Things that make me ( ).

Things that make me tired

I wrote the first line of this post and realised that I can do so little to change how the government works, how companies work, how health care works, how people treat each other and how we see each other that my words are useless. And as a wordsmith who truly believes that at the very least words can change how the writer feels- that stopped me in my tracks. So I have decided to do that one thing that will make a change, that very least change- to change how I, the writer, feels.

And so

Things that make me thankful

That I live in a country where all of my doubts about how it’s run, all my fault finding with the ineffective and inefficient ways it’s run really don’t stack up to anything but ‘first world problems.’ And the lines of one of my‘favourite songs goes through my mind 'you’re Mercedes won’t start, well that’s a crying shame, guess 90K a year buys nothing but complaints.’

I live in a country that is free from major corruption, of violence, intolerance, and terror. I can walk the streets and I don’t just feel safe, for the most part I am safe. I live in a country where illness doesn't race through our population, where healthcare is available and where religious freedom is more than just tolerated- it has been tolerated for so long that we feel it is a right that can never be taken from us.

I live well below the poverty line; which means that I make and live more comfortably that about 85% of the 

people on this planet. My flat doesn't have air conditioning, but it’s Canada so the hottest it gets here is 35*C.

I have two degrees which don’t seem to be worth the paper they are written on. But as a woman I was never threatened when I went to school, I could choose to study any subject I wanted, I had student loans to back me financially. And I loved every class I attended. It was a privilege to go to university.

So these are my words, and maybe they will only change how I feel today. But guess what! they did and for me that is worth every single word I wrote. Thank you language, words, sentences.