Happy New Year 2024
“Blue Monday, 15 January 2024
January. Well, we made it through the holidays and all they represent – faith, hope, family, celebrations, beautiful and special meals – and have reached that time of reflection, a bit of loneliness, the rush to get back into the office/school and routine and of course, facing the bills. I will admit, it’s been difficult for me to get back into this routine of writing and translating for the monthly announcements, and the record cold temperatures in our part of the world has me wishing we could go back to that “global warming” theory.
One of my greatest pleasures this past season was the opportunity to get together with my sister-friend – actually a dear friend of my mother’s (another of those retired ministers). She and I managed a whole afternoon of conversation and hot chocolate that wound its way through faith, compassion, politics, vaccinations and how we have both recovered from winter respiratory illnesses. At times heated, and at other times consoling. But, for me, it was a chance to listen to a very intelligent and compassionate woman share perspective on topics that are important to both of us.
On the one hand, Rev. Sharon is a huge proponent of vaccination. In her experience her mother was a survivor of polio and spent a good part of her life partially physically disabled – certainly not mentally as she raised a large family. Sharon’s perspective is – still – that the polio vaccine helped eradicate this terrible disease and that she will always strongly support the use of vaccination. It is a topic on which we do not agree, but maintain a very strong respect for each other’s choices. During one particular part of our discussions, I let drop a few gems about how and why our Canadian Prime Minister was so anxious to mandate Covid vaccination for all Canadians . . . and that’s when Sharon looked at me and politely asked: “Where to do you find all this stuff?”
I simply couldn’t answer that off the top of my head. “Let me think about how to answer that, and can I get back to you?” It actually took me a couple of days to think about the topics we discussed and those that we actually disagreed about. Although personal for us, my response explains a great deal about how I approach my work with Praxis2Practice while I am “supposed to be” retired. Here’s an edited version of the answer I sent her:
“You asked about where I find this stuff, but then I am a researcher and have been researching within the field of biological medicine – and how it is affected by economic and political factors – for about 50 years. I follow at least 20 different daily “news” feeds and newsletters beyond my multiple medical journals, newsletters and online information sources. I too watch the CDC (US and Canada) along with VAERS, etc. The key is to sort through the propaganda, the news sources that supply all the networks (such as AP, Reuters, Blackrock), the government party line (from sources like our state owned media such as CBC) and the current alternate news media to find a median perception of events.
I appreciate so much how you call me on my responses sometimes. It’s almost a reset-button for me to critically re-think my stand. It’s refreshing to be able to discuss some of these issues with intelligence and not just emotion. I am well aware I’m looking at the world from the “wrong side” of the official news narrative – something that started when I was in my 20s and our fledgling little acupuncture school was shut down. We were “fined” 100s of thousands of dollars (in the 1970s) for being an illegal medical school when acupuncture was not yet considered the practice of medicine. We made front page news as the “quacks” pretending to be doctors, claiming to teach an unproven supposedly medical method without any training or experience. [All that when even at that age my husband, Walter Sturm, already had completed three doctoral degrees.] Simply put, our growing customer base of several thousands of international would-be acupuncturists threatened the control of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons. Every story has at least two perspectives, at least two perspectives of the “truth”, and I so frequently find myself watching the side which is not in agreement with the standard narrative.”
At this stage I realized I was rambling – poor Sharon, but she replied with a smile anyway. I find I think more clearly and methodically when I’m writing. It’s why I always work from notes when I lecture. At any rate, it’s been more than difficult for me to think of something uplifting and motivational for this traditional New Year commentary in view of the reality of enhanced restrictions, harassment and persecution* within the field of natural healing methods. I wonder – if we will ever recover from the many regulations and oversight that were enacted in response to the so-called “disinformation” of the pandemic era.
As an aside, in my often not-so-humble opinion, there is never an excuse for censorship – we can rate movies for +18 ages, but it doesn’t for example mean the movie has to be removed. The same applies to information about medicine, politics, sex or whatever. We are intelligent beings, and if we are truly free and democratic in this country then we need to stand up against all the use of “emergency powers” and the government dictated narrative to control its citizens and override our constitutional rights.
Anyway, can you believe it’s been 25 New Year’s Eves since Y2K – when we all held our breath as the clocks (and our computers) dutifully ticked over to 2000 and the change of the millennium? It was never really the “end of the world”, but what if we are actually and historically moving into that all encompassing and world altering transition now? This year?
Personally, I truly believe we are entering that period of time when the millennial transition is descending on us. There are so many changes, so much turmoil, so much division and so much discontent that I feel the political and economic framework of our culture globally will be permanently and radically altered in the coming months and year.
Only the future will show us how the politics, economics and WHO health care directives work out during this transitional time. And, it is going to be difficult to ethically and morally wend our way through the changes that face us in the coming year. For my New Year’s Resolution, I have personally refocused the majority of my attention toward completion of the OIRF legacy/library website. All other bigger projects will simply have to wait until those documents have been found, transformed into digital/web formats, categorized and uploaded onto the secure new site and it goes live.
All the year end journals have begun to arrive into my mail box, and I’m looking forward to scanning through the new editions in coming days. This will keep the monthly newsletters filled with new translations, and I send grateful thanks for the support and kind wishes I received from everyone over the Holiday Season. May the changes we experience and see over the coming year 2024 bring strength and acceptance to the amazing biological and energy medicine methods that are a great part of our practice and experience.
Happy New Year to all . . . be well and be healthy,
Carolyn