Honest work is always hard but it pays off

The work in the yard never stops if you want to have a nice-looking yard. Some of our cedars turned brown over the winter. Don’t know why. When driving around and looking at other properties, I noticed that many of them had brown cedars. They all from the same type as ours.

Yesterday, I decided to cut down the brown cedars. First I started cutting off only the brown branches, but soon I discovered whatever was left looked awful. I had no choice but to cut them down to the roots. There were three plants. It was not an easy task. The shrubs are twenty years old and have big branches and big roots. It took me all afternoon to finish the job, using a chain saw and a large clipper. And an axe and a pick to remove the roots.

This morning, I moved everything to my garden and burnt it. All that before breakfast. I expected it to go up in flames immediately, but it didn’t work. I have to mention here that yesterday morning, I burnt the big pile of dead willow branches in the garden. Now that was a fire. High flames and it was all burnt down within twenty minutes. Some of the larger branches still glowed for most of the day, as did the ashes, but the bulk was gone quickly.

The cedars didn’t work out that well. I finally had to use a gallon of used oil and about ½ litre of gasoline as an accelerant. After dousing the mountain of cedars it all went up in flames, but I still had to work it by trimming the branches to smaller sizes as the fire burnt. I almost burnt off my eyebrows because I got too close to the fire.

It was a good day to burn. The sun was out and the wind was acceptable, just strong enough to fuel the flames.

When I was sitting in my chair watching the fire, I thought of #ISIS. I know it may seem strange that I would think of that terrorist group while burning a bunch of branches. What I was thinking was this: If everyone would work the way I do, cleaning up the yard, the house, the garage. Having a garden and growing vegetables, planting trees and watching them grow; in other words do constructive and productive work instead of building bombs and running around with rifles and shouting, “Death to the infidels!” If they would be like me there would be nothing but peace in this world.

I have no time to plot evil deeds against my neighbors. I have no desire to do them harm in the first place. When I see them, I talk with them. I don’t care what religion they are. They are people. They are my neighbors. We help each other with advice and real help if it is needed.

Of course, it is so much easier to play war games all day long, to make plans where to create chaos, to plan the killing of innocent people who have done you no harm, to kidnap people who come to your country to help you and to release them, if they are lucky, for a huge ransom. It is so much easier to raise money through terrorism and intimidation than working an honest job.

It is a sad world we live in and it doesn’t seem to get any better. The future looks bleak. As long as people are ruled by fear, by intimidation, by hatred, by false doctrine that commands them to kill anyone who does not believe what they believe in, by denying education to women, by denying them freedom of choice, there is no hope for a peaceful coexistence. There is no hope for peace in this world.

I am not a religious fanatic. I don’t even go to church, but that does not mean I’m a non-believer. I have my own ideas about the universe and about the spiritual world. I believe in what Jesus taught two thousand years ago. I believe in Peace. I believe in Love. Live and let live. At the same time I believe that aggression against me and my family will be met with equal aggression. If you hit me on one cheek I will not present you my other cheek. You hit me once but never again. If you try to change my peaceful life, try to take away my freedom and my freedom of speech I will not let it happen without a fight.

I may sound like a pacifist sometimes but I’m not. I don’t live with my head stuck in the sand, pretending everything is all right and everything will be all right forever. I don’t believe singing peaceful songs and praying for peace will make a damn change. If we don’t take a stand and speak out, we will be rolled over by the evil forces out there who want nothing but to eradicate our peaceful existence and our freedom. If we don't stop bringing in all these new immigrants, we will have a huge problem in our country. That is my prediction. Already they are gaining a strong voice. It may already be too late.

Peace be with you.