Nations are made of aboriginals and immigrants . Nations make the world . Canada is a prime example of a national  mosaic of different peoples unified by a diversity that ultimately binds it into a nation rather than divides it . With the recognition of native aboriginals and of the long term  wrongs done to them, much to the credit of the current Federal government and the efforts of the aboriginals themselves,  Canada has truly come into its own as a nation. The  recognition of  injustices and the manner in which they are righted is key any just society . It is the recognition and the corrective effort taken that counts, regardless if there are flaws and imperfections that currently remain on either side whether aboriginal or government .A true nation and  government must recognize  honestly the collective hand it had  over decades and centuries  in the making of the conditions that gave rise to  current flaws and injustices on either side .
Aboriginals are the closest to the land and arguably the most intimate with the essence of  it. They knew the land  before it was covered and transformed by concrete, glass,electricity, rails, asphalt as well as European culture and values . Modern cities can have a beauty all their own but it is the landscape, the quality of the light that falls on them, and the people that occupy them that give them their own individual unique character and beauty . I often think of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s song about Hawaii in reference to this ( see the You Tube link below for a beautiful song )
How we correct injustice as a nation and a world is what counts and often a long term view is required on both sides as it may take as much time to carry out and truly rectify the wrong as the time that it took over generations to give rise to it . Every action has an equal reaction and remedy . All aboriginals should be recognized for their contribution, suffering or distinct character and allowed their place in a fair and just manner no matter which country it was that they originally fostered . There is no excuse for prejudice or for justifying the blaming of the ills of a country or of the world on one race or ethnicity regardless of which way the the blame is directed Often times the blame comes from both conflicting sides at the same time .This can apply to nation country or race . The fact of the matter is as Tadeus Rozewicz who has experienced both war and I’m sure prejudice, has said in one of his tweets “We must love people not black white or yellow”. How can one think that when one race or country is persecuted  disadvantaged or adversely affected that it doesn’t affect the rest of the world . When a hand, leg ,or heart is injured or wounded ,does it not affect the whole of the body ? Is the thief solely responsible for the crime or do social conditions, life experience, genetics, upbringing and education  ( or lack of it ) come into it ? Yes there is such a thing as a bad seed but to negate the whole  particular crop or the garden as disfunctional or disposable because of it is shortsighted, illogical and without common sense, not to mention racist .The contagion of racism  can spread however given the right conditions so let us contain the bad seed and make another use for them.  Why blame a nation or race if the actions of a few who are ruled  by a purely selfish motive or by agendas of greed, pride, or self aggrandizement are the cause.
Nations are made of of aboriginals and immigrants . When immigrants emigrate oftentimes  they are made orphans, by separation  from their families . At one time if you go back far enough, aboriginals were immigrants . The difference with aboriginals is that they may have not encountered other distinctly different races other than their own, and initially are devoid of the experience of racism , naive and unaware  of what it can lead to .
In one way or another we are all immigrants . On a deeper level each of our individual souls is an immigrant . Why does the body cease to be alive and decay when the soul departs ? It is much like the country or nation that loses it’s immigrants or aboriginals that vivify it , when it causes them to suffer die or depart  .When that death happens the liveliest, most diverse and most productive part of that nation or country dies . And so the world begins to die.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuU0jnHFSV8 

The Orphan, the Immigrant, and the Survivor.

The Orphan , the Immigrant

and the Survivor..

They are three.

Sometimes,

and at different times,

we are all of us orphans,

and some are more than others,

and for longer times.

And some always remain

orphans in their minds.

And sometimes we are immigrants,

traveling from one place to another,

leaving behind all the familiar

and our comforts,

our attachments,

and our home,

to know and feel

just what it means

to be human,

and to be free,

and all on our own .

And there is

another immigrant too

that is in us,

and that we are in,

that is our soul,

that travels

across space

and time,

and dimensions

without number.

Some of us may be martyrs ,

but not all of us are survivors..

They are a special breed,

with well connected

thought and deed,

they survive to often spread

their seed.

They are themselves

devoted,

and are disciples of hope

or faith or greed ,

and sometimes of all three.

And kindness must be shown

to the orphan,

and to the wandering immigrants,

on their journey all on their own,

as the survivor must remember

that the survivor is often left,

and remains alone,

and all on his own,

unconnected to wander,

whether In the physical world,

or in the well traveled corridors,

of the survivor’s mind.

Without question,

and sometimes without mercy,

the survivors are all left in time,

to contemplate their fate,

and the final

dropping of the stone,

that must be faced alone,

and with a singular

survivor’s resolve,

that is tested to the bone .

From “Dreams for a Saturday Morning ” by PWChaltas

The Irish Mist Came Down

The mist comes down

and everything is white.

It rolls over the waters.

Nothing is visible but white.

There are only wisps of faint 

edged outlines 

of tree branches in blue ,

as the would be saint

battles with the dragon.

He thrusts

his spear.

There are only shadows

of the tail.

It is very near.

He’s battling with fear,

temptation, idols ,

passions,

and frailty of the flesh.

The night

turns into day,

still all obscured by

blinding white.

And between the intermittent

moments of despair, 

the sun shines though, 

and all is made clear.

The fog fades,

and disappears,

as does the fear.

The light,

and the sages

help him

find his mark,

as he pierces,  

the bloody morbid 

dragon snake,

green,

right,

through the heart. 

From “No Subject Here just Light” by PWChaltas

The Very young and the Very Old are the frailest with the faintest voices of Advocacy… but not if Maria and Jim can Help it … Please support their cause.

https://www.facebook.com/FairCareCanada

Canada : This is Who We Are

This is who we are,

an Identity once lacking,

now a nation of hockey lovers,

Stompin Tom,

and winter .

Kind and compassionate,

but just a bit aloof,

and getting better.

Getting our legs

under this sky, our roof ,

across the world,

enough for a simple rant or two ,

but not much more than that for now .

We are getting better and

our mosaic nation

is finally a connected country,

and this is who we  are.

 From “Winter Muse 12/21/12” by PWChaltas

Still can’t get on Twitter the usual way-My #’s or words must be off or inappropriate , but I’m still having fun !

A note about @PWchaltas on Twitter: Seems I can’t gain access to my Twitter account so i can’t see “connect and  interactions”. Should any one want to reach me you can email me at pwchaltas@gmail.com till I can get this figured out . Thanks …Meanwhile a new post …

Serge Gainsbourg / Love and the Human Condition *

The first time that I ever heard of Serge Gainsbourg was on a trip to Paris with my wife last September . That trip will always linger in memory as a sort of an aesthetic and spiritual voyage into hell complete with a troubling beauty all its’ own . Just by chance my wife and I booked a small Hotel on Rue de Verneuil which happened to be right across the street from the residence of 60’s composer poet singer and musician Serge Gainsbourg . His residence has been turned into a sort of mausoleum & a shrine of graffiti. I noticed the front walls all full of graffiti and asked myself  why is all this here ? Not that graffiti is unusual in Paris at all . Paris has become a city of graffiti and more so of late…. it’s everywhere .  Some of  it is an expression of discontent but some of it, just sheer artistic expression in and of the street. What a beautiful gallery backdrop the Parisian streets are . Sometimes the two radically different expressions of beauty conflict . What piqued my interest on this particular wall of Gainsbourg graffiti was one depiction of Serge embracing his one time wife Jane Birkin whom I believe he deeply loved. She was apparently the love of his life . Unfortunately they divorced but he did remain close and very much connected to her right up until his death.
Near that depiction of his wife and himself a line read in French ” You know my little girl there is no cure for life”. I thought to myself that is very “Cohen ” but with a darker twist . That graffiti and a couple of very vivid dreams I had of Gainsbourg while staying in the hotel across from his residence triggered my fascination with Serge Gainsbourg . Serge who passed away at the age of 62 of a heart attack  still has a very loyal and almost fanatical cult following in France. ( and so does Leonard Cohen by the way )

Born Lucien Ginsberg, son of Jews who fled the Nazi occupation, he changed his name to Gainsbourg after his love of the art of Thomas Gainsborough. I soon found out from our charming & charismatic hotel  front desk attendant that Serge’s mother often visited the Gainsbourg residence but never stayed there after her son’s death. She always stayed in the same Hotel across the street from it . His daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg, a famous singer in her own right from his marriage with Jane Birkin , visits & stays at the Gainsbourg  residence and insists as did her father that nothing be changed at the darkly appointed residence . One day while at the hotel I thought I might have seen Charlotte exiting from the mausoleum / residence.
Serge Gainsbourg’s favorite recurring musical theme  is love. A man of poetry,passion,  alcohol, cigarettes, love and lust he had many romantic partners & friends Including Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Slim with big ears, roman nose , bulging and always intense eyes , he was  not a physically  attractive man in a Hollywood sense of the word. He was a very talented musician/ singer , a gifted songwriter/poet and it seems to me a tortured but sensitive soul . He loved music art and obviously was completely absorbed by love in all it’s diverse forms and in all it’s offshoots . He had that attractive quality of being vulnerable, flawed ,and so ultimately susceptible  to the frailty of the human condition as we all are , yet always remained true to himself in his artistic expression regardless of the cost .  For some reason in spite of a sometime kamikaze and often passionate unbridled lifestyle, some of it I’m sure contrived for marketing and PR reasons , he was often described by friends and acquaintances as kind and a sensitive high priest of Love . As he progressed through his life journey ,that changed in certain ways. He also came to be  known as a “shock jock” of his time , however most of what was considered shocking  in his music and videos  is probably tame compared to some of the shock tactics , obscenity, sex , abandon & outrage that are sometimes expressed in the media and arts today . Although personally I think the large part of his sometimes outrageous behaviour and excess was a byproduct of something that was eating him up from inside : What was his inspiration ? Perhaps  love and lust, loss and disconnectedness may have been the sources of his pain and may have possibly ignited his music & verse. I say “ignited” because he was a musician /poet living in hell . Many poetic souls ,artists and writers occupy hell either temporarily or permanently.  Serge was one . Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath &  Bukowski are examples of others . Bukowski once wrote an appropriately titled collection of poems called “Pleasures of the Damned”. Some poets artists and writers  are preoccupied by hell and some even aspire to it . Nick Tosches is one of them . I read his book “King of the Jews” while i was staying in Paris on Rue de Vernueil that very same trip.
His book  was  a masterful & unorthodox work about the life and times of Arnold Rothstein son of a righteous man and a gambler who supposedly fixed the world series . Reading the book itself was a descent into hell all on its’ own.  I came out of reading it and offset it by reading Mathew .
Some of  these themes and threads are evident in the verse and video below  of Gainsbourg’s Song “Tha Javanaise” which is a dance ..The translation of the song follows:

The Javanaise

I had
a few
tough years.
Didn’t you
my true love.
until
at last
you crossed
my path
my true love

If you don’t mind
While dancing the Javanaise
our love lasted
as long as a song

What do
you think
that we
have seen
of true love?
Let me
tell you
I was
deceived
my true love.

If you don’t mind
while dancing the Javanaise
our love lasted
as long as a song.

Alas
April
In vain
draws me
to true love.
I was
willing
to see
In you
this true love

If you don’t mind
while dancing the Javanaise.
our love lasted
as long as a song

Life is
pointless
when it’s
devoid
of true love
but that’s
the choice
you made
for us
my true love

If you don’t mind
while dancing the Javanaise
our love lasted
as long as a song.

1/ The video itself of Serge singing “The Javanaise” below demonstrates uniquely and graphically the changing nature and vulnerability of the human condition, as well as the music and lyrics of love and loss. Have a look  at all 4 videos of Serge Gainsbourg at  different stages of his  life .They are real eye openers..

2/ In the video clip below Serge is at an early, and more traditional part of his career. You can see the some of the quirkiness starting to coming out (This clip reminds me of vintage  footage I’ve seen of a young  Willie Nelson in suit and tie around the time  he wrote “Crazy”, long before the long hair and braids appeared on the scene )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzuTdVJG-ck&playnext=1&list=PL315DE2B5B71C7A08&feature=results_main
3/ This is so cruel…very cruel ..Cohen’s phrase “Death of a Lady’s man ” comes to mind . You don’t have to understand French to know what is going on here …love and faith are the only things  that make the inevitable frailty of the Human condition bearable . The part where Gainsbourg holds up the picture of himself as a child with a shaky hand is particularly moving and striking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbJjcWJwfPE

4/ Gainsbourg’s  preoccupation with, and his taste in art, shown at the end of this video segment is interesting . “Raft of the Medusa” by Gercault is about a real life shipwreck and was a turning point in art and certainly indicative of .the human condition …..The saint with all the arrows……Love …… Pain ….Suffering ,,,,, This would have been an appropriate post for Feb 14th..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8mvlcrHmCs&NR=1&feature=endscreen