Right in the centre - Triumph over trials

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Published on Friday, December 13, 2024

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

I don’t think I can remember a busier December. The Christmas month is always busy for peoples’ personal lives and for us that is no exception. Christmas parties, family gatherings and staff parties are all part of the expected activities for any given family in any given December.

This year has all of that but it seems that from a business point of view, times are busier this year. In part it’s due to the absolutely stupid Canada Postal strike.

As of the date of this writing (Dec. 8, 2024), Canada is under siege of a postal strike. Letters, parcels and most importantly cheques, are not moving. The strike is costing Canadians millions of dollars a day, CUPW people aren’t being paid. Thousands of postmasters at rural post offices are being paid to do nothing and are mandated by Canada Post to do nothing. Even the local mail is forbidden to move.

There’s also a dirty little secret in Canada Post, that some post offices have been ignoring, but even local letters are supposed to be shipped to a regional centre to be sorted and then sent back. If you drop off a letter at a local post office for a box holder in the same post office, that letter is supposed to be handled and sorted by the regional centres.

It’s hard to not to curse when one contemplates that much stupidity.

Lots of blame to go around the affairs of Canada Post. The federal government has never modified the Canada Post model, it’s still stuck in the 1930s or somewhere even earlier than that. It’s mandated to send First Class mail (letters basically) to any place in Canada for a dollar or so. I am really old, I can remember when it was five cents but most people today won’t believe that. Both the federal government and Canada Post have ignored the changes that have taken place in the past 60 or so years. In fairness to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) they have made some suggestions but to no avail.

So, safe to say, amid all the other December busy season stuff, the woes Canada Post has inflicted on us all is very stressful.

As a newspaper, we are so thankful, that except for subscriptions, we simply don’t use Canada Post any more. We made our final stop on that trail last week, albeit with a bit of sadness.

I also don’t remember a December when there was so much war and rumours of war. The US political scene is in turmoil, world affairs seem to produce a new crisis every day. Syria, Ukraine, Russia, local regional wars, famine, travel and shipping problems, you name it, there’s enough stress out here to keep everyone uptight.

However, we have been going through stresses like this for decades. Mankind has been going through these stresses for centuries. Of all the months that we need to harken to the “Faith of our Fathers”, December is the month and the stresses should point us in that direction big time.

My parents and grandparents, just like yours, went through many trials and tribulations. But through the decades, throughout the centuries, we can reflect on God and what He has done for us and continues to do for us. Let’s not forget that Christmas is the time when we express a little more gratitude for the baby in the manger, God’s gift to us. No matter how tough things get, we can rest in the blessings of God on us and our country. In spite of all the problems there is no other country I would rather live in and with faith in God and Jesus as our Saviour, we will triumph in life and in death.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.