- Major (Padre) Paul Gemmiti
Some Major Thoughts
I was recently promoted, and relatedly, became the 17 Wing Chaplain. I had been seven months as acting Wing Chaplain inclusive of most of my already wide AOR while on this chaplaincy team since September 2014. It made me reflect on how the word “major” is utilized in our armed forces and Canadian society; what may be truly “major” or somewhat “major” is influenced by our biased perspectives.
The current major crisis in Eastern Europe may be seen by some as being more disconcerting than the continuing world refugee crisis, reconciliation between indigenous or persecuted faith or cultural peoples within different countries, and joblessness or housing costs and rising inflation. What is major to you may not be so major to others.
Major family-structure breakdown and reconstituted families are part of what is wounding our once assumed stable social fabric. It also impacts who governs us and what major policies get implemented. The attempt to embrace a diversity of perspectives, ethics, and social values constitutes a major upheaval for current generations to come to terms with in moulding a future Canadian nation of people.
Major oil and fuel companies, as well as major resource extraction companies, are causing a major plight upon the well-being and stewardship of our only known livable planet. In part that is because a major component of our population continues in its irresponsible habits of assuming major rights and privileges of convenient roads, services, products, time, money, and decision making without concern for the animals that get destroyed or geological landscape that gets polluted for the purpose of our lifestyle expectations. As the classic saying goes…if you are not trying to be part of the (major) solution, then you are most likely part of the (major) problem.
Relatedly, major natural disasters seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity, but I believe that the Earth’s eco-systems are just trying to re-establish an equilibrium as we continue to interject far too much of our poor habits and indifference upon the natural world order and its other creature inhabitants.
During the last 70 or more years, the major world religions have been attempting to curb their major goal which had been to convert the whole world and instead are challenged to recognize mutual ways in which goodness, peace, justice, and well-being (love?) may be found as an integral part of the lives of all human beings; not just those who adhere to an identifiable faith.
And so, the major need to build new generational trust, courtesy, care, and well-being continues.
Knowing my limit of space to share my continuing thoughts, I will now conclude with a litany of major considerations…major movement, major incident, major injection, major dose, major pain, major offense, major turmoil, major loophole, major gap, major occurrence, major catastrophe, major episode, major opportunity, major joy, major gathering, major initiative, major highway, major conversion, major change-of-heart.