Spring moves quickly into summer and we all begin to emerge from our winter dens. This spring it is a bit different from the last two, Covid 19 has been downgraded to something a bit less than a pandemic. At least in most of Canada. In Manitoba we have seen less infections and less severe symptoms from contracting the virus. So we now start to move out into the world with a bit of caution and a pinch of trepidation. To mask or not to mask… Will I get my fourth dose? These are just a multitude of ways we are learning to adjust ourselves, once again listening to our inner authority on our next move.

I received a gift from a friend, to livestream the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert last evening. Daniel Raiskin the WSO’s Russian born Music Director opened the performance with an impassioned speech, via video, about the suffering of the Ukrainian people, the culpability of the Russian regime, and perhaps most surprisingly, the possibility of forgiveness. The message was poignant coming from Raiskin, whose wife had just made a harrowing escape from her childhood home in Ukraine.