Thousands of people all over the province and a couple dozen warriors of the ice will begin to sketch a new landscape on a fresh canvass, a clean slate, today.
Today is the day when change could sweep Ontario or the status quo may reign supreme as voters get to flock to the polls and cast their ballot for the premier of the province.
Tonight will also mark the first game of the season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, ready to take on a 54 year Stanley Cup drought and bring glory back to Yonge Street.
These two things have more in common than (ego) bruising fights, cheap shots and people in blue who haven't won anything significant in a while. They are both an example of clean slates, and that's what's so magnificent about them.
A fresh start, a blank canvass, a clean slate. Whatever name you prefer, it invokes a feeling of optimism, a shared hope for something better, something that you can have a hand in creating even if it's just to experience history or jump in the air with crazed excitement.
It offers the opportunity to participate, not only know that the slate is there, but to draw on it, critique it, have your voice heard by voting or yelling at the TV screen at the local bar.
So go out there and make a mark on the slate, or make a huge drawing and colour it in while you're at it. Every day can be a blank canvass ready for your ideas and goals and actions and passion to be dabbed, brushed and thrown on.
So I am grateful for blank slates. I am grateful for our democratic system that allows for citizens to wipe everything clean and plan together what the new one is going to look like. I am grateful for what we can't see on a clean slate, but what we can feel; hope and optimism and a call to action. Take advantage of the clean slates in life and give others a chance to erase their mistakes and draw a new picture. Most of all be proud of where you're from and go out and vote today, it's not too late!
Autumn leaves are nature's gift that keeps on giving.
Sadly I'm not talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs, who seem to be giving in to other teams every other game, but the leaves that are metamorphisizing, dancing and falling all over the place right now.
The other day I was looking out from the quad of my university along the Rideau Canal, I saw the trees lining the water waving their branches like flags of a dozen proud nations. All had different colours, different hues of red, orange, brown, yellow and green, like the trees had suddenly decided that with the sun deciding to sleep less and less these days that it was up to them to be vibrant and colourful.
It was a sight to see, but it wasn't just each individual tree that caught my eye, sparked my imagination and slowed my pace, but the way each tree covered in beautiful colours came together to create a huge living canvas right in front of me. I guess the individual trees coming together to create an amazing, hopeful and inspiration event could teach us all something about ourselves too.
But the leaves don't just stop there. One of my favourite smells in the entire world is the smell of fallen leaves when autumn comes around. It is the smell that reminds me of Thanksgiving turkey and mashed potatoes, of family sitting around the living room talking and laughing and of friends reminiscing about old memories while sipping on some nice pumpkin beer. Most of all it reminds me that falling down isn't always the worst thing that can happen.
So I am grateful for autumn leaves. For the beauty in their colours, the joy in their smell and the lessons they can teach.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are playing what is probably their tenth straight must win game tonight and while such repetition usually leads to drooping eyes and stifled yawns from myself, I can't get enough of the Leafs' quest for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
In my opinion, rarely are there a series of events more captivating than a late season push for the playoffs by my favourite team in the world.
The thrill of every goal, every come from behind win, every final second save by the Leafs is a rush that I think I may be addicted to. No wonder there's millions of fans cheering for a team that hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 44 years. They aren't crazy, they just have addictive personalities.
I am grateful for this wonderful, chest thumping, at times maddening, dash for the playoffs my Maple Leafs are making. It gives me hope, it gives me something to cheer about, it gives me pride in something and most importantly it lets me laugh at Ottawa Senators fans because they probably won't see anything resembling the playoffs for quite some time. So go for it Leafs, give it all you got, I'll be watching the whole thing and no matter what, I'll still love you even if you don't win for another 44 years.
