Category Archives: Hmmm
A Fallacy of Words
While the public is subjected to counterfactual statements like the recent letters about needing to “Put Christ back in….” our schools etc throughout the year – it is at this time of year, the Christmas season, that delusive statements about the need to “Put Christ back in…….” abound.
The cry “Put Christ back in Christmas” seems to have an alliterative lure that those who believe that words are what manifest Christ in the world find irresistible.
You can strive to keep the words out, but you cannot keep Christ out of anywhere that a practicing Christian is because they act as a conduit for Christ’s love.
What this prattling on about “putting Christ back…….” clearly demarks is the distinctness between Christians who self label as Christians by virtue of membership in a Christian religion or church or as is often the case membership in both a religion and a church, and practicing Christians who often don’t call themselves Christians, holding that to be a judgment that only Christ can, or has the right to, make.
A demarcation rooted in the difference between words as the central tenant of being Christian versus your actions and behaviours as the central tenant of being Christian.
The fallacy of using words as the central tenet, is the fact that words encompass a degree of variation in meaning that denies any certainty in conveying exactitude in any message the words may have been meant to convey.
Consider the ubiquitous Thesaurus, a reference work whose sole purpose is to provide alternate choices for a word. For some words there maybe only 5 – 6 words as alternatives; while for other words there are 100+ alternatives.
In these days of rising illiteracy, functional illiteracy, cant, jargon, vulgarism, acronyms etc we are losing, may have lost, an appreciation for and the ability to use the subtle nuances and shadings in meanings among the words we choose to use to convey more accurately and with more certainty the ideas and meanings we seek to express.
Consider even the ‘simple’ Dictionary:
A book, optical disc, mobile device or online lexical resource (eg dictionary.com) containing a selection of the words of a language* giving information about their meanings, pronunciation, etymologies, inflected forms, derived forms, etc, expressed in either the same or another language, lexicon, glossary. Print dictionaries of of varying sizes, ranging from small pocket dictionaries to multi volume books, usually sort entries alphabetically, as do typical CD or DVD dictionary applications, allowing one to browse through the terms in sequence. All electronic dictionaries, whether online or installed on a device, can provide immediate, direct access to a search term, its meanings, and ancillary information: a Japanese – English dictionary.
*Language: 1) a body of words and the system for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area or the same cultural tradition i.e. the two languages of Belgium, the French language; the Yiddish language. 2) communication by voice in the distinctively human manner using arbitrary sounds in conventional ways with conversational meanings. 3) the system of linguistic signs or symbols considered in the abstract (opposed to speech). 4) any set or system of such symbols as used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one another. 5) any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion etc. i.e. the language of mathematics, sign language.
Thus attempts to use the bible as a cookbook (take Sunday mass, add tithing, judgment and condemnation of fellow human beings because of your moral superiority, support for inquisitions, crusades, witch/heretic burnings, etc etc etc…..) to arrive at the ‘formula’ or ‘ingredients’ that mixed together make a Christian are doomed to fail.
This fallacy of words making the bible a ‘cookbook’ is compounded by the nature of languages and translation between languages.
The meanings of words in one language have subtle (or glaring) different nuances than do the corresponding (or what are considered corresponding) words in another language. The English word love does not carry the exact meaning of the French amour (noun) or aimer (verb). Indeed as you can see in going from the English love to the French language you use different words depending on whether you are referring to the noun or the verb.
A translation from one language to another should not give rise to a single word but a word plus the necessary qualifiers to convey the nuanced meaning of the word in its original language.
Compounding the difficulty of attempting to convey the meaning of a word in one language through translation into another language is the impact the biases of the translator have and the effect the knowledge and skill of the translator has.
The biases, knowledge and understanding of the reader of the reader of the translation also have an impact, a significant impact, on the interpretation of the meaning or message of words.
“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott [attribution: “my priest friend Tom”]
One must also recognize the effect that a lack of concepts can have not just on translation but on the form of the expression of the idea takes in the original language.
Take the Christian creation myth of the Universe being created in six days. The ideology of Creationism is based upon the words the Christian creation myth as set out in the bible being meant literally.
Yet, call to mind how little was known about our world and what was not known or understood about our planet, other planets, solar systems, galaxies, the Universe, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, etc at that point in time that the Christian creation myth came into existence.
How would you explain the big bang to someone who had no concept of nothing?
In the beginning less than nothing existed, then a tiny spark appeared, causing an immense explosion, as the energy of the explosion cooled it gave birth to the elements the first generation of stars were formed from, the death of this first generation in novas and supernovas gave birth to the heavier elements contained in our generation of stars, planets……and by the way the elements human beings are made of – humans are made of star stuff. And the Universe is still expanding outwards from the initial explosion that was 15 billion years ago; and using a telescope you can look out into space and look back into that distant past.
How would you explain the big bang to someone who did not know the world rotates around the sun, some of the lights in the night skies are other planets in our solar system (what a solar system was), that the majority of lights in the night skies were stars whose light takes tens, hundreds, thousands, millions, billions of years to get to earth (by the way what is hundred, thousand, million, billion?)…….
You could not.
How many truly understand the big bang today? How many are comfortable with the idea of the big bang to have a degree of understanding? How many are overwhelmed with the ideas inherent in the big bang and seek simpler, more human/earth sized in scope explanations to cling to as an explanation of the origin of the Universe. How many find that comfort in the Christian (or another) creation myth?
Finally you have the fact that the Christian gospels were clearly written as theological documents in the context of early Christianity rather than historical chronicles and their authors showed little interest in an absolute chronology of Jesus or in synchronizing the episodes of his life with the secular history of the age.
So, if attempting to use the bible as a ‘cookbook’ forces the assumption words can convey an exact meaning mires Christian churches and religions in the fallacy of words, and that the fallacy of words is not hard to see – for those who are not to blind to see – why are churches and religions that mire themselves in this fallacy of words so popular?
Because being a ‘cookbook Christian’ is easy.
Gilbert K. Chesterton was correct in his observation that “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”
Practicing Christians view the bible as a guide for a spiritual journey; a journey you start on by living your life, of behaving, by striving – through your actions – to become the Christ. And while this view may well be relatively easy to come to, walking the path, striving to become the Christ is a daily struggle requiring a focus on asking oneself how would Christ act in this situation? How do the words and behaviours of Christ tell me to act?
Christ’s words “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” are, for human beings, incredibly hard to take into your heat to live by.
To put living by Christ’s words, commands, behaviours and actions into perspective consider Oren Arnold’s Christmas gift suggestions: “To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.”
Were you among those who were of the opinion that the police should have captured the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter so he could have been ‘properly tortured’ for his actions? Can (do) you forgive him? Do you want to bring back the death penalty, even though experience and recent history have clearly shown that doing so would result in the execution of innocent persons? Does “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette” justify taking innocent lives so you can reap vengeance on the guilty (or those you judge to be guilty)?
Practicing Christianity by striving to live your life by acting in accordance to the words, teachings, behaviours of Christ is not only hard it is very uncomfortable, often requiring you to take positions (against the death penalty) that are rather unpopular and that require you to stand against the herd.
The book “Religion for Atheists” suggests that atheists, as part of understanding the overpowering lure and hold churches and religions have for the so many, need to recognize that Christian religions and churches are, or have become, about satisfying human social needs. That churches and religions have become social clubs where you get together with people who share your mindset, pat each other on the back about how wonderful you are, holding forth about being saved by virtue of your membership in a church or religion, confabulation about your morally superior to those who don’t agree with you.
Although ……applied to Christian churches and religions, the psychiatric meaning of confabulation [“the replacement of a gap in a person’s memory by a falsification that he or she believes to be true”] contains a full measure of truth.
Being a member of a Christian church and/or religion holds several advantages over being a member of a Service Organizations [Kiwanis, etc]. Membership in a service organization is not limited to only those who agree with you and as a result what you choose to believe can face challenge. Service organizations work to improve the community, without making judgments as to worthiness. While service organizations serve to fill human social needs the are about service to the community and in serving the community these organizations perform a great deal of hard work.
Christianity is not about popularity, it is not about getting together with people of the same mindset and who agree with your thinking.
If we are all in agreement on the decision – then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps gain some understanding of what the decision is all about.
Alfred P. Sloan
More than anything Christianity is not about being easy.
One of the ironies of the past year was the WWCD pencil invasion. For several weeks many of those belonging to our local Christian churches and religions were running around with pencils marked WWJD, treating them more in keeping with a shared in joke or handing them out to persons they judged in need of saving.
These individuals, churches, religions were focused on the words, not the actions and decision making process living your life within the bounds of what Christ would do demand.
Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often. Mark Twain
In the North of Abbotsford has arisen a fancy new Tower of Babel, the occupiers of which have cut their support to the food bank. My understanding of the reason they turned their back on the growing number of hungry in Abbotsford is that the hungry in Abbotsford are not Christian enough or the Food Bank is not Christian enough or some combination thereof.
What does the Christianity of either the Food Bank or those in need of food from the Food Bank have to do with anything?
Given the growing tide of hunger in our community is not the question that should be asked whether there is hunger?
Turning away from the hungry because they (or the Food Bank) are not Christian ‘enough’ screams “We are not Christians – no matter what we label ourselves.”
No person or group of persons who live the teachings, behaviours and actions of Christ could, much less would, chose to turn their backs on, deny love and help to, the growing numbers who suffer hunger in Abbotsford. Anyone who would, or does, turn their back on the hungry makes a clear statement that whatever they may claim to the contrary, they are not Christian.
“However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” Buddha
Before the Christian churches and religions in Abbotsford, the province of BC and Canada waste time worrying about “putting Christ back” in Christmas or schools etc, they need to focus on” putting Christ back” in their churches, religions and themselves.
Mike the Inventor
I met Mike within a few days of moving to Abbotsford two decades ago.
My first action upon taking up residence in Abbotsford was to get a Library card. After all, what could possibly be more important upon arrival in a new community than to secure one’s access to the local Library? As a bonus I got access to materials in all the Fraser Valley Regional Libraries.
My second action was to purchase a pool pass so I could swim lengths. I swim lengths pretty much on a daily basis; Mike is a lifeguard; it would have been hard not to have met.
Since Mike does on occasion stutter it was fortunate for me that I have a policy of being nice and polite to any individual who I may find myself depending on to save my life. The reason I say fortunate is that being polite and engaging in conversation with Mike allowed me to discover that the little patience that was required in listening to what Mike had to say was amply rewarded by the interesting things he had to say.
I haven’t had the chance to converse with Mike much in recent years as he guards mostly at the Matsqui wave pool and I had stopped using the Matsqui pool when Matsqui had become much less length swimmer friendly. Choosing to drive past Matsqui on my way to the length swimming accommodating and friendly confines of the pool at the Abbotsford Recreation Centre. So I was pleased when guard rotation brought him to the ARC pool for several months.
I cannot remember exactly how it was that we arrived at discussing the change in First Aid protocol that had tourniquet use out and packing the wound and pressure as the new standard. But that is where we arrived at.
Mike commented that he had a situation at MRC with a woman with a little child, a slip and the need to deal with a wound that had him wishing for a third hand to keep pressure on the wound will able to deal with the child and a possible head trauma for the woman.
So he had invented a device to keep pressure on a wound and free up both hands to deal with other injuries or problems. Better yet, when he had the opportunity he had gone on-line and shown me video of the device on youtube.
So today Mike enquired as to how I was and in reply I sang my appreciation of the Air-conditioner faerie who had dropped an air-conditioner at my place last year and how that was permitting me to sleep while the heat was interfering with the sleep of some people I knew.
Mike commented that he had invented a device to provide air-conditioning and that when he had the opportunity he would show it to me. And………that he had invented many devices because he loved to invent things. Which had me thinking “what a great throwaway line”; and “I know an inventor”; and wondering if there was anything he could invent to make life easier for the homeless.
Our conversation about Mike’s inventions and inventing reminded me that I wanted to ask his permission to write about the local inventor I had known for years as a lifeguard and only recently discovered his ability and passion to invent.
Mike was surprised (and pleased) with the request for permission to share the video of his wound device.
I asked “how could I not share the fact that Abbotsford has an Inventor and that he had invented a device for use in First Aid for wound care?”
If you want to see the video of the device just click on the link to Mike Fitzpatrick’s Hemorrhage Control Device.
Mike the Inventor. As Mr Spock would say, “Fascinating”.
NOW I Understand!!
I had used Rogers as my wireless provider for over 6 years and while Rogers may not have wowed me with their customer service they did nothing that would explain why the mention of Rogers to ex-Rogers customers evokes a response like that of waving the proverbial red cape in front of a bull.
It has taken Rogers less than a week to provide me a clear understanding of how it is that Rogers evokes a passionate distaste that borders on hate.
Rogers has definitely put me solidly in the ‘anyone but Rogers camp’. To the point that although I would like to keep the phone number I have had for the last 6+ years I will be quite willing to get a new phone number if that is what is required to ensure I do not have to deal with Rogers past the point of making the payments necessary to reduce my account balance to zero and sever me from the Albatross this is Rogers.
The Path that finds me sitting at my computer setting down this cautionary tale began at the end of November 2011 when the Cavalier I was driving was in need of expensive repairs such that it proved a wiser financial move to sell the Cavalier to the crusher and purchase the 1989 Cougar I currently drive for $1,000.00.
One of the most insidious aspects of poverty is the constant grinding away of the spirit and hope. One of the ways poverty grinds at you is the fact that you never have an opportunity to set any money aside for the little financial emergencies that are part of living. You are constantly one little mishap from homelessness.
A major financial disaster such as my car will, 99.99999999999999% of the time, result in homelessness. Immediately if you replace the car, several months down the road if you do not replace the car.
Having enough friends to contribute to the formation a pool of cash to lend to keep you housed and buy you the time to get your finances back up to poverty from bankrupt is the only way for the poor to survive.
In the scramble to get transportation and secure housing bills such as internet and wireless get bumped down the priority pay list. Putting you in arrears and struggling to slowly bring accounts current.
I did not try to hide the stretched state of my finances from service providers and have, through strict budget discipline, managed to go from three months in arrears to one month (plus/minus).
Other than Rogers my service providers have been patient and helpful as I work on bringing all accounts into current – even if it is a slow, slow process.
In order to avoid a service interruption I had arranged for payment to be made Friday; a few days late because it is Friday I get paid.
Wednesday my phone service was suspended and my calls were redirected and I found myself dumped into a computer voice options land where none of options offered was appropriate and none of the options offered gets you a live human being to talk to.
Leaving you on the phone with a computer system that is demanding payment, telling me I have a payment agreement on record and that Rogers had not processed the payment I made on the Friday 12 days.
I manage to use a……shortcut……to get connected to a actual person in credit services.
Who proceeded to tell me I needed to make a payment now in order to get service restored. I explained that until I am paid on Friday I have no money; that I had spoken with a Rogers representative and made arrangements for the Friday payment because I had no money until I got paid Friday and wanted to avoid a service disruption.
When I enquired why, with a payment agreement having been made service had still been interrupted I was told I needed to make a payment immediately to get service restored.
I explained that the unexpected and large expense of replacing my car had blow a large hole in my budget, that it was taking time to catch up on bills I was forced to defer and that the reason there was a payment agreement on file was because I got paid on Friday at which point I would have money to make the agreed upon payment – and why, with a payment agreement in place had my service been interrupted.
I was told that it would take at least 5 days to process my payment and – perhaps – restore services and that if I waited to Friday to pay it could take longer because of the weekend. I once again stated that I had no money to make a payment until Friday – when I was paid. That was why i had a payment agreement in place for a payment to be made on Friday.
He then suggested that I needed to increase the size of the payment set for Friday. I reminded him about how tight my budget was and that that was why that amount had been set for the payment and why I had no money to make a payment until I was paid on Friday.
He started in about how it was necessary to increase the size of the payment to bring the account current right away.
I reminded him – again – about the tightness of my budget etc.etc. etc.
When he returned to the need to make a larger payment to bring the account current I reminded him that, as stated previously, my finances were to tight to do this. He then suggested I use a credit card to pay the outstanding balance. I thanked him for making it clear that I needed to reduce my wireless costs in order to pay what I owed Rogers in as timely a manner as possible, thanked him and got off the phone.
Whereupon I promptly headed off to find another provider. And although the cost of services is about the same, I save close to $30 a month because my new provider does not nickel and dime me to death to the tune of $30, as did Rogers.
That weekend I phoned to inform Rogers I was accepting their termination of our relationship. Credit services told me I had to talk to customer services. Customer services said no I needed to talk to credit services. Someone at credit services finally told me I had to call back during the and talk the retention team. Retention team? Now there is a rather amusing concept. And would it not be simpler to treat customers with courtesy rather than trying to retain them after infuriating them?
I did make the payment as I had agreed to.
I phoned during the following week to make sure that the account was no longer in service and to say that I would be paying the balance owing, but with my tight financial state and the fact I would be giving priority to those service providers who chose to be understanding and work with me it would likely be close to the end of 2012 before the full balance was paid.
Subsequent to the final call I was able to make another payment.
This week (July 10, 2012) I received a call from Rogers about payment of the outstanding balance of $185. The statement that I did not owe $185 evoked the immediate threat of having the account assigned to a collection agency. At which point I hung up and composed the letter below, sending it to Customer Service and appropriate Rogers executives.
Ironically, as I sitting at the computer composing the letter to Rogers, I used online banking to pay my wireless bill from my new provider.
……stay tooned – we are talking Rogers after all……
On June 6, 2012 Rogers terminated our six year service provider/service consumer relationship by suspending phone service, unilaterally abrogating the payment agreement agreed to by Rogers and myself.
Attempts to speak to someone at Rogers dumped me into the computer automated disservice were I was consistently informed there was a payment agreement on record for my account, followed by demands for payment.
I escaped and spoke to an actual person.
My inquiry as to why Rogers abrogated the payment plan was met with a request for immediate payment. When I explained that the reason there was a payment agreement on the account, with payment to be made on Friday, was that Friday was payday, the Rogers representative responded requesting immediate payment. When it became clear that no matter what approach I took I was unable to get the Rogers representative to understand that it was not possible to make a payment Wednesday when I was paid Friday. I thanked him and said I would make the payment as per agreement on Friday.
This elicited the threat that if I waited to Friday, rather than make an immediate payment, it could well be late the next week before my phone service could be restored. The statement I would have to take that chance was met with the statement that making the payment larger or paying the entire balance would also prove beneficial in the restoration of phone services.
So it was that I found myself explaining to yet another Rogers employee that the need to fund an unexpected $1,000 expense in order to keep a car on the road coupled with being on disability, thus having a fixed and limited income, meant it was only through strict budgeting and disciplined spending that I would be able – over time – to bring my accounts current. That the payment agreed to was the maximum available in my budget.
It was suggested that in order to ensure phone service was restored and to avoid future service interruptions I should pay the entire amount. When reminded that I did not have that amount, it was suggested I put it on a credit card.
I chose not to comment on what that suggestion said about Rogers business ethics, saying simply that I could not do that, thank you and hanging up.
Whereupon I promptly went in search of another service provider.
I phoned on the weekend to inform Rogers I was accepting their termination of me as a customer. After being bounced between credit services and customer relations, before I was cut off, I was told I had to call back on a weekday and talk to the client retention team. A rather amusing concept.
I did make the payment as I had agreed to.
I phoned during the following week to make sure that the account was no longer in service and to say that I would be paying the balance owing, but with my tight financial state and the fact I would be giving priority to those service providers who chose to be understanding and work with me it would likely be close to the end of 2012 before the full $140.10 was paid.
Subsequent to the final call I was able to make a $20 payment, reducing the outstanding balance to $120.10.
This week I received a call from Rogers about payment of the outstanding balance of $185. The statement that I did not owe $185 evoked the immediate threat of having the account assigned to a collection agency.
Given healthy boundaries, I hung up once the threat was uttered.
This letter is to 1) set out what has transpired to date, 2) provide copies of my account statement at the point in time Rogers terminated our relationship, 3) record payments made and not reflected on the statement and 4) once again state to Rogers that the $120.10 will be paid as financial circumstances permit, albeit with preference given to the service providers being supportive of the struggle to recover from the car repair. Despite the anger I feel vis-a-vis Rogers’ threatening phone calls.
Rest assured the $120.10 will be paid. Regretfully, deeply so as it requires a longer relationship with Rogers, financial reality is that, whether to Rogers or a collection agency, finding the funds to pay the remaining $120.10 will require financial discipline and time.
James W. Breckenridge
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Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
Do we need more detox beds in Fraser Health? Yes.
Is the (un)effectiveness of Fraser Health’s mobile detox programs, succinctly summed up in the words of those seeking detox: “they [Fraser Health] are not looking for people needing detox, they [Fraser Health] are looking for people already detoxed”? Yes.
Are Fraser Health. our Provincial and Federal governments doing a poorer and poorer job of providing the support needed for people to find recovery and wellness even as our understanding of what supports are needed grows? Yes.
Does this excuse Abbotsford City Council’s childish ‘I am going to hold my breath until I turn blue if I do not get my own way’ attitude? No.
Does this excuse Abbotsford City Council’s ‘I am taking my toys and going home’ threats? No.
Does this provide an excuse for Abbotsford City Council to continue to ignore the facts about substance use and Harm Reduction? No.
For those who are seeking any excuse to justify their dogmatic opposition to harm reduction? I refer you to the words of Councillor John Smith: “If they aren’t going to give us detox . . . then quite frankly, [the harm reduction issue] is going nowhere with me.”
Then we have the sophistry of “…suggested that if Fraser Health was truly committed to providing harm reduction services in Abbotsford the first thing it should do is step up and fund the Warm Zone.”
I do not recall Council providing leadership, beating the bushes or pressuring senior levels of government to raise funds to keep the Warm, Zone open and operating. Now suddenly they are publically supportive of keeping the warm zone open, concerned about the consequences for those who depend on the Warm Zones services?
But then when the facts, experience and evidence are all against you and you are left clutching at straws, any excuse will do.
City Council’s finger pointing at Fraser Health on this matter brings to mind the quintessential Mom question, ‘if Fraser Health was jumping off the Lion’s Gate Bridge would you jump as well?’
Although……that does bring to mind the question: “what do you call the river bottom under the Lion’s Gate Bridge being littered with the bodies of municipal politicians, provincial and federal politicians and want-to-be ‘same old’ politicians and executives from BC Health? ”
A solid step towards good governance and healthy priorities by municipal, provincial and federal governments.
Detox, the Warm Zone – what healthcare is council advocating Fraser Health cut from services provided to the citizens of Abbotsford? Because when you call on Fraser Health (or any Health Region) to spend money on services, capital projects etc not included in their budgets, you are calling on the Health Regions to cut existing (budgeted) items to free up the funds to pay for the new (non budgeted) spending.
So what healthcare does council want to cut to pay for Detox and the Warm Zone?
Mayor and Council need to remember that Fraser Health can only spend the money the provincial government gives them. Remember that, unlike Abbotsford City Council, Fraser Health cannot simply create a water crisis and scare/panic taxpayers into borrowing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to cover past, present and future misspending.
As to council’s sudden concern about detox……on my list of programs and services (including appropriate, affordable housing) required in Abbotsford to help people achieve recovery and wellness, detox is well down my list of priorities. It is a waste of money to push people through detox and treatment without providing the support programs, services and housing that would aid them to remain in recovery more than a few days, weeks or months as is currently the case (less than 5% are substance free one year after ‘graduation’ from treatment)..
The reality of addiction and substance use is reflected in Councillor MacGregor’s statement that the issue of drug abuse needed a “layered” approach and Councillor Barkman stressing there is no “silver bullet” to substance abuse and that building relationships is critical to helping people escape addiction.
Harm: (noun) physical [of or pertaining to the body] injury or mental damage; hurt. (verb used with object) to do or cause harm to; injure; damage; hurt.
Reduction: (noun) the act of reducing [bringing down to a smaller extent, size, amount, number etc.] or the state of being reduced [to become lessened] .
I will be dropping a dictionary off at the mayor’s office to facilitate and encourage council to seek facts and understanding about what Harm Reduction is and is not – and to express my support for Harm Reduction and making Abbotsford a healthier place for ALL who live in the City.
Should you have a dictionary you would like to spare for council………