If the 20th century was the “age of anxiety” (W.H. Auden), the 21st century is shaping up to be the “age of rage.”

The timing of the photo op couldn’t have been better. A defiant, COVID- sick Donald Trump popping out of hospital to wave to his supporters from a vehicle, putting the driver and security detail in extreme danger, illustrated so perfectly one of Pope Francis’s key concepts in his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti , On Fraternity and Social Friendship.

They often say that one of the difficulties of discussing racism and prejudice in Canada is our reputation for being “nice.” Our supposed “niceness” acts as a veneer that covers up serious underlying issues.

The times they are a-changin’.

Writing in 1962 about anticipated dramatic changes to family, racial, social, political and sexual dynamics, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan warned the old guard that their existing road was rapidly aging and they’d better get out of the way if they couldn’t lend a hand to those driving world change.

Ladies, you’re being lied to. You can’t have it all. (And while we’re at it, all what?) No one can or does “have it all.”

It is 3 o’clock in the morning and my thoughts are too busy for sleep, so I pick up my pen.

The ever-deepening crisis of authentic fatherhood (doing the tough job of being a father/parent and not just a buddy) and fatherlessness in families today is taking a steep toll.

The scourge of Catholic priests sexually abusing innocent children is never far from mind in Nova Scotia.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that being enamoured of Marxism is, sadly, once again, in vogue among those who have never lived under its rapacious, anti-human, oppressive iron fist. The scary thing this time around is that a majority of these starry-eyed folks are young people who never even lived through the Cold War. (A few years ago I was on the campus of McMaster University and the bulletin boards were filled with black and red posters: “Join the Marxist Party!”) 

Whether or not you’ve heard the term “cancel culture,” you’ve undoubtedly been observing it just about everywhere, gaining more and more traction.