Last summer on a hot Saturday, I spent another most enjoyable afternoon and evening at Butchart Gardens here in Victoria. The Symphony of Fire in Vancouver is a Mickey Mouse effort compared to the fireworks every Saturday at Victoria's Butchart Gardens. The performance at Butchart is a spectacular display of light and fireworks in, around, out of, and above a forest setting. Intricate, coordinated, and creative! They are a liquid, celestial and floral mixture of water, light and fireworks in harmony with a musical score. Simply incredible! In the words of a former life...Wow!
There is nothing hollow about the fireworks on a Saturday at Butchart. The only thing missing is a sizzling, stand-out, marketing name like Vancouver's Symphony of Fire. On Vancouver Island,the Butchart display is simply known as the fireworks. This simplicity is so typical of Vancouver Islanders. We can't let anyone know how extraordinarily awesome things are out here, as it might attract other people; so we tend to keep it secret, simple, and quiet.
Last August on that hot Saturday I spent the day wandering between the huge begonias, giant rhododendrons, the roses, dahlias and an endless variety of flowers living and co-mingled together that somehow replicates the multiculturalism that makes Canada so unique. So many cultures living in harmony and peace mixed together side by each as the Nova Scotia types would say.
The particular Saturday to which I am referring was a couple of weeks after the London subway bombings occurred. At that time the newspapers and airways were filled with the news about the perpetrators of that London horror. The perpetrators were British home grown Muslims; 4 young men who had gone to Pakistan to train and learn and came back as terrorists. They were willing to kill completely innocent people for whatever insane reason.
I spent the sun-filled afternoon wandering the acres and acres of floral displays; western, European, Oriental, you name it. Then after an "Iron Chef" meal in their "Summer Cottage" styled restaurant, I went to the sloped field where the "fireworks" are displayed as night falls. Leaving the restaurant made me feel like I was leaving a painting.
I wandered into the sloped field early to find a place to sit. Being a smoker I found a spot where I could be comfortable and have a smoke without bothering the militant non smoker types. You know the ones who express their "progressive", politically correct attitude by waving their hands in the air when a smoker walks by. The smoking spot usually tends to be near the garbage cans of course. So I got comfortable next to the cans and people watched.
After a few moments I noticed a Muslim nuclear family coming down the graveled pathway into the grassy field. They had their traditional dress on, black, head to toe and completely covered except for the men's faces. Two men lead the way and the two women followed. It was so hot I wondered why they wore so many clothes but it was their choice. One lady pushed a Cadillac baby carriage and I mean pushed. It was a big heavy-duty baby carriage and I mean heavy. She struggled with the push on the gravel. You could tell it was a heavy load. I think it was a lady pushing this carriage but I couldn't see any part of her. Who knows it might have been Michael Jackson. She was covered head to toe with black twice over.
I wondered about the baby carriage. It too was completely covered in black both the top and undercarriage and covered again. The family took up a position far from me in the middle of the field which of course, especially the huge baby carriage, blocked the view of the people seated on the ground behind them. Some people moved away. I must confess I was glad to be sitting next to the garage cans and some 150 feet away. That carraige looked like it had 200 lbs of dynamite in it. The evening ended and the only explosions were the fireworks.
Today I watched the news about Muslims wanting to kill cartoonists in Denmark, over these cartoons. Last year I watched Muslims blow up innocent people in those London subways. The year before I watched as Muslims killed school kids in Beslan, Russia by shooting them in the back. The year before I watched the horror in Madrid, Spain. The year before that, I watched the news about Muslims blowing up people at a night club in Bali, Indonesia. The year before that I watched Muslims steer planes into the World Trade Center. So the question I have is simple. How do I distinguish between crazy Muslims and peaceful Muslims?
Today an Italian Catholic Priest,Andrea Santoro, was shot dead by a Muslim in Turkey. The gunman shouted "God is great" as he shot his pistal and murdered the Priest. If Christains did that to an Muslim Imam, we would have a world war. How often must we turn the other cheek.
I noticed in reading Dawg's Blawg that he tries to excuse the Muslim violence as an over reaction due to their suffering an inferiority complex and historical colonization. Nonsense. There is no excuse for this senseless violence. The Lebanese who burned down the Danish Consulate or the Palestinians and the Syrians who have other agendas did not help their causes by the over reaction. There is no excuse. They only serve to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Their behavior over serves to confirm, and validate as truthful, the image depicted in the cartoons which had been given front page exposure in Egypt some six months previously. . The depiction of Mohammed is not new.
