Author: bmmcmanus

The word space is interesting. It is used in many contexts…..the amount of room there between molecules, cells, tissues, organs, beings, building structures, roads, towns, hills, valleys, provinces, countries, lakes, oceans, streams, continents, islands, planets, galaxies, and perhaps universes, deep space. Space is also used to denote an arena of activity such as fashion, science, politics, literature. Space is used to describe the positioning in time, as well as in space…….so “what comes first, second, third, and so on, and at what interval of time”. Space is not context, as things contract and expand according to thermodynamic properties, elasticity, and sites of measurement. Space is also conceptual, created by architectural design, by painting techniques, by the mind’s eye and vantage point in a room, a yard, a roadway, a horizon. Space, or the amount of space one perceives as having, depends in part on what space one is used to having for living, for work, for pleasure.

It is this latter point I would like to develop a little further. As a child growing up on a large mixed grain farm in the prairies, my world of space was large. It was seemingly unlimited.  It was not contained within our relatively small farm house, but rather it included the whole farm yard and its buildings, the thousands of acres we farmed, the municipality, the neighbouring towns, and a really big sky. We also had a sense of deep space because the stars were highly visible in a big vista without interference from artificial city lights.  We were astronomers. Wow!

The lack of crowds out on the farm also made space seemingly expand. Once I had migrated to urban areas, across North America, and around the world, I left all of that mega-space behind. I settled for closer quarters, more people around, a smaller view of the horizon, very few stars seen, a closed in space. The homes I lived in varied in size from a few hundred to a few thousand square feet, but the space around any of them was generally smaller in day or night than where I grew up.  The few exceptions would come in the mountains (where I was married), by the ocean (such as at Barking Sands Beach), or when I journeyed back to the prairies.

I have learned to live in less space.  The world is cluttered with people and their creations – urbanized communities, many roadways including those with cars and trucks, those with overland or underground rapid transit, service vehicles for personal or commercial purposes. We have done the same in the stratosphere where we fly all of those planes. And, further above we have left a lot of dead satellites in the space to clutter that space. It is the nature of humans to take up space, to expand to fill the space, to put garbage or debris adrift.

My family and I have lived in variously sized homes….7 acres with a 4,000 square foot house, smaller houses on less land, owned and rented, townhouses with 1,500 square feet, duplexes with 2,000 square feet, and an apartment of 550 square feet. The apartment is interesting because it includes another 200 square feet of enclosed patio with trees, shrubs, flowers, a fountain and private space for sitting. The amazing thing is that our apartment feels comfortable, the right size, the right amount of space.  This is even though there often are three people living in it, or at least two people and others occasionally visiting and staying overnight. Yet, there is a fully functional kitchen, south facing windows for good light, a lovely bathroom with a super shower, room for a king-sized bed, a small bed for guests, a warming fireplace, a couch, an entertainment centre, and a desk. This does not include the washer-dryer space, the closet space, the space for coats, hats and shoes, space for a cluster of plants, book shelves, chairs, footrests, art pieces.

We like our space.  It is complemented by the walking space we have at the beach, in the forest, on the golf courses, along boulevards, in our minds. We are able to expand and contract our space in so many ways – through imagination, through rearrangement of furniture, through travel, through knowing just how much space there is in our total existence.  It is huge. Our apartment is just a sliver of the space we occupy mentally, spiritually and physically.  Ahhhh!  Thanks for all of this space!

 

In these quiet moments near the terminus of 2017 it is energizing to think about what is possible in the coming 12 months. There is so much that needs to be done, by so many, for so many.  Opportunity is knocking loudly.

The world is in need of sanity, of humanity, of humility. There is so much inequity, brutality, poverty, depravity. There is so much unnecessary death, disablement and disenfranchisement.

It is curious that cultures, traditions, biological roots and political systems are aimed at creating great gaps in well-being. Of course, if one thinks about the prey-predator relationships that define the nature of ecosystems, one can understand how the need to rule, to control, to oppress is a long-standing characteristic of living things. Part of what we are biologically is this thing called the “survival of the fittest”.  We arose as species and societies by being self-sustaining, and sometimes violently so.

Yet, one has also believed that the human species had evolved to suppress the urge to kill, maim and harm other beings just because one can.  Our evolved minds and spiritual perspectives help us forward as a kinder, gentler species, one which is intending to do the “right” thing for as many people and creatures as possible. There are many local, regional, national and global efforts to improve the quality of human behaviour, to augment the societal fabric through the provision of food, shelter, education and chances to grow for all in our mix. These forces for good, which take the form of small, medium and large organizations in the public, private, charitable and governmental sectors are in an ongoing battle to override the negative forces that arise in bigoted, racist, religiously zealoted, hateful and polarizing people and factions. It is a big job.  It takes more time and energy than one could ever imagine.  But it must be pursued for the good of humankind, for the good of all living things, for the survival of our planet, and for that elusively irritating desire for comparative peace in a world of turbulence and turmoil.

Stay the course in 2018.  Go forward with a happy, fulsome heart. Lift up. Help up. Laugh out loud and occasionally, but regularly hug your fellow beings and your dogs!

Many activities can cause physical damage to a human body. Not the least of these are so-called “contact” sports.  For sure, sports with contact, hard contact, have a way of leading to broken bones.

Having grown up in an ice hockey culture, I have taken the idea of physical injury for granted. Indeed, when I was a youth playing my first hockey, we had flimsy gear and no head protection. We seemed to survive, with a few stitches and bruises.  But now that I observe the dramatic impact of body checks and fast flying pucks on players, it gives me pause. Each of the injuries, especially with a fracture, hairline or more prominent, takes 6-8 weeks to fully heal.  And, it usually means a player cannot train during the rehabilitation period like he or she normally would.

The Vancouver Canucks began this season with a surprisingly good performance, based on good coaching, good young players and good execution by a few seasoned veterans. The team was exceeding expectations by quite a margin.  The team was fun to watch…..fast, productive and successful many nights.

But, with the jamming of Bo Horvat’s ankle, with fracture, the puck in the face shot on Sven Baertschi, with fractured jaw, with a good slam into the boards of Eric Gudbranson and probably broken ribs, and now Brock Boeser’s blocked shot attempt leading to severe ankle injury, the Canucks are in big trouble.  Not to mention Chris Tanev being out with strained groin and Derek Dorsett being permanently sidelined with a dangerous neck injury…….

The game of ice hockey is not unique in its physicality of course.  Sports like Aussie Rules Football, North American Football, Soccer, Rugby and other less highlighted sports like Lacrosse, put many players out of action for parts or all of seasons.

There does not seem to be a way to prevent these injuries when the inherent nature of the game is quite violent.  The players accept it.  We as spectators support it.  But is changes lives, changes seasons, and changes the comfort one feels while sitting in a chair watching the modern-day gladiators battle.  We are more civilized than in days gone by, but not without the conundrum of societal endorsement of violent sport as an outlet for human aggression.

Fire is our friend in many circumstances.  Perhaps the most obvious of these situations of excruciating need for fire can be understand by glancing at the sun.  Our star, the sun, keeps us alive as a planet of diverse species.  For a few more hundreds of millions of years I am told.

Fire is of course important in our ovens, on our stoves, in our fireplaces, in our campgrounds. But with a changing planet, that (as I have written in prior blogs) is unhappy with the way we have disregarded the impact of fossil fuel combustion, is biting back in a harsh and relentless way.  On many continents, wild fires, in the forests or the grasslands, are devastating communities, wildlife, people.  Lives are being lost, of humans and other animals.  Billions of dollars of property is being erased. Our sensibilities are being shaken.

As long as we lead the world, diverse countries and other smaller geopolitical units by whim, ideology and frank stupidity, we shall burn.  The question is – is it too late?  My thoughts and feelings are with the front-line fire fighters, with those being burned and with a planet that needs our genuine complicity in caring.

I am not speaking of fish scales here, even though they are interesting in their own right. I am not speaking of weigh scales like one might find in a bathroom, a hardware store, a grain elevator or an interstate checkpoint for big trucks.  They are all interesting.

I am speaking about the utterly incomprehensible levels of scaling that exists from the sub-atomic to atomic to molecular to multi-molecular to cellular to tissues to organs to bodies to social networks to communities to regions to archipelagos to islands to continents and oceans to planets to solar systems to galaxies to universes.  None of these thoughts are new for anyone really, but on certain days I look out the window at work thinking of the people scurrying around, the big cranes rotating, horns beeping, birds swooping, clouds evolving and the sun heating, and think just how complex the system of existence is, even as a physical system, even in a small corner of it.  And, then when one adds in the other more intangible dimensions of spiritual, astronomical, geological, natural and synthetic alterations ongoing, it simply blows the mind.

Why is this a worthwhile reflection….for me because it reminds us of our smallness, our tiny roles in big pictures, our finite times and spaces, or little wiggle of the “needle” of being.  It helps one to recall in capital letters the word HUMILITY, and it makes some of the behaviour we see in person or on electronic media seem like such a childish facet of a big world where we need to use our split-seconds of time for more good, more kindness.

When one looks at scales, we are neither the most fascinating of the small or the large.  We are just in between. We are fortunate but should stop thinking so often that we are exceptional.

All week we have been in a fog. An air inversion has accompanied the high pressure here on the coast. The eerie appearance of the city and the bay in this dense low-hanging cloud of moisture makes it feel like Halloween or some strange far away planet. In this shroud, one feels quiet and isolated from the cacophony of daily life.  Vehicles pass in and out of view like fish slipping through murky water. Planes are heard but never seen.  Fog horns call out across the water. Dampness pervades the air, the grass, the senescent leaves of deciduous trees, the sidewalks and the streets. The potential for a really warm day is muted by blocking out the rays of sunshine. The fog does make one feel physically isolated from those around you.  It separates us more than we really are. It is calming in that way. It serves to settle the mind and soul. It is peaceful.  I like it.

I have been away from my blog for several weeks.  It has felt strange not thinking in print like this, so I am glad to be back.

I have had time for a lot of reflections about my family, about remembrance of those who have served in the armed forces, about the season of thanksgivings, and for events around Baxter to connect with these reflections.

First, a few thoughts about my siblings, especially my departed brothers.  I have had the great fortune of having four super older brothers and a younger sister. My oldest three brothers have passed to a better place.  They were all amazing in their particular human ways.  A few comments about each of them arise from my appreciation for what they taught me about life and living.

Don, the oldest, exceeded all expectations as a role model and mentor for his siblings.  He was even, strong, quiet, reliable, resilient, and just. He was the first son, so he rather naturally gravitated to the farm my father and grandfather had built with their wives and families. He was the one to show the way on hard work, on assuring that the diverse activities around crops, animals, trees, gardens, and the like were completed and done well. Don had a knack for engineering and with additional education at university he became extraordinarily skilled in taking apart, repairing, restoring and salvaging machinery that ranged from trucks and cars to tractors, combines, swathers, plows, harrows, and cultivators. We saved so much money from the fastidious work he led in our big machine shop.  And we had so much fun seeing the inside of every moving part on all of those machines.  It was like a autopsy, except we got to put the machines back together so they could function anew……a little different than an autopsy in that way! Don also was the neighbourhood role model in driving the horse-powered closed sled in the winter time, in plowing snow for the municipality, singing at church, and seeing the bright side of tough times…..the latter exemplified by the fire that destroyed our farm shop one sunny summer afternoon.  In that inferno, Don’s lovely 2-tone yellow-black ’57 Chevrolet car was consumed.  A lot of tears, and a lot of hugs, and recovery! Perhaps the most memorable act of justice that I heard but unfortunately was too young to witness in Don’s role as peacemaker and citizen, was when he dealt with a school bully who liked to torment other smaller, younger children.  One day, Don realized that the only way to end this nonsense was to invite the said bully out behind the school to put up his dukes.  That little fight ended any bullying or physical intimidation in the school, I believe forever!  Another very different moment occurred on a Saturday afternoon when we were all cleaned up to go to town, as farm folks do on the weekend.  Then, one of the swine got out of the pen.  I remember Don’s raw athleticism in chasing the pig, and then like a great tackler in the CFL, bring down the pig, wrestle him to a standstill, and return him to his rightful stye. Another even more disparate moment I remember with Don was as a little boy, perhaps 8 years old, watching Don and his friends wash our cars down by our reservoir. I was watching the waves in the water, which eventually made me dizzy.  I fell into the water. Don looked around and initially thought he saw a muskrat swimming in the water……..it was my thatch of hair floating above me.  He quickly snatched me out of the water and saved my life.  I did not know just how lucky I was that day that Don realized i was “in the drink”.

Thankfully, because however far away I would travel after high school, it always was punctuated by trips to the farm, I always got to see Don, to hear of the challenges of the farm, to see his family grow, and to feel his goodness. He lived a great life with dignity and strength. We are so much better because of him.

My brother Jack was a great inspiration for me. He was largely away at university when I was finishing elementary school in the country. He came home with energy, a smile on his face, pretty ladies on his arm, and stories of his life at U of S. Beyond my parents diligent emphasis on education for all, my viewfinder of Jack’s life convinced me that life after high school would have to include learning at university. His involvement in ice hockey and his mastery of bridge were also a little magical for a far younger brother. As I progressed in my education, through multiple universities and into Boston, Jack and his dear wife Fran kept in close touch. Their visit to New England and our trip to Cape Cod one afternoon will always stick in my heart. We sat in the sunshine on a little courtyard having a few drinks and learning about brother’s lives a decade and a half removed. I will always cherish that day. The following winter my brother Jack, driving fellow engineers in a snow storm would perish when a truck on the wrong side of the road smashed into them. Jack would by fluke be driving because he knew the roads.  No one else would die. We lost a great person, suddenly, only 48 years old, with a family of four amazing children. It has always been hard to find peace about this. Jack was an icon of good spirit, good conversation, good will.  He was a great brother. We were truly common spirits. I always think about how things might have been if he had not been on that icy road in southeast Saskatchewan that fateful day.

James (Jim), my next brother was no less incredible than my other brothers. He was so talented and so unassuming. Fortunately for me, Jim was in the upstairs bedroom when I was in elementary school.  It was in that fascinating place that one saw the hobby that would become his life’s work, his passion – airplanes. The whole bedroom was filled with hanging balsa wood planes, model planes with their engines, parts of planes – engines, wings, tails, cockpits! And there were all of the tools of model building from blades to wires to glue to plastic. It was like being in your own private museum of aviation.  Jim would take that passion to post-high school education and become an aeronautical engineer.  He would fly models in competitions or just for fun on sunny afternoons in Calgary, and he would ultimately land a great job in plane modeling in Montreal.  There he would meet his wife to be, Shirley, and would chart a path that led him to Lulu Island for a career at Canadian Pacific Airlines. Because he was so far away during much of that time, I didn’t have a lot of contact. One great memory was when the 1966 Grey Cup was being held in Vancouver and myself and 3 other college friends drove to the Left Coast for the game.  I stayed with Jim and Shirley in Richmond and they lent me their Volkswagen bug to drive to a post-game party in Vancouver (The Saskatchewan Roughriders had won and my high school friend from Saskatoon, Gord Barwell, was a wide-receiver with them.) I met many superstars that evening, had a blast, but got totally lost in the rain at night trying to get back to Richmond.  I think it took hours to get to their home.  But the car was intact! The Cadillac that the 4 wanderers had driven out in, in stormy winter weather, broke down at Hope on the way back for Christmas exam week in Saskatoon.  I didn’t want to bother Jim, so I hitchhiked through the mountains, grabbed one night with Jack and Fran in Calgary (at -30 F) before taking a Greyhound bus to Saskatoon with a dime in my pocket. I never wanted my brothers to know that I didn’t have any money……I could figure it out! There is much more to this story, but I return now to Jim.

After those early university days, I moved around North America in my training and new positions. I didn’t see Jim or his family much until 1993 when we moved back to Canada.  The same year Jim retired from his engineering position at the YVR and moved to Vernon. We got in better touch and visited back and forth, and especially with their fine children Rob, Tam and Tracy. It is with them that we would share the loss of Shirley, and most recently, Jim. Jim’s battle with ischemic heart disease was a tough one.  It lasted in essence for about a year, with many hospitalizations, procedures, hopes and uncertainties. Jim had so much he still wanted to see, do, hear and laugh about.  He was in no manner ready to leave last summer. I could see and feel the fire in his eyes and soul.  I thought it might carry him through. There was so much more we could have learned about our lives, shared for fun. Thankfully we had some time together to connect. A tough and quiet person, a very cerebral guy, a smart guy with great analytics, a great, great dad.  Jim, my brother.

My brother David, a little older than I, has brought his own special form of inspiration and guidance. He was there when I needed to learn how to drive a tractor (by age 10 years), and really taught me many farming skills that I would not use as a life’s work but which helped really understand that nature of the farming process. We grew in different directions in junior high school and high school, myself more towards academics and sports, he more towards being as wild and free as possible. He was truly untrammeled.  He took paths that few would or have. He has passed through the keyhole of near-death experiences many more times than most people.  He has grown stronger for it. He has learned to navigate the worlds of farming and realty concurrently, with success.  His children have grown and matured.  His wife Carol has been a rock! David never forgets my birthday.  There will always be that telephone call. He has a heart that is oversized with love.  He always shares it. Thanks!

My sister is not my brothers, but I must touch on her life too.  She and David and I grew up together, just farm kids, getting on the school bus, trying to grow up the way our parents showed us was the right way. Elizabeth is a wonderful sister – full of talent, persistence, resilience, selflessness. She has beaten breast cancer, she has suffered deeply from the loss of a stellar oldest child in mid-stride, she really bore the load of my mother’s needs in her latest years, she has kept her wits, she still smiles. One of Elizabeth’s most wonderful habits is knowing and reading old and new books.  She is a prodigious reader, despite having a longtime eyesight challenge. She knows books! She is a scholar of good books.  Many scholars do not read like she does! Finally, she is a peaceful soul.  Perhaps that is a feature of all of my siblings……they are or were, in their individual ways, peaceful.

And what does this have to do with remembrance…….I think it is evident. We just had Remembrance Day in Canada and the equivalent Veterans Day in the USA. We think of all of the men and women who have served and who serve in the armed services and civilian services to protect and defend.  We remember. We wear poppies.  We thank. We are grateful. The “band of brothers” and sisters fortify and protect us. It is about the family of humanity.  It is about justice.  It is about maintaining peace in the face of chaos. Having been in the USA on this Veterans Day, I golfed in a charity tournament for the “Folds of Honor”, an organization that helps families of the fallen, the recovering veterans, and the communities of those affected by military sacrifice. I golfed in a foursome that included a Marine who had done four tours overseas in hostile areas of the world.  I learned more about their challenges.  It made me think and feel. I am thankful for that time with this fine person, a brother of sorts!

Thanksgiving Day in Canada occurs about a month and a half earlier than USA Thanksgiving.  It is a luxury to be reminded for that whole interval about the many things, including but beyond the harvest, we should give thanks for. Family is one big gift.  Grandparents, parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, cousins, you name it! They all mean so much. They are all in the “band of brothers” and sisters that makes life joyful and fruitful. Thanks!

Which brings me to Baxter.  I have written about Baxter before.  I have written about his venerability, his surprising durability, his calm and generous spirit, his love of “human” food, his hops and skips through the park, the 15th fairway or the endowed forest. Baxter had a great personality.  Everyone was enchanted by his spirit, whether at home or at work or on the street.  Baxter brought joy. He brought the desire for the outdoors…….he just needed to be outside!  He loved to be tickled and scratched.  He loved everyone unconditionally.  He made it through unpleasant times when an early owner we do not know was mean, when he was in the Kootenay’s, and then when he came closely into our lives over the past 18 months.  Baxter was a brother of Biggles.  Biggles was always domineering with his brother.  When Biggles passed on, Baxter took on a more lively persona, more outgoing, more confident.  He was always kind.

Most regrettably and sadly, Baxter’s health has been deteriorating over the past several months. This came to a head over the past few days. His digestive tract just couldn’t function.  He was sick.  He was in pain.  He could not be fixed. I could not stand the pain I saw in his eyes.  His soul was tired.  He needed rest. So, we helped him into a better world with our veterinarian last evening. He was peaceful again.  His soft, soft beautiful ears calm.  He was fast moving to be with a “band of brothers” already there on the other side of the “bar”…….Biggles, Claude, Butch, Duz, Fab, Reeba, Simon, and Frankie.  They are all together again, even though they might not have been so physically before…..for sure spiritually.  Bless them all and thanks for all of the joy they have brought to peoples’ lives.  Baxter you rocked our world.  See you in the next.  Get ready……we will go for a long walk in the forest, with lots of puddles to linger in.

A few days ago, I had the extreme good fortune to be honoured by the Bill and Marilyn Webber Lifetime Achievement Award from the UBC Faculty of Medicine. The evening reception, which is annual, is a venue where the Faculty can recognize a wide range of achievements, so it is always a joyful and up-tempo event. I have reflected on the immense honour that the Faculty had chosen to bestow on me, on the amazing leaders who had received the Award in previous years and the Webber family.  I am so thankful to Marilyn and Bill Webber and family for creating this recognition.  Bill Webber was a person of great character, a gentleman scholar, a learner, teacher and mentor…..a selfless leader and problem-solver. He helped many people to be better in their lives. He helped Janet and me a great deal when we came to UBC in 1993, when, post-deanship, he was serving as Associate V-P Academic and as Coordinator of the Health Sciences at UBC. He was a role model to many people….a person we wish to emulate. Thank you to the Webbers for this honour, as it gives one pause, a time to reflect.

So, for my part, I know I have been…..

Lucky – very fortunate to have fine parents, without high school educations themselves, who believed in education for all 6 six children, and for so many colleagues and friends along a creative path, which includes nearly 25 years at UBC…..that I hope is not over soon.

We, my colleagues and I, have very simply been Learning – listening and looking for clues to how health and disease progress, how they change, how we might change them.

We were often Linking knowledge and tools from different venues, disciplines and perspectives to make a little progress in finding solutions.

We often needed to do a lot of Leaning on the agility and energy of youthful trainees, staff and family.  Without trainees, science and medicine would be deserts without spring.

Sometimes, one would do the heavy Lifting, while at other times colleagues would shoulder the load of pushing boundaries of knowledge, learning new techniques, or evolving our context.

The key thing was and still is that what we do is a great privilege in science and medicine, and our lives are largely filled with activities that we are Loving.  We simply love it! The idea of helping people through the power of science is pretty magnetic.

And, importantly, we have always found time every day, for Laughing out loud.  It is a joyful journey to be on, for sure.

Last but certainly not Least, none of what I do has meaning without the Love and extreme tolerance of my closest species in a Lineage, my family, and my dear wife Janet.  Two of my three children, Amity and Cate, were at the awards reception.  That made an old warrior very, very happy. Thanks so much. 

The human condition is fragile.  The reasons why are complex. There is such a collision of genes, developmental nurturing, social and spiritual environments, circumstances and triggers. The world is pushed forward now by various forms of “social” media that contribute to instability and tipping points of catastrophe.

Events in Edmonton, and more savagely in Las Vegas over the past several days are not unique, most sadly.  They have become part of a pattern of uncivilized attacks on innocent peoples.  They are a mirror to our global world of social insanity.  The Myanmar situation, continued conflicts on every continent, the current US government administration with its buffoonery and failure of societies to help those suffering from “natural” disasters, are all wrapped up in one big ugly mess.

Courage, conviction to survive and to defeat the idiocy that has been unleashed on the world of common people will take strength and not rhetoric, it will take a deep look inside who we are as a species, and a severe questioning of “what the hell” are we really doing with our privilege of being on this planet.  A moral crisis appears to be gripping the peoples of this world.  Leaders in most quarters are not really leaders.  They are bullies, insensitive, self-centered, callous and hurtful.  They do not stand for social justice in any regard.

Thanks to those who are trying to maintain civility in our global society.  We need more to join and look at what they can do to further the cause of just societies for diverse peoples of varied means.  We must stand up for good.

I am an early morning guy.  Born into it on the farm, where life, especially in summer started a the crack of dawn.  We rose to get to work, with my father always preceding the rest of us, without an alarm clock, to make breakfast. Out to work by 7 am without fail.  This time of day was more than getting to work though.  It was a time of calm, of occasional meadow lark songs, of interesting sunrises and fresh air. A time for reflection and gathering energy.  Food for the soul.

Today I drove my wife to her workout before sunrise, sipping a good coffee. When I returned home, the dog rose briefly before slipping back into slumber. I took this time to connect with a few people who know hearts and who were planning the itinerary of a distinguished guest in this domain in the coming weeks. It was a highly fitting teleconference because today is World Heart Day.  For the most part it is a day to remind ourselves of the gigantic burden of heart and vascular ailments, either in terms of risks and disease.  The global deaths exceed 18 million per year, but at least as important, cardio-cerebro-vascular conditions are right near the top in terms of disability rendered.  Thus, the “living with disease” problem is common for the realm of heart disease.  There is no peace in that! Many of the common risk factors are known, yet many are not. The manner in which genes and environments and behaviours operate from pre-natal throughout life to senescence to yield protection or high risk for heart and blood vessel disease still needs work.  Such is especially true for at-risk populations like First Nations, South Asians and others.  There is much work to do.  Meanwhile, individuals and their families can do a lot – eat a more frugal and balanced diet, never use tobacco, always exercise even if it is just regular walking, keep you weight down, laugh a lot, stay close to important personal friends and supporters. The “social contract” that individual citizens, healthcare workers, healthcare systems, industry, governments, the press and charities have must be honoured, strengthened and actioned. Let’s make World Heart Day a day of celebration, one where we think more about love and the soul, and less about pain, suffering and fatalities.