But we wonder, with such limited numbers of nurses and doctors, how medicare and universal accessibility can continue. Previously, the towering mountains, long distances and avalanches kept the bureaucrats and politicians at bay. Some fight to stay in their communities. Surely if we can survive the challenge of rural medicine, we can endure this. Today is one of those crisp, colourful, gorgeous fall days that build up psychic reserves we can draw on during some bleak, cold, grey day in winter.
Gusts of wind swirl the leaves.
I think of how the health ministry is like the wind, always changing direction. But unlike the capricious breeze, the ministry is not so benign. We live in the majestic mountains beside crystal streams and we enjoy clean air and water that other Canadians and the rest of the world visit for holidays. Just as the long, cold winter moulds the character of Canadians, our rugged, hard, majestic and impenetrable mountains make Westerners a practical and individualistic bred. As we hunker down for winter we may be left questioning our strengths, our resources and our resolve, but never the beauty of our surroundings.