People like this BLOG, because I seem to be able to put into words what a great many people are thinking. ALSO . . . I AM ONE OF YOU.
I tell you things that are generally intimate, because I don’t want anyone reading this BLOG to think that I am special, privileged, or really that much different than the people whom I try to reach.
Anne and I struggle every day like most of you do, just trying to get by. We worry about everything you worry about. We worry about income, our business, our own health, our animals, our family and friends . . . and a runaway government that is burying us in debt and regulations, taking away the FREEDOMS we cherish.
This is one very leaky boat, in which we are all living, where some of us are doing our share to paddle as best we can, bail water as fast as we can, and navigate with a moral compass. While so many others do nothing other than to get in the way, while benefitting from the few of us who do everything.
I am very touched by the outpouring of COMMENTS and emails I’ve received concerning the last editorial, which discussed the change of lifestyle for Anne and myself, with a very possible move for us South to the USA.
BUT IT SEEMS AS THOUGH SOME PEOPLE HAVE THE WRONG IMPRESSION:
1 – No matter what Anne and I decide to do, whether we stay in Canada or move South of the Border, I WILL CONTINUE TO WRITE, and there will be NO CHANGE to Galganov.com or my passion for social and political ACTIVISM . . . NONE WHATSOEVER.
2 – People are saddened that Anne and I are selling our beautiful FARM, which we built out of nothing eight years ago . . . DON’T BE.
We love the property beyond words, and know the rocks, ponds and trees throughout the 5-mile trail system we created, but we’re getting too old to maintain the property as it deserves to be maintained.
It’s very hard emotionally, to admit that we’re getting older and incapable of expending the same energy today as we did yesterday. But, as I crawl under the HAY MAKING equipment and tractor to grease and tune the equipment, it’s more difficult for me to get back on my feet and straighten out without some pain.
A few weeks ago, I had to carry a back-pack sprayer to ROUND-UP areas under the horse fencing and around trees to prevent the growth of weeds and grass. The sprayer pack weighed about 50-pounds full.
And after carrying two packs . . . spraying for about an hour, I was in real pain for two days. And now I have to walk 5-miles of trails doing the same.
We’re also about two weeks from making HAY, which at best is no easy task.
And then there’s the grass cutting, weed-whacking, horse stall mucking . . . etcetera, etcetera, and etcetera. IT NEVER ENDS.
I’M NOT EIGHTEEN ANY MORE . . . I’M NOT EVEN FIFTY ANY MORE:
When I was younger, not even that much younger, this wasn’t work. It was a pleasure. It was like my own personal playground . . . but not any more. So we’re selling.
As for the likelihood of us moving to the USA, it is not because we hate Canada, or think Canada is not a good country, because Canada is a very good country; we would be leaving for better weather and a MORE politically Conservative environment.
All said . . . it is Anne’s choice that we stay in the wonderful community where we currently live for one more year, build a new home on a beautiful Wooded Acre Lot we have immediate access to, and then sell it. Then we’ll decide where and when. But we’re still having this debate.
At our age of SIXTY-THREE for Anne (who is still really HOT) . . . and SIXTY-FOUR for me (who is NOT), we decided to give ourselves LESS home maintenance obligations, and more opportunity to relax somewhat, to enjoy some of the simpler things of life.
If we don’t move SOUTH this year, it is likely that we will rent something in Florida for most of the winter, where I will be able to ride my Motorcycle, while Anne drives her Miata Sports Car away from the snow.
At our age(s), we are coming to a fork in the road, where we have to carefully decide how to face reality, because there is no getting away from getting older, and people who try to beat the clock, very often just wind-up beating themselves.
I want to be functional to the day I die. I want to continue to write and advocate for the people who want to fight, but don’t have the voice to do so. I want to continue being that voice.
I want to continue shouting from the rooftops, and leading initiatives that might make a difference, even if they appear to be tilting at windmills. But I can’t do any of this if I’m mentally and physically exhausted.
LIKE THE KENNEY ROGERS SONG SAYS . . . You have to know when to hold them, when to fold them, and when to walk away.
I’ve been taking a beating for most of my life: I had my first full time job when I was just 12 years old, working in a sporting goods store after school Monday through Friday, and then on Saturday too. AND FROM THEN-ON, I NEVER STOPPED WORKING FULL TIME. I can actually count the number of vacations I’ve had in my entire life.
I had the greatest parents in the world, who would have rolled-over and died for their children, but, cash was always twenty-five cents short to the dollar in our household. So whatever money I earned till the day Anne and I married, went into the household. That’s a lot of stress for a young person.
I was always involved in the community, helping those who needed help, whether it was coaching little league football, feeding school children, sheltering the homeless, helping the elderly, and protecting abused women and abused animals, I WAS ALWAYS THERE IN A BIG WAY.
When it came to fighting ethnocentric nationalism in Canada (Quebec), I was the POSTER BOY for being hated by the Quebecois Nationalists like none other. To the point, where we were compelled to live with armed bodyguards, 24/7, specifically to protect Anne, the horses and the farm, over a period of several years at our own cost.
Even in Ontario, which is NINETY-SIX percent English speaking, where the French community is at best FOUR percent, they are using TYRANNY of the MINORITY to force AFFIRMATIVE Action, that hugely discriminates against the English majority, where in communities close to Ottawa, where there is a large French presence, it is AGAINST THE LAW to have ENGLISH only on commercial signs . . .
. . . I STEPPED IN WITH BOTH FEET AS I ALWAYS DO.
I fought this disgraceful law that DEFIED Canada’s Charter of Rights and FREEDOMS, all the way to the Ontario Court of Appeal, to where afterwards, the GUTLESS Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear it because they didn’t want to have to make a decision, to the point, that in addition to me spending upwards of $125,000 on my lawyers, I was ordered to pay as much as $300,000 to the lawyers representing the anti Constitutional language BIGOTS.
There are many ways for the BAD-GUYS to stifle opposition . . . BURYING the voice of FREEDOM in debt by using the public purse in a long protracted and very expensive court battle is one of their more effective strategies.
WE SHOULD ALL TAKE PERSONAL INVENTORY FROM TIME TO TIME:
At one point, you have to take a step back and view the BIG PICTURE. And that’s what Anne and I did, which we are still doing. We are indeed making HUGE life changing decisions for the BETTER, because, we just can’t keep going down this path.
Those of you who have been reading this BLOG since this January (2014), know that I had a mini-stroke in the first week of the New Year, that caused Anne and myself no shortage of trepidation. We were genuinely scared that our life together would suddenly change so much for the worst, that we couldn’t even imagine what our life would look like in the VERY near future.
DON’T TAKE LIFE FOR GRANTED:
Not only did I survive the min-stroke . . . I recovered, which set the stage for this new personal evaluation. LIFE doesn’t necessarily give multiple chances, so, when you’re given a second chance, it shouldn’t be taken for granted.
In adding up the stresses on our life together . . . the physical challenge to maintaining the farm. The never ending fight against the intrusive LEFT, and the $300,000 non-appealable ruling from the bench for costs in a court case that should never have happened – we had to make hard decisions. AND WE DID.
Moving from the farm will give us a FREEDOM we haven’t had for many years, since we’ve been caring for the horses on our own properties since the early 1990’s.
AND DON’T WORRY . . . WE’RE NOT GIVING THEM UP. The horses will be cared for in the lap of luxury for the rest of their lives, on a horse-farm where we will board them, which is owned and run by very good friends of ours.
I have also made a painful personal choice to rid myself of the $300,000 court imposed cost, which no one should have to make, who has worked hard his or her entire life. But that’s the cost I was willing to pay to fight for the FREEDOM of all people who want to be FREE and need a champion. And if need be, I would pay it again.
I am also going to embark on a different path towards raising revenue for my lifestyle and NON-PROFIT Corporations, which I will make public shortly.
In the meantime, Anne and I are making arrangements to change our lives for the better, while I continue to do what I love doing the most . . . WRITING AND ADVOCATING, which I can now do better, without the physical, psychological and financial anchors that were weighing us down.
You have no idea how appreciative I am for your incredibly supportive COMMENTS and emails. And so readers of this editorial should know . . . some of the emails I received came with REAL offers, giving Anne and myself FREE land to build on as a gift, if we decided to move to where these people lived.
Words can’t even begin to express our gratitude.
THANK YOU.
Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov
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From your mouth to G-D’s ears.
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