Here are today’s Ottawa Sun letters to the editor.
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Being mocked is a belittling experience that often engenders anger. Often we later come up with some cutting remarks we wish we had thought of at the time. Sometimes our minds become fixated on revenge.
Last month I was tidying up our basement storage room with the intention of recycling or repurposing things that had accumulated over the years, but were unlikely to be used again. The first thing I did was move my decades-old golf bag into the furthest corner to get it out of the way. Then I stared at it, recalling numerous exasperating situations those golf clubs had gotten me into. When I turned away, my imagination conjured up the sound of snickering coming from behind my back. I spun around and glared at the clubs.
That was when thoughts of revenge commanded my mind. I grabbed the bag and headed for the outside shed, which has a workbench. First I secured my #1 driver in the vise and then I reached for my hacksaw while vengefully proclaiming, “Off with your heads!” A short time later an assortment of golf club heads littered the floor.
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Lately I have been taking leisurely strolls through my wife’s garden and I can’t help smiling each time I look at one of her new, shiny-shafted garden stakes. Revenge is sweet, and it has no calories.
LLOYD ATKINS
VERNON, BC
(We’d be hard-pressed to find a better use for golf clubs.)
US KNEW BETTER
Re: US rejects a national carbon tax, editorial, Aug. 14
Hey, even US President Joe Biden or whoever is actually running the show isn’t stupid enough to impose a carbon tax on American citizens. Perhaps Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his advisor are right to impose an economically disastrous carbon tax on a country that produces just 1.5 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Or maybe they’re correct in trying to keep our cleaner fossil fuel resources in the ground while the world continues to purchase it from dirtier sources. It’s a good thing we got rid of former PM Stephen Harper, the one with the degree in economics.
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MIKE SHURTLIFF
CANADA
(We’re sure it has nothing to do with politics and American aversion to taxes of any kind.)
DIRE SITUATION
Re: Who can cure us?; Neither Ford gov’t nor opposition have solutions to hospital staffing woes, column, Aug. 4
I’m afraid that, despite assurances from Ontario government officials that they are doing everything they can to address the shortage of health-care workers in emergency rooms and hospitals, nurses will continue to burn out, retire or seek employment elsewhere.
Clearly, nurses are the backbone of the system. While the pandemic has exacerbated the shortage of healthcare workers, the healthcare system has been systematically underfunded for decades. A recent study found there were 45,000 vacant health-care positions in Ontario. Nurses are being forced to pick up the slack, but, more importantly, are becoming exhausted and losing hope. Placing too much emphasis on foreign-trained nurses to fill the gap is misguided and will only trigger more problems with regulatory colleges and granting licenses to new nurses from other countries.
In trying to avert a future catastrophe, why not seriously consider the five actionable solutions proposed by the health-care representatives?
ROBERT ARIANO
SCARBOROUGH
(Fixing a mess left by previous Liberal governments can’t be accomplished overnight.)