weight luggage.

Again she took pity.

“You could move some of the overhead bag to this carryon and that would solve the problem.  Would you do that?” Yes, anything, anything.  

She handed me my boarding pass and gave me a betwitching smile. 

“Next”.

I stopped at Currency Exchange. 

“Could I have some Ethiopian money in exchange for Canadian?” I asked the Asian girl.   She looked at her computer.

“We don’t have that country listed?”  

She wrote the name on a piece of paper.  She’d spelt it with an “A” rather than an “E”.

“It’s listed but we don’t have any of their currency here.”  

“That’s okay.” I said, “I’ll get some in Frankfurt.” It’s the Brrr.  I thought with that name it would be more suitable for Canadian currency given the snow and cold.

I used my Nexus Trusted Traveller car and regained a little confidence, swaggering past the long lines of the ‘untrusted.’  

I had an extra bin for my laptop, tablet and iPhones. As I was setting off alarms and getting personally whisked my back pack was being hand checked because of all the bottles Ben’s 30% Deet and anti diarrhea, antibiotics, odourless garlic, ibuprofen, aspirin, antihistamine and anti malaria pills.  He was relieved to see my grey hair. . I wasn’t a drug trafficker. The medications were all  my own stash. 

I bought a simple cheap Swatch watch then.  I’d left my Apple Smart Watch not wanting to attract thieves  but felt naked without a watch. I had my money bag around my neck and felt awkward without my wallet.  The watch reduced my anxiety.  I’m double checking everything .I’ve repacked to protect my head. I’m really enjoying this new Tilly Safari Jacket.  All the deep pockets are helpful.  I just took a picture of myself in the washroom mirror. I look good on the outside.  10 hours to Frankfurt and 7 hours on to Addis Ababa.  I can do this.  My last long flight I wondered if I was going to be reduced to First Class flying as my long body and long legs   becoming increasingly intolerant of the cramped Economy.  The claustrophobia hovers too.  I’m longing for sleep.  Too many flights this lifetime has me longing for a Star Trek Transporter.  I’d be happy to have my atoms rearranged. To think though only a hundred years ago this trip could take 6 months by sea and land.  We are so blessed.   

    

Ethiopia - Day 1 - Preparing for Departure

“All my bags are packed.” The Leaving on a Jetplane lyric flashes through my mind.  Then a series of wedding rings derail the mood.  I’m mostly missing Gilbert the dog. I left him with a beautiful friend Belinda yesterday. At worst her husband will be taking him on motorcycle adventures, nothing new for Gilbert. The cat, George, Gilbert’s best friend was not impressed when only I arrived. George knows something is up.  There’s a serious emptiness in my home without Gilbert. Last night he didn’t bring me a ball to throw or jump on my chest to spontaneously lick my face.  Late at night he didn’t climb onto the bed to lie beside me.  George is quite forlorn.  It’s only a couple of weeks but in cat and dog years this becomes months.  

I’ve hardly slept, thinking of everything that could go wrong.  Recurrent theme of custom confiscation of my DEET mosquito repellant or my anti malaria pills.  I’ll be flying some 20 hours, leaving today, flying to Frankfurt, waiting hours there then arriving tomorrow night.  I keep reminding myself that’s it’s not as far as Tokyo flights, not so different from Israel. I see myself squished between the very fat talkative female wrestler and the easily offended obsessive compulsive person demanding more than their space. Somehow in the scenario someone has mixed up my aisle seat.  I’m actually excited.  The hours ticking down to departure carry with them the sense of adventure.

I’ve arranged extra security for my place.  People checking in, neighbours all watching, cameras and locks.  I don’t want to come home to any surprises. I’m praying for my person and my ‘stuff’.  I’m really praying for the good health of family and friends and the fur babies.  

It’s going to be incredible. My first trip to Ethiopia. I’m going to see Lucy.  3.2 million year old ancestor. I’m going to see and feel the Ark at St. Mary’s. I’m so looking forward to the World Heritage churches cut out of the rock at Lallibela.  I’m enjoying reading The Teaching of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church by ABBA Melketsedec.  “What is the nature of God?”  What is the significance  of the Holy Bible.  The Old and New Testament inspired by the Holy Spirit and read by man in prayer hoping for understanding inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Logos.  One God and God made the world in his image. I remember Dr. Carl Ridd at University of Winnipeg stopping there and saying, “image, imagination”.  They’re the same root.  To face the truth.  To stand before God in awe.  To be always a little afraid. The unknown is such.  

Now it’s time to get in the shower.  The Cat’s food and litter are fine. Laura, herself house sitting her sisters’ cementing dog with her place, will stop by.. I’m thankful for modern surveillance.  

Before I set out to sail down the Pacific coast in my 40 foot Folkes Cutter rigged sloop I investigated all the reasons for ships being lost at sea. A third oof cases the ship was wholly inadequate for the task or conditions, while a third  of  the time the captain and crew were too uneducated and inexperienced.  In a third of cases the loss was a mystery.  When I bicycled across Europe as a youth with a brave and beautiful new wife I didn’t known anything.  Somehow, mostly thanks to prayers of our families we survived and had an adventure.  I underestimated the power of prayer when I was young.  Now that I’m older I have more humility and greater respect.  This trip is more pilgrimage really. A trip to New Jerusalem.  A time away from work, back from the front lines, hoping to heal spiritually.   God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. One God. Halleleljuah!   

Preoccupations of a Great Leader

I’m not talking about Justin Trudeau. He’s not a leader let alone a great leader. I’m referring instead to the Hillary and Bill Clintons, the Bush Family,  Donald Trump and Melania and Ivanka family.  These are like the kings and queens of old.  Putin and Xi Ling are like them as was King Henry and Churchill and so many of the leaders of history, like Constantine and Ataturk.

They shared in common an appreciation for the land where they lead and the people of the land.  Today we attribute this to the aboriginals but it’s universal. The Scottish people identified with Scotland.  Not as a nation but as a place. Like Indians and Chinese and Nepalese do. Just like Kenyans and Chileans.  They identify with the slant of the sun, the taste of air , the mountains or valleys , the waterways , the accent of the people, their tribal associations.  We think of the song lines of the Australian aboriginals but these are true of all the tribal people and the clans that followed and the people that lived under all the great political associations that used these originals relationships to strive for bigger and better things. The family company becomes the corporations. The corporation continues to look to authority of the original individual and family that began the firm.  Identification with these large groups gives meaning to lives.  But fundamentally it’s where we are born and where are people are from. 

The great leaders of the world identified with the land and the people they lead.  Next they worried a whole lot about living long and well.  The longevity of a leader isn’t always that great.  Lieutenants, lowliest of military leaders, were dying in minutes coming off helicopters.  Snipers always try to kill the leader.  Assasins go for them too.  A great leader has great enemies.  Look at Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama if you don’t like the idea of looking at Mr. Stalin and Mr. Hitler. The latter lost whereas the former two survived their rule.  The winner writes history.  The world is continuing to live according to the military leaders of WWII, England, America, Russia, France and China.  

The great leader knows his or her survival depends on the survival of his land and people. So great leaders have always focussed on defence. Sometimes like Israel’s Ben Gurion, a great leader can not only protect it’s borders and hold onto it’s land and people, He canexpand it’s defensive perimeter to greater advantage and protection.  The son of a wealthy father is expected to hold the father’s gains but too often in that microcosm it’s rags to riches in one generation then riches to rags in the next 2 or 3.  This issue of maintenance of wealth not increasing wealth but just holding on takes an enormous effort by a leader.  There is a constant struggle for domination.. Even the Dalai Lama’s peace loving people couldn’t stand up to the murdering unevolved communist thugs of China  who invaded Tibet. China, that running dog imperialist, invaded , colonized Tibet  and genocides his people.  China just keeps right on doing it too. The red hair of the Irish came from the constant invasion of Ireland  by the Vikings have the red hair genes, and happily raped and stole, even though the editors of Huffington Post say that’s not nice.  That’s been going on forever. Raids and pillage and theft. Rape is popular especially with the religion of peace. All of the Middle East was Christian or Zoroastrian before today’s religion of peace. White farmers are being butchered daily in the enlightened South Africa.

Of course the “ better sort “ don’t do this but their proxies might..  It’s strategy and tactics and takes enormous time and energy. Most of information is sought to protect against rebellion or invasion.  This is why it’s called ‘intelligence’.  Our autoimmune systems work in the same way and require a tremendous amount of the body’s time and energy. Just maintaining the status quo isn’t easy.  It’s not necessarily natural either. Neutrality may be desired but the Nazis, Communist aetheists, pagans  and countless religious radicals and their religions of the day haven’t been keen to leave well enough alone if there’s gold and land to be had along with virgins and slaves. All Utopian seekers are even more disastrous and wasteful than the real politic sort. 

The great leaders can’t be smoking dope all day or doing opium or getting drunk in the morning. They can’t be living in the brothels or living a profligate life. Even Justin Trudeau has minders who ensure their puppet shows up relatively present despite the great number of occasions he’s acted and looked like he’s still recovering from a night of debauchery. He’s not a great leader.  Great leaders must have self control in action though as we saw with the great leader Krushchev they can really act a part when they need to. Unfortunately Trudeau can’t even act. Reagan could at least do that. 

 All great leaders historically have played their cards close to their chest because the world stage, politics and law, is a gambler’s game.  It’s all smoke and mirrors.  The great leader is a diplomat has the capacity to mobilize his own people. While in other fields of endeavour ‘transparency’ is the best, not in war, not in gambling.  Perhaps not in the pseudowar of diplomacy and sales even.  There’s a whole lot of drama and sleight of hand.  Mr. Chrétien, one of Canada’s great leaders, concealed his immense intelligence so as not to alienate the common man.  Unfortunately Trudeau has alienated all men and most women by not concealing his immense stupidity.

A great leader is busy and working and on call. He’s 24/7 at the helm. I don’t know where people get the idea that these people are living it up and walking on easy street. Even Trudeau a mere puppet whose been replaced wherever his handlers could do it with cut out dolls, has to maintain a tough schedule which has obviously been so overwhelming that he’s had more holidays scheduled than any leader I can think of. They’re probably mental health days in his case but they are exceptional.  By contrast great leaders must show up and be meeting and greeting and discussing and arranging and stroking this ego and putting down that ego every day of their reigns.  They’re constantly hounded too like celebrities without the benefit that celebrities have of just having to be pretty idiots at times.  The best of celebrities are like great leaders who are always working the room.  It’s not a pretty task. It’s not an easy task. It’s not a whole lot of couch and tv time.

The lower classes by contrast have a lot of down time. They go to work and they come home and they have time off. The greatest time for many was medieval so called dark age days when people did the same thing their father and grandfather did and the bar was pretty low except for taxes, disease and war.  Malthus times.  But there was job security and the wives didn’t leave you for lesbian lovers and the kids didn’t burn down the schools. It really once wasn’t so bad because there was that much change. Right now Canadians even those designated as in poverty have a higher standard of living than most of our earth’s population. The thousands of dollars which even a person on disability here can have and make is more than billions will ever have. There’s upward mobility here which is simply not possible in countries as corrupt as Haiti where the Clinto billions disappeared mysterious as so much money goes missing in that other great Banking Bermuda Triange, Pakistan. 

It really helped too in th peen days if your job was to plant things and you had a hundred IQ then planting things was satisfying. Today with the advent of computers and competition with robots and every other person on the planet in the great internet connection if your IQ is only 100 you may not have a job. Then in the west at worst you have couch time and tv land and drugs are cheap like alcohol and there’s a great social net. Not like Muslim countries where there’s still a crazy demand for productivity and thefts are dealt with by cutting off limbs. The aetheists camps would also put you in a far harder place than where ever you were if you didn’t pull your weight. The Gulag wasn’t Auschwitz but it ranked right up there with all other slave labour work camps. Great leaders have to deal with this tendency of lots of folks to be disagreeable and slackards. The communists have killed millions , though they favour killing smart people, whereas in the west the tacky media gets upset with a policeman uttering a bad word.  There’s little comparison.  On it’s worst day the western democracies have mass demand for entry whereas the countries most people are coming from have really bad leaders and really corrupt systems and people can’t get out of the deadly neighbourhoods fast enough.  

Great leaders have to deal with these problems. They also have to get people to give them money to deal with the problems. They’re the original go fund me where the buck stops.  The English and French leaders back in Napoleon’s day were always having trouble raising money for their wars.  Now they can’t get enough people on board to lynch tobacco company boards while in Canada Trudeau spent millions to put an ice rink on parliament hill when there’s a frozen river next door where thousands skate every year and have for hundreds of years. It’s one of the problems of having leadership that don’t care for their people and their land or even know it. Great leaders have to have their ear to the ground and it’s not easy.  

Before the puppet Trudeau was crowned because his Uncle Castro had his way with his mother who got the Trudeau name to wed the west with the east to allow Pierre to raise Quebec up and finally pay back that bastard Wolfe who beat Champlain, leadership required some sort of training and experience and education.  In the days of the original dolphins the school was the dinner table.  In 17th century Europe, in the days of chilvary.everyone was playing war and your future allies would be your playmates. It’s marvellous to see the sons of the Queen of England being taught war and leadership in the military.  Those are two great leaders to be with lovely wives who have the great intelligence of Melania and even some of the shrewdness of Mrs. Obama.  

I say this because the destruction of a society comes with the belittling of the leadership. You could argue against the man, like I do with Mad King George the III and  Justin Trudeau, but I don’t negate the leadership.  I am ashamed as a Canadian of my fellow Canadians who are so ill educated and ill experienced that they should have been taken in by a dynastic ploy of the lowest order in a democracy where meritocracy is supposed to rule. But now it’s all about fake news and denying the good and undermining the ‘position’.  This was what Hitler did. It’s what Lenin did before them. They strategically undermined the rule of law, the structure of the society and wanted not to overthrow an individual but rather they wanted a revolution. Nothing serves a revolution better than to have King George III as a ruler of the opposition.  Justin Trudeau has not only ruined the reputation of Canadians leadership hard earned by the likes of Chrétien, Mulroney and  Harper but within Canada itself there’s a willingness to chuck parliament itself because despite opposition Andrew Scheer being better than Trudeau by a long shot he’s not ‘great’.  Indeed Canadian leadership is rather anemic despite the amazing land we have with the amazing people.  Sadly testosterone is declining as fast as the feminists kill babies . 

I like great leaders.  It’s not a job I want. I like the couch, Hagen daz and walking around in a ripped t shirt and underwear. I’d rather spend time with the my dog than XiLing. There’s no time for that with great leaders. They’re in the fray. They’re not on vacation. They’re doing a tough job.  The actual work that Trump or Clinton did was the same relatively speaking. The number of decisions made in a day whether right or wrong is huge.  I, like 90% of the rest of the country have an easier job than the great leaders. We might not eat as well and we won’t get to order a nuclear strike or shut down a drug dealer so our jobs are likely less exciting by a long shot but even if we have a dozen children around us with in-laws and such it’s not the circus that Moscow, London, Washington or Paris  is on any day.  I don’t doubt that these guys are working, unlike Trudeau who always appears like he’s a tad too wasted, and the dog ate his homework’s.  By contrast , these great leaders are doing a hell of a job.  They have perks.  They love their children.  Just as we all saw the love of the Obamas for their little ones we see the pride in Trump for his daughter Ivanko and his brilliant boy Baron.  They clearly feel good about the future they’re making for their children.  They have family and they get to wear nice clothes and ride in nice vehicles travel and see really neat inventions.  They get to know a whole lot of secrets which even PBS doesn’t tell us.  I’m not saying there aren’t perks but the great leaders work for them.  

We once were deep

She wears her ideas like a spring frock

Impressing her man of the year.

I’ve known her in leather and chains,

Turtle neck sweaters and little black numbers 

She wore to the opera.

She looks good in gowns and jeans.

But I love her best nude,

The way her mother loved her

And God.

I fear she’s forgotten God in this world.

Mansions, socialites, and easy money,

Stagnant waters  from  a holy spring.