Only in Canada

This industrious and deliberate man built a beautiful pirate ship tree-house for his kids. It looks as though some neighbour complained. Now he has to take it down. Apparently it is in violation of by-laws.

Such instances of by-law enforcement seem like a microcosm of the Canadian Human Rights Commission: on what basis exactly is the tree-house to be taken down? Because the neighbour can see it, and thinks it an eye-sore? What goes into deciding whether something in a neighbour's yard is causing disturbance to the eyes? What are the building codes based on? What's the standard? Bland suburban mediocrity?

Take a look at the tree-house. It is not gaudy or painted livid yellow; it doesn't look like anything out of Disneyland. It is actually really well built and of natural wood. It looks unobtrusively poetic, that ship landed way up in the evergreen tree. If I was that man's neighbour, I would feel strangely grateful to be able to see such a thing.

But here in Canada, certain people "live by the rules". They don't seem to live by much else, save by the one standard of total indifference towards other people, kept intact through STCSFS: Sickeningly Tepid but Constantly Sustained Fear Syndrome. They usually like to call it Tolerance. Most of the time though, it likes to go unspoken; but tangibly present, it most certainly is. It is the Great Nullifier. The spirit likes to lurk especially at social gatherings, weaving an invisible thread through each person there, unifying them in one great bond of soft nullification.

An instance of it, which is yet somewhat different, is making the sign of the cross before you eat your food in a restaurant. You should try it sometime, even if you're not a Catholic. It's quite liberating. It's liberating both in the home and out of it. People who don’t make the sign of the cross in a restaurant but do so at home, do not reason thus to themselves: "I'm afraid of what others might think of me". But they reason thus: "I don't want to disturb the unspoken rules of this place and have people thinking that I'm busting out with the religious stuff out of some sort of strange religious defiance. I'm not a religious fanatic." Which is, pared down: "I'm afraid of what others might think of me".

They like to reason that at home they are religiously fine. But in public, all religion suddenly becomes fanaticism. That is due to a spirit. When I say 'spirit', I do not mean some vague and ethereal gas. I mean a spirit: an entity in rebellion in the spiritual realm. The realm we do not see but which gives this world material form.

I get off track. It is this general atmosphere which taints pretty much everyone: The atmospheric lie, which is a term coined by a published author. Anyhow, the microcosm. The small things that give a picture of the bigger things. By-law enforcement, and the followers-of-it-at-any-cost disciples.

They don't think what those rules might mean, or how those rules must run parallel with common sense. Like for instance, realizing that by-law enforcement can be appropriate for extremely noisome cases, such as say, your neighbour builds some monument that depends on your tool shed for support. But the same doesn't apply equally to all situations. Most of the time there is no "situation", just life. Enjoy it.

There was a person in Surrey living in one of those closely quartered living complexes who had to take down his Canadian flag due to by-law enforcement. It was in violation of the building codes or some other rules. Nope, no descrying here, or discriminating here. Don't bring your common sense. We can't have discernment. We can't be sure. We cannot specialize in localized cases with specific contexts like real human persons. It's the rules.

So, say no to the Great Nullifier. Do something unique for its own sake, because it gives glory to God. A pirate ship tree-house does that. So do a lot of other things.