The Nothingness of Being

Ronald Green, in his book Nothing Matters, makes a distinction between nothing and nothingness. Nothing, he claims, is the absence of everything, whereas nothingness is the absence of something. An important distinction. But how do we distinguish, then, between something and nothingness?  How much room is there in the human consciousness? For everything added, must […]

I’m sorry … I’m Canadian

It is said that Canadians apologize all of the time, even when there is no reason for apology. Why is it then that I don’t feel the urge to do the same? Could it be that I have lived so long in Israel that this essential part of my Canadian identity has been erased? Israelis […]

Pardon me while I check if I exist

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy my privacy … that is, if I really have a choice between being alone or being with others. Isn’t that what it is all about … choices? Last night there was a power blackout in our small community down here in the desert. Started in the evening […]

Am I an expat, really?

It took me over 35 years of living in Israel before I took on the name of expat. But can I really claim this title after having lived abroad for so many years? If it weren’t for this blog, I probably wouldn’t have adopted this title even now. In my online search for similar ramblings […]

Just how English are you?

 Don’t you love ambiguous sentences? One of my favourites is “The peasants are revolting.” Interpretation often depends on your point of view. Sometimes we even miss the ambiguity. We can roll these linguistic creations around on our tongue and dissect them, right down to their deep structure. I used to love creating and labeling each […]