Malcolm Johnston, Trenton Real Estate

This is a little late. Thanksgiving weekend was a couple of weekends ago, but I have been a little slow in organizing photographs. My computer crashed, so there were a few days where I had to use the public use clunker in the office. I don't download personal photos to that computer.

Anyhow, the kids came back for the Thanksgiving weekend, and we had a very relaxing time. Malcolm came back with a fancy new haircut and Sarah came back sporting her usual smile. It was almost as if they had never been anywhere, they just settled back into their normal routine very quickly. The weekend, alas, went by very quickly, and Malcolm took the bus back to his new home, and Sarah hopped on the train back to hers.

We managed to have quite a bit of fun while they were here though, and I think they were happy for the break. They did seem to do a lot of growing up in the few weeks that they were away. Even though they are big city kids now, there's still enough country in them to have some good old fashioned country fun.

*Sigh*, now it's back to talking on the phone and Facebook.

Oh well, Christmas really isn't that far off now.

My last blog post was about a 100 year old runner who was entering the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. I found the story very inspirational. He was attempting to break a slew of records, but most importantly set the world record for finishing a marathon at his age.

Guess what?

Fauja Singh, the runner in question, did manage to finish in a time of eight hours and 25 minutes. This is absolutely remarkable. 22,000 runners participated, and while Mr. Singh was the last one to cross the finish line, he did cross it under his own steam.

Congratulations to Mr. Singh and to everybody who helped to prepare this amazing man for this event.

It has been a rather gloomy Saturday so far, so I have been browsing around on the internet looking for a bit of inspiration. I found a rather newsworthy story that I think will do the trick.

The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon is being held tomorrow. It's an important marathon, it's a qualifier for the Boston Marathon (the granddaddy of all marathons), there's $150,000 worth of prize money up for grabs, and the Olympic commitees of quite a few nations are using this marathon to determine who will be on their national teams in London next summer.

Needless to say, there will be quite a few high profile runners competing tomorrow. The runner who has grabbed my attention though, will not be finishing near the front of the pack and will not be chosen to compete for his nation at the Olympics.

100 year old Fauja Singh will be running tomorrow and hopes to set a new world record for his age group. He already holds the world record for the fastest finish in the 90 year and over age bracket at five hours and forty minutes. Now he hopes to become the oldest person ever to complete the Toronto Marathon. Five hours and forty minutes to run 26 miles. That's incredible. I think it's amazing that someone who is 100 years old still sets lofty goals for himself. He certainly puts a lot of moaners and grumblers to shame.

What makes this story even more inspirational is that Mr. Singh didn't start running until he was 89 years old. He took up running to help cope with the loss of his wife and child. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

I'm contrasting Mr. Singh's story to our Wednesday meetings at our brokerage where some of the agents moan and grumble about having to learn new things on the internet. We have a little session every week, and some of the agents simply refuse to learn new things or pay any attention to anything having to do with websites, blogging, social media, Search Engine Optimisation and similar topics. This stuff is incredibly easy to do when you take the time to learn it, it certainly isn't as difficult as training for and competing in a marathon. Especially at the age of 100. No, some of the agents simply throw their hands up and grumble that it's too difficult for them to learn. Maybe they could take a page out of Mr. Singh's book. I think we all can.

Seeing N.H.L. players in Trenton isn't really all that big of a deal, there are a few players (past and present) who are from the Quinte area. Seeing an entire N.H.L. team, however, is a huge deal.

Thousands of enthusiastic spectators turned out to watch the Toronto Maple Leafs practice at the C.F.B. Trenton arena. I didn't get a chance to get there myself, but the town was buzzing about this event. There is nothing bigger in small town Canada than hockey, and in this area the Toronto Maple Leafs ARE hockey (to the discerning fan anyway).

The Leafs are off to a good start this year, and now that they have come to Trenton and spent some time here, I see nothing preventing them from absorbing some of our winning ways and winning the Stanley Cup next spring.

I realize that we in the Western world can get fatigued by all the pleas for help and aid from organizations that represent the interests of less fortunate people in the developing world. It has even come to the point where some people don't watch the news anymore because "all that negativity affects their inner peace".

I am not a terribly religious person, but Matthew 25: 35 - 40 has always had a certain resonance in my life. It's very simple and I'm sure we are all familiar with the words;

"‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ "

Having said that, I'm usually very annoyed with certain celebrities who seem to be able to stir up the masses in short lived, highly fashionable, and ultimately inneffective campaigns that do not address the real issues and make us weary of hearing about yet another crisis. These celebrities are unaware that they are squandering the goodwill and patience of a lot of people.

I recieved an email from Bono's organization (ONE) this morning though, and I thought I would pass it along. The message is concise, to the point, and (I believe) effective. It is obscene that people are starving in the 21st century. It is obscene that we lack the political will to make real changes. Famine is not a natural catastrophe in this day and age.I think this campaign is well worth supporting, as it is a campaign to put pressure on our political leaders to fulfill the promises that they continue to make and then break.

Dear world leaders,

The famine in Somalia could kill 750,000 in the coming months, and tens of thousands have already died. When you meet at the Group of 20 (G-20) Summit in November, you have the opportunity to break the cycle of famine and ensure people are hungry no more. Lives are in your hands. Please keep the promises you have made to the 2 billion poor people who depend on farming for their livelihoods.

The reasons for the famine in the Horn of Africa are complex and solutions are difficult, especially in Somalia, but we can’t lose sight of some simple facts:

1. 30,000 children have died in just 3 months. Thirty thousand. With over 12 million people at risk.

2. Famine is not a natural catastrophe – drought doesn’t have to lead to famine. It can be prevented, as we have seen in much of Kenya and Ethiopia.

In the 21st century, it’s an obscenity that people are dying because they can’t get enough food to eat. Every one of those 30,000 children is part of a family – a son, a daughter, sister or brother. We can’t imagine what it must be like to starve to death, but most of us know what it’s like to lose someone we love.

Please watch the film and make use of the voice you have -- sign the petition. It will make a difference in putting pressure on world leaders to do more to help those in need right now, and live up to promises already made to invest in the things proven to work – early warning systems...irrigation...drought resistant seeds… and of course, peace and security.

Thanks for reading.