Isn't it amazing- barely 2 weeks later and I've already updated again! I think I'm starting to realise how little time I have left here now, so I'm trying to fit everything in! The strike is still carrying on here with no signs of ending any time soon, so I'm now trying to madly do assignments and make agreements with lecturers about what I can do to make up for the exams and tests that I now won't be here for! Seems to be working out pretty well though, so hopefully it will all fall together in the end. Amidst that, I'm also trying to fit in everything I've been wanting to do in Toronto! Last night I went to see the National Ballet perform the Nutcracker, which was absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed! Also very reminiscent of the video that we used watch of the Nutcracker every christmas at my grandparent house! Bringing back a bit of the old christmas tradition seeing as this christmas is certainly going to be very different to all of my other christmas'!
Went to Montreal last week, which was a really nice place, although very bizarre seeing as everyone around you was talking in French! I went with a friend that I met here at uni (who lives very near me at home!) so we stuck together and also adopted 2 other Australians that we met in our hostel room! It was a really social room, with 5 Aussies and 2 british girls! Definately one of my best hostel experiences (especially when I bought breakfast on the last morning and the server said bon apetite! I felt like I was in a very fancy french restaurant, rather than the basement of a hostel). It was a beautiful city though, and we got to see some fun stuff, including going into their biodome (a very big indoor ecosystem) where you were right there with the animals, and going up the lookout tower from the Montreal Olympics! I even found a Kombi and met his owner (only my third Kombi sighting since coming to Canada)!
We're now getting snow every few days, although it tends to melt in between snows. At the moment it is just really icy, so I'm waiting for my first fall over (that doesn't happen while sledding down hills). I'm sure it's going to happen any day now. I love the snow, but would love for it to get above 0 for more than 1 day! It's especially annoying as we have to walk off campus to catch the bus because of the strike, so it makes if a bit hard (and cold!) to get anywhere!
As I was walking through the city I was struck by the number of people around my looking for support. Within 200m there was a homeless man holding up a coffee cup and saying 'merry Christmas', a man selling a homeless and unemployed newspaper (sort of like the big issue magazine in Melbourne), a man busking with his guitar, a man handing out information onblack history and another homeless man who was not asking for anything, simply staring into space. How do we choose which of these people is worthy or deserving of our help or support? It is not possible to give each of these causes and people the help that they deserve, so what is our criteria for choosing what we think is worthy? Is it how clean they look, whether they are trying to help themselves, whether they have talent or represent a cause we can identify with?
When I was at the waiters union in Brisbane,we did a bit of an experiment. First, we got one of the older guys in the group to sit on the pavement on a Saturday night in the main entertainment area, with his shirt untucked and a garbage bag next to him, asking for money, and noone even looked at him. Then i went and started asking for money for the payphone and got $1.50 straight away. Then the other guys tucked in his shirt and started fiddling with his phone and asked a guy for some money to get home cause his wallet was stolen and that guy gave him about 4 bucks in change straight away!
I don't think that I have a point in all this, but if I do it would be that we actually think about what our criteria is, and if we are making the decisions we want to make. Is it just natural to go with the people who look like us and so who's choices for spending money we agree with, and who are just having a rough day? Is this who needs it most? None of these causes are wrong and if I was genuinely stranded somewhere I hope someone would give me change to call someone, or if I was in a tough place they would be willing to help me. We all ask for support for both ourselves and for other causes at different times. It just got me thinking about why we make these choices, and I think the thinking is a good thing. So put up a post if you can just sharing what might make your choices! If you don't have an account, just send me an email and I'm happy to post it!
2 comments:
Awesome snow photo! Makes me a bit jealous, particularly since we're not really getting summer here either.
Those Montreal tickets never arrived.....?
Tough question at the end there. It must be getting rough for the homeless being so cold in Toronto. Try and spread hope even if you can't spread much money?
Hi Laura!!!!!
Hm that is a very tough question, but I think that experiment you guys did reflects a lot about our behaviour and who we tend to choose to help.
My first thought was that we tend to help people that we sympathise with, because we can put oursleves in that person's situation and can imagine what it is like. Therefore we help. Just like you said.
Maybe we also have unconcsciense feelings about homeless people that prevent us from helping??????
And maybe it's because when we give someone money for a ticket, we know that we have fulfilled their need, whereas with a homeless person, we may be unsure about whether or not our money is actually going to satisfy their need. So I guess we can easily cancel out any responsibility that we have to help, because we tell oursleves that it would be pointless anyway.
I don't know! I don't think it's a very encouraging oucome for the experiment though. Is it discrimination against the homeless? Or am I being pessimistic?
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