Mustard Plasters: Facing “tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes”!

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Today’s Blog Post


Mustard Plasters: Facing “tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes”!
It is a fantasy I know but I hold to it. I actually believe that by writing down what I see, am reacting to, and am thinking that someone will listen and perhaps consider the point of view offered. The actual fantasy turns to be a pipe dream when I think the countries leaders would listen.

Believe it or not they do actually listen but never hear. I have evidence of that. But I don’t want to put them down. I just point to the fact.

It doesn’t stop me from describing the obvious however.

I point to two different inputs I have received in the last 24 hours. There has been more that two – but two is enough for this posting.

First, I point to Chantal Hébert who writes from Montreal as a National Columnist. This particular article appears in today’s “Star” newspaper. The article is super as she reflects on what has happened in Montreal this past weekend.

Yesterday I referred to this Liberal Conference, the Thinker’s Conference, pulled together but Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Leader of their party.

Mike is gutsy to say the least. He has asked people that are experts in their fields to speak honestly to the Liberal Party Leadership. And boy did they ever speak honestly… maybe way more than the actual leadership of that party would have liked it to happen.

Pausing for a moment and thinking it through. The entire conference was well aired and given tremendous press and air time in the media. The speakers didn’t mince their words but spoke from the heart. And everyone was listening, including their opponents, the Conservative and NDP(new Democratic Party) – as well as the rest of us.

If there was ever an opportunity to have the vulnerability of your opponent exposed it was this one.

Chantal Hébert reported in her that article that…
Quote…
“If there was a thread between the presentations, it is that the Liberals will not be able to address tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes. On the contrary, the notion that the party's recent spell in power was a policy golden age was rather systematically debunked.

On health care for instance, the point was repeatedly made that the failure of recent Liberal governments to tackle the structural defects of the medicare financing model had left the system unequipped to deal with the upcoming double challenge of shrinking government revenues and a demographic shift to an older society.”
End quote

The words that Chantal used stated the obvious, “not be able to address tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes” that stands out so clear.

That is so blatantly obvious to all of Canada. But it is not only the Federal Liberal programming and policies, it is everywhere… through the whole of the society. We try to fix today’s ailments by using yesterday’s medicine.

Mustard Plasters
In my family’s history and the way that we used to do things is a good example. As kids we used to get colds and the flu. A common family remedy that my mom used was the infamous “Mustard Plaster” that was applied to the center of series of wet rags, wrapped securely and then laid on the victim’s chest. A burning sensation came from the hot compress that was eating at your chest. Undoubtedly you went to sleep. But then you woke with this slimy and cold compress on your chest… if you moved or stirred you would get a second compress under the cover with you… IF THERE WAS ANY SKIN LEFT ON YOUR CHEST!

Wikipedia states the following about Mustard Palsters…
Quote…
A mustard plaster is a poultice of mustard seed powder spread inside a protective dressing and applied to the chest or abdomen to stimulate healing. In times past and present, the mixture was spread onto a cloth and applied to the chest or back. The mustard paste itself should never make contact with the skin. Applied externally, black mustard is used in the treatment of bronchial pneumonia and pleurisy.

Mustard oil irritates mucous membranes; therefore, excessive internal use has been known to cause stomach problems and kidney irritation[citation needed]. Breathing the vapors of a mustard plaster can trigger sneezing, coughing, asthma attacks, or eye irritation. Leaving a mustard plaster on the bare skin for too long will lead to burning, blisters, or potentially even ulcers. A mustard plaster should never be left on for longer than 30 minutes. The actual mustard paste never comes in direct contact with the skin, just the cloth on which it is spread.

A typical mustard plaster recipe includes powdered mustard (amounts vary from recipe to recipe) and flour combined with water or egg white. This is then spread on a layer of cotton or flannel cloth and placed on the body. Some old sources suggest that the mustard powder be blended with egg white rather than water to prevent blistering of the skin.

Mustard plasters should not be used on children under the age of 6. Black mustard should not be used in patients with ulcers, venous problems, or kidney disease.
End Quote…

I never knew enough to question my mother. Her mother and her grandmothers and great grandmothers had all used this method since it was first thought up – by whoever. It was a very old answer to today and “tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes”.

What was really working back then was the fact that you stayed in bed until the fever broke naturally. But the focus was the remedy that someone had thought up.

In today’s government and all parties, the two things that held to hard and fast is….
1. Blame the other parties for the present problems…
2. Hold to what we always have done this way as the supreme answer…

If my mom kept doing that in the more modern days, and if I had picked that “Mustard Plaster” idea up to use it in my generation, we would never go to the Doctor when we are sick today. Pharmacists and Chemists would have never developed more modern Anti-biotic.

Thank God she didn’t stay the stuck in the old way!

I said earlier in this posting that there were Two things that had come my way… here is the second from my friend David Grant who posted his comment on what I wrote yesterday.
Quote…
“In the days of a shrinking economy and higher taxes it really is overwhelming to be looking ahead to the "golden" years. People were taught that security was a worthwhile goal only to find out that someone moved the goal line. The challenge is that we don't know how to do things differently. But it's even more than we don't know how, we don't know how to think differently.

I see more and more people acting like deer caught in the headlights. They are immobilized, a lot of them are praying but they aren't praying for something to change inside of themselves. They are praying for solutions that don't require any personal involvement or initiative.

Our dependency on the "system" is now complete. The ideas of vision, helping others, teamwork, equality and personal dignity have been abandoned as we fearfully wait our impending doom.

Is that how it is supposed to be? It is if security is what you sought all your life. There are answers but only if people choose to not live in isolation and learn to trust each other again.”
End Quote..

David have you ever described what I am seeing as well. That is our Canadian Population entirely. We on mass have adopted this attitude. And I am one of them for sure.

And David what a perfect setting for facing “tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes”!

Locally…
Our Peterborough Petes Hockey Team is an amazing group of guys that try their hearts out to win. They skate hard, they play well, and they do everything imaginable to win. This recent season and run up to the playoffs, then the play offs was a horrible nightmare of these young guys… as well as their coaches and management. They lost almost everything with good reasons.

The local TV interviewers caught the local reaction from the fat, old guys in the stands that know everything there is to know about hockey. The interviewer asked the leading question of “loyal fans” as they exited the last game where the local team lost yet again, “What do you think should be done to help this team win again?”

Almost all of the interviewees stated that “we should” FIRE the Coach and the General Manager! The age old prescription “blame some one else”, and “take out your frustration on someone else”.

As you can see I am not impressed with the local reaction of arm chair, fat seated blow offs.

The real answer is to recruit new players and build a better team… with maybe more money from the arm chair, fat seated blow offs to support what needs to be done. If everyone would stick together what an amazing team, our team, would be.

That is what happened in the other places the winning teams came from! They stuck together and did their best and… WON!

I am not writing about hockey but rather facing “tomorrow's challenges with yesterday's recipes”!

Is politics and sports the only area that this happens in? Nope… you should hear my stories about Church… but that is another posting someday. Hokey Mokey!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

Source:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/786553--thinkers-conference-tough-questions-few-answers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustard_plaster