Port Hardy to Banff

There are times when your mind constantly questions things, sometimes too many questions at once.  At other times, your mind is quiet, almost not there any more.  Having always been the type to question just about everything, my creative mind is always in motion, so I long for those moments of mental quietude.  It is amazing when those precious moments occur, not when you expect it; such was the case this evening.  While stopping off in Nanaimo, BC, to visit my friend Natalie, I accompanied her to her work at Miller's Pub.  While there, usually sitting alone, Natalie visiting between bussing tables and other jobs, my mind was quiet.  Not much going on, except the one thought of should I cancel my hostel bookings to be free from a schedule or should I keep it, so it could keep me on track.  Otherwise, my mind was quiet, surprisingly in the middle of a pub.

Conversations reigned supreme at the hostel last night, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Great Britain, United States, Canada, and the Ukraine were all represented.  Laughter about how difficult it is to learn English because of our many words that have the same meanings and the fact that we do not have masculine and feminine word directives.  The other concern was something I have been dwelling a good bit upon, why is it that the United States still teaches and uses the Imperial measurements instead of the universal, world-wide metric system?  It seems to me that the United States is no longer a leader, slowly becoming worse than what we consider third-world countries.  I make this statement mostly because of the lack of proper education of the people, for when the educational system fails, so does society.  I believe we should immediately stop teaching and using the imperial measurement system and make the change to the Metric system so we can actively compete, not to mention fit into, the rest of the world.  If the United States is to ever become a great leader again, then we cannot allow such presidents and government officials as we have had in the past dictate that we attack other countries for no good reason, other than their own personal issues for obtaining something (in this case, Iraq and Oil. - can we really call it a war, when we are not fighting that country?)  We cannot, as a country or nation, or even as individuals, live our lives through fear; such as the fear the Bushes and other bad political leaders have pushed onto the people in order to get them to attack another country without cause.

We has the people put these various politicians into office, and we have to hold them accountable.  Why is it that our Congress will begin impeachment hearings for an affair, but not for blatant lying to the public and congress?  Our system of government has failed!  It is time that we, the people, begin to accept that we have the responsibility to direct our country, not our politicians; we have for too long now allowed these people (mostly without any concern for the people they serve) to make decisions which have brought a once great nation down to its knees, and if nothing is done, we will indeed be worse than on our knees - lying face down in the gutter, worse than our perceptions of a third world country.

Having enjoyed dinner and a drink at Miller's Pub, I hiked over to the BC Ferries terminal to obtain my ticket for the ferry.  The ticket agent was kind and didn't charge me for the Ferry when I showed him that I had a Greyhound ticket already.  After walking aboard the ferry, I noticed the Greyhound bus just starting to load down below in the auto bay, so I descended the stairs, to see if I could catch the bus to talk with the bus driver.  The Canadian Greyhound staff are ever so polite, helpful, and kind.  The bus driver, informed me that the terminal would be closed upon my arrival and assisted me in tagging my bags for Banff, allowed me to put my bags on the bus, and then provided instructions about reboarding.  I do wish Greyhound in the United States could operate like they do up here.  Why is it that the same company operates so differently?

For now, I'm aboard the ferry and heading across through the darkness of night over to the mainland.  I think I'll sleep a bit since my mind is a bit quiet.