Month: September 2015

Suicide prevention…because you have the right to life

Suicide prevention…because you have the right to life

“Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world,” according to a 2014 World Health Organization report. That’s 800,000 people each year. The Canadian Association of Suicide Prevention estimates that in my own country of Canada today,

11 people will end their lives by suicide.

210 others will attempt to end their lives.

77-110 people will become newly bereaved by suicide.

Suicide is an issue I am familiar with, and wrote about in my book, Hope for Wholeness: The Spiritual Path to Freedom from Depression.

Today, on World Suicide Prevention Day, I am sharing some excerpts from Hope for Wholeness on the topic of suicide. Continue reading “Suicide prevention…because you have the right to life” →

Post-Secondary Education: Punishment or Prize?

Post-Secondary Education: Punishment or Prize?

“It’s going to be hell,” she declared. It was the first day of classes of the winter semester of 2012, and her foreboding statement expressed her expectations of the three months ahead. She was a St. Thomas University student, probably barely recovered from the demands of exams and multiple paper deadlines all coinciding in one or two horrific weeks prior to Christmas break.  She was definitely not looking forward to re-living it. I could relate.

My university education was gruelling. It took a toll on me physically as way too many hours hunched in front of a computer screen aggravated my osteoarthritis and caused my neck to burn with pain. The hunching has also led to a weakening of my pectoral muscles and consequent overcompensation by the muscle attached to my shoulder blade, cramping it and necessitating frequent dates with microwaveable hot packs. I developed stress-induced eczema which caused rashes for the five years of my undergraduate and graduate degrees. (I was a sight to behold, at times!) Then there was the extinction of my social life, family time, and even miniscule moments of relaxation. It was enough to have made me declare in the final year of my undergraduate degree, “University is inhumane.”

I never expected to feel that way.

Continue reading “Post-Secondary Education: Punishment or Prize?” →

Walmart Canada ignores the high cost of fast fashion

Walmart Canada ignores the high cost of fast fashion

A troubling advertisement showed up on my Twitter feed this morning. It’s back-to-school time, and retailers are targeting parents (and children) with ads telling them what they must have to be prepared for a new school year. Walmart Canada’s ad promoted the social ill of overconsumption, which feeds the “fast fashion” trend. Like fast food, fast fashion is attractive to people who want to purchase a large quantity of a product for as little money as possible. But just as the fast food craze overlooks the consequences of overconsumption to health, the fast fashion trend overlooks the consequences to those in the fashion supply chain.

Walmart Canada thinks Canadian children need a lot of clothing – “tees for every mood.” Walmart’s child model had 10 moods (and 10 different t-shirts) in the 15-second commercial that confronted me on Twitter.

Screen capture from Walmart Canada's Twitter advertisement, 2 September 2015.
Screen capture from Walmart Canada’s Twitter advertisement, 2 September 2015.

And guess what? Having an overabundance of clothing is no longer possible for only the wealthiest in our society. Walmart Canada makes it easy for almost everyone to have more clothing than they need by sourcing outrageously cheap garments and passing on the savings to us: t-shirts, $4 each! Continue reading “Walmart Canada ignores the high cost of fast fashion” →