Christmas Day 2007

© MMVII

Yesterday, CBC aired this Christmas material:

First was a story about a Canadian mountaineer who decided to forego the glory of climbing to the summit of Everest to rescue a dying Australian who had been abandoned by his fellow climbers as they made their descent. (Apparently leaving climbers to die is common on Everest. Earlier that week, 40 brave mountaineers from various climbing parties, stepped over the body of an Englishman who had been left to die by his comrades. Other stories I've seen have stated that Everest is now littered with frozen bodies. Jeeze. Climbing Everest doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment anymore. Heroes? The Australian's rescuer said Everest is just a rock with some snow on it. He had no doubt what to do.)

This was followed the obligatory Holocaust story. Peter Munk has become a favourite on CBC. The billionaire Canadian philanthropist escaped from the Nazis with the help of Adolph Eichmann who worked with the Zionists to evacuate well-heeled Jews — leaving their less well-heeled fellows for a trip to Auschwitz. The similarity between this story and the one that immediately preceded it was lost on the CBC. (If the CBC wants an expert on the Middle East or world events, it calls upon the scholarly and impartial academic Janice Stein. Mrs. Stein has a nice job working for the Munk Centre at the University of Toronto. She and Peter Munk are part of the establishment in Canada. Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining company, was founded by Peter Munk. You can read all about Barrick Gold, Munk, Eichmann and Janice Stein at Wikipedia, if you have never heard of them.)

When I saw Munk, my stomach turned and I switched channels to find Paul Newman followed by Clint Eastwood on an American channel. Paul Newman (now 82) is a real philanthropist. He came from a well-to-do family, but as a boy he had a paper route and he sold Fuller brushes door to door. He attributed his success to the fact that he "didn't have the face of a thief." How true. Then Clint Eastwood (now 77) told viewers about "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima". They are on my shopping list. You make my day, Clint.

Suzanne Nichole, who assists Alfred Lilienthal, sent a reply to my Christmas card. She reminded me that Alfred Lilienthal's birthday is Christmas Day. He is 94 years old and Lilienthal never abandoned anyone to die in all those years of his long and noble life.

Christmas Day was good this year. There are good people in this world. We had a very nice family dinner. Hope yours was good too.

Peace,
- Morley

P.S.: I went to church on Sunday and again on Christmas Eve, so I covered the bases.