Bambi's Thoughts
This brief post is meant to express the following wishes:
May everyone who will be celebrating the 4th of July tomorrow have peace of mind, be safe, and as joyful as possible.
May the year ahead be filled with hope and happiness.
May wisdom, unity, freedom, peace, and prosperity prevail not just in the United States of America, but also in the neighbouring Canada and the entire world, including the Middle East.
Happy 4th of July to all wherever they are at home and abroad ❤️!
As many of you know, Bambi adores Mr. Kendji Girac whose songs are often featured on this blog.
On April 22nd, 2024, he and his family went through an ordeal that could have ended his life (https://shorturl.at/0OI9D). Thank Goodness, he has recovered. Indeed, he is on a healing journey and he wants to live, move forward, love, be loved, and sing again.
This post, which is meant to send this young and HIGHLY talented French singer/songwriter positive vibes across the ocean, will share his own heartfelt message while ending with his uplifting music.
Because Mr. Girac’s message is expressed in French, it will be followed by a quick English translation (thank you, Mr. Google Translate).
As for you Mr. Kendji Girac, please keep on taking good care… and BRAVO for your inspiring courage!
“I am so stressed and happy at the same time to address all of you.
Since my message of May 10, I have not given you any news because I had to take care of myself and think about what had happened to understand how I got to this point and, above all, make the right decisions for the future.
I also wanted to let justice do its work. Now that this is the case, I am keen, since I am better, to speak out. I am reaching out to you with my words to tell you how much I truly regret everything that happened.
Before the accident and for some time, I had developed bad habits. I had entered a spiral that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Despite the advice of those around me, I was not aware of it at all and unfortunately, I got lost.
All that is not part of me, I’m not a boy like that, that’s why I’m telling you that I got lost and that I want to apologize to you today.
I almost lost my life, the love of my family, my audience, my friends.
My daughter almost lost her father.
I don’t know what happened. So I don’t plan on doing all these things again, obviously. I want to go back to being the boy I am deep inside.
The most important thing is to learn from our mistakes. We can always get back up in life. The most important thing is to understand it. To get the needed help so we don’t start again. That’s actually what I’m doing today.
I also understood that there are a lot of people who love me: my family, my friends, my daughter, my wife, my audience. All of this is the centre of my life, this is why I want to apologize to those I have hurt, to whom I have caused pain. I never wanted that.
God gave me this second chance. And it’s not for nothing. It’s to make things more beautiful. Now it’s all behind me”.
From the bottom of her heart, Bambi thanks Dr. Gábor Lukács for giving her the permission to share with you all his very thoughtful article, which was published today on LinkedIn (https://shorturl.at/hmoin). July 1st is not over yet :). Happy Canada Day again and enjoy the rest of the week everyone ❤️!
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“A plea for restoring tolerance and ending division
For the past sixteen years, I have been fortunate to be able to keep my advocacy work and personal political views separate, and have deluded myself that I can keep doing so.
My wake-up call came on Canada Day 2024 in the seemingly benign signature line of an interview request, identifying the reporter as a “settler” in Canada. The reporter, whose work and intellect I greatly respect, seemed utterly oblivious that some people may find this terminology and the related identity politics offensive and divisive, and that it may make others feel unwelcome in Canada.
Perhaps it is my fault and the fault of other like-minded Canadians that we have remained silent for too long, and have allowed a vocal ideological fringe group to create the illusion that they are the majority and their views are what average Canadians believe. It is time to speak up.
I am an immigrant to Canada. I was born in Hungary, lived in Israel from age 8 to 16, and came to Canada by myself before my 17th birthday as an international student to do my PhD in mathematics at York University in Toronto. Back in 1999, York University was an amazing place that truly celebrated multiculturalism and diversity, provided spaces and venues for a wide range of political views, and had a large variety of student groups and clubs reflecting these values. In those days, students’ racial, ethnic, cultural, or national origins just did not matter at York. The unwritten rule was not to bring “political baggage” from our “old home” but to debate every topic, including sensitive ones, as academics.
Typical of those times, one of my non-academic mentors turned out to be the late Father Massey Lombardi, a Roman Catholic priest who kindly allowed me to practice my meager keyboard skills on the organ at his church. Father Lombardi’s best friend was a Jewish rabbi, and both of them accepted me as an atheist.
It was this culture of tolerance and acceptance, the urging of my amazing professors at York and of Father Lombardi, that persuaded me to apply for permanent residence in Canada. It is thanks to them that in 2005 I became a permanent resident, choosing Canada as my home, and that in 2009 I became a Canadian citizen. My intent was to be an equal among equals, nothing more and nothing less.
It is this culture of tolerance, acceptance, and equality that I am being robbed of gradually, over the past few years, and I am feeling increasingly unwelcome in Canada.
The reporter’s signature as a “settler” was the last straw. How ironic that it came on Canada Day.
If a person born and raised in Canada is a “settler,” a kind of second-class citizen, then what am I in Canada? A “newcomer”? A “hunky”? A third-class citizen? What happened to “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”?
Like any other country, Canada too is built on the ruins of injustices; but two wrongs do not make a right. Turning one group of Canadians into scapegoats and unwelcome second-class citizens is not the cure for the countless historic injustices committed against other groups; rather, it is bound to alienate allies, and ultimately members of marginalized groups will end up paying the price for being used as pawns on the political chessboard.
It is high time to restore the culture of tolerance, acceptance, and equality that used to nourish Canada, and to end the division and the pitting of Canadians against each other under the guise of identity politics.
Those who seek to “decolonize” Canada may wish to consider exercising their right under s. 6(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with particular emphasis on its last two words.
We, the silent majority, however, prefer to live in peace with our fellow Canadians, and have no interest in importing any culture war into our lives, workplaces, and cities.”
