My Stay In Winnipeg, Manitoba
I just returned from 12 days on the road with my Mother, yes, my Mother. I love my Mother, she’s 71 and is the most fun to be with on a road trip, we travelled from British Columbia to Manitoba. The drive was a marathon, 26 hours, which we did in two days coming back to my home in British Columbia. I learned things about my Mother no child should ever want to know, but I won’t share that with you here. I’ll be sharing about this trip in a series of blog posts, I hope they make you think.
On my journey, I learned a great deal about people and what I do, I was shocked to find out how we as a people in a country of this size don’t really care or want to participate in building a future. We want the future, we know there is a future, and we hope it makes our lives easier, but will we be able to do less and get more.
The hotel (Canad Inn) I was living in for the past week in Winnipeg was a nice location and a big facility, nice big rooms (FREE WI-FI), huge Flat Screen HDTVs, Restaurant, Room Service, a Hot Tub & Swimming, Meeting Rooms, Banquet Facilities, it had it all, even a Mini – Casino that was open from 9AM – 2AM! You didn’t have to leave the place, even grocery shopping was next door. In the restaurant, you only had to sit a short while and you could tell who the regulars were, everyone knew them by name it seemed. A small network of people in this hotel world we were all living in, no one, and I mean no one talked about the future or technology or anything of real interest to me. They were all talking about they’re lives, what they were going through, who they were working for and who they were hanging out with these days. I suddenly felt all alone, what I was there for was not needed, nor did anyone care what I was doing in Winnipeg. Even my waitress wasn’t excited to see me, she was going to give birth soon so you can tell what she was talking about with me. But for the most part, they just wanted to get to the Casino….why? Money of course, so they could escape the world they are in.
My epiphany, there are so many who are merely doing or living a work-style instead of a life-style, they talked about they’re life, but felt like they couldn’t participate in it, it was something happening to them, they were all working so hard, working for weekends & holidays. The future was something that was going to happen to them, and they hope things get easier, easier to slow the world down and easier to control the life they have. That’s a broken way of living to me, if you are working for weekends & holidays, your shit is broken….so why don’t we stop and do something about it?
I would be having coffee or breakfast and someone would always, as if on Que, where are you from and what brings you to Winnipeg? I would share two things, I’m from British Columbia and I drove my Mother here. Then…the big question, what do you do for a living….I always respond sarcastically with, ” as little as possible “. They keep pressing and I try to explain how I try to help businesses and individuals adopt the future of technology and build business models to increase revenues. A blank stare and a, ” oh that sounds like fun “. No, it’s hard work, but it’s work I fit into my life, it does not define or consume my life.
Working to live is a hopeless way to carry on, but that’s changing, I see future generations wanting the lifestyle without the work, that sounds wrong too! Rewards and work go hand in hand don’t they? Can you have the rewards and not have to work for them? Maybe that’s why we buy lottery tickets, go to Casino’s and Bingo Halls, we want to get that big pile of cash so we can life a different life than we are living now. In fact, we bank our future’s on winning that money rather than participating in building the future each one of us wants.
I beg of you Winnipeg, and all of Canada, lift your head up, look forward, look to the future, observe what is happening around you, and start building the future you want to live in. Let’s help one another find a better way to go from a Work-style to a Life-style.
Is it me or am I all alone here?
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I’m going to have to disagree with you on a few points… Staying in a Canad-Inn with a in-house casino gives a poor snap shot of the individuals in Winnipeg and their drive for advancement personally and professionally. As an ex-Winnipeger destined for a vacation in the city this Thanksgiving weekend, spending formative years in the city (and not at a Canad-Inn) I found individuals willing for change, striving for the future endeavours of their children and not just sinking money into the roulette table. I agree a majority of people nationwide adopt this approach, however as an Echo Boomer I think may individuals are continuing the pursuit of the Canadian dream and our nation’s ideology, not just chasing paychecks.
Looking forward to the next blog entries on my hometown! 🙂
I’m going to have to disagree with you on a few points… Staying in a Canad-Inn with a in-house casino gives a poor snap shot of the individuals in Winnipeg and their drive for advancement personally and professionally. As an ex-Winnipeger destined for a vacation in the city this Thanksgiving weekend, spending formative years in the city (and not at a Canad-Inn) I found individuals willing for change, striving for the future endeavours of their children and not just sinking money into the roulette table. I agree a majority of people nationwide adopt this approach, however as an Echo Boomer I think may individuals are continuing the pursuit of the Canadian dream and our nation’s ideology, not just chasing paychecks.
Looking forward to the next blog entries on my hometown! 🙂
Amen and amen, Owen. Working for the weekend is a sad, dichotomized existence. Much better, me thinks, to integrate and harmonize work and life. Of course, there must be some separation or else you can never take a break. I hope you’ll tell us more about what lifting our heads means.
Great stuff here.
Amen and amen, Owen. Working for the weekend is a sad, dichotomized existence. Much better, me thinks, to integrate and harmonize work and life. Of course, there must be some separation or else you can never take a break. I hope you’ll tell us more about what lifting our heads means.
Great stuff here.
Hi,
Thanks for leaving a comment. This perspective is all mine, it was my experience on this trip….you will find I say things in generalities so every once and a while I ruffle feathers : )
Having siad that, I have found most Canadians open & willing to adopt a newer more fresh future, but most are unwilling to get out of their comfort zone to make it happen. Hence, they wait till something happens that forces them to change. Just my perspective and I’m always going to look forward to yours : )
Thankls again,
Owen
Hi,
Thanks for leaving a comment. This perspective is all mine, it was my experience on this trip….you will find I say things in generalities so every once and a while I ruffle feathers : )
Having siad that, I have found most Canadians open & willing to adopt a newer more fresh future, but most are unwilling to get out of their comfort zone to make it happen. Hence, they wait till something happens that forces them to change. Just my perspective and I’m always going to look forward to yours : )
Thankls again,
Owen
Hey Grant,
I think we are going to see a huge shift to what I touched on, we will make work fit into our life style, currently the opposite is still going on. We work rediculous hours to have a some sense of lifestyle, I’m not interested in that for me & mine.
Good to hear from you again,
Owen
Hey Grant,
I think we are going to see a huge shift to what I touched on, we will make work fit into our life style, currently the opposite is still going on. We work rediculous hours to have a some sense of lifestyle, I’m not interested in that for me & mine.
Good to hear from you again,
Owen
Owen, working and killing yourself for sake of doing that is not a good thing. It is not a good way to exist. I worked in an environment for 15 years that consumed me every day and this was not good for me, my family or my health. I think what we need to look at is making the best possible lives for ourself as possible. At the end of the day would be talking about our work or how fulfilling our lives are.
Owen, working and killing yourself for sake of doing that is not a good thing. It is not a good way to exist. I worked in an environment for 15 years that consumed me every day and this was not good for me, my family or my health. I think what we need to look at is making the best possible lives for ourself as possible. At the end of the day would be talking about our work or how fulfilling our lives are.