From my desk to yours, my home to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Holidays.

As we get ready to celebrate the winter solstice and all of the holidays around the world like Las Posadas, Saint Stephen’s Day and Holy Innocents day I reflect on the year gone by and the year ahead.

As I look back at 2017, I realize that I have been going through a painful rebirthing, envisioning of who I am, who could I be?

I experienced a ton of change in 2017, after 45 years of smoking cigarettes I am almost 1-year cigarette free. (January 2^nd is the anniversary.)

My good friend Blair died earlier this year. He was the road captain on that fateful day when I hit a road boil and crashed and had another bike hit mine from behind. 

I am not looking forward to discovery in February. It will bring up the memories of Blair, the sadness I feel at his departure from this side of the grass.  It will also bring up the frustration I feel over being sued by someone who hit me from behind, who was following too close.  

The frustration I feel over a police officer that did not do his job and never sent me a subpoena so I had no idea what date, time or city court was in.  The fact that I have a letter of apology from the RCMP officer offers little comfort, as I now have to relive that day and that whole horrid affair all over again. ARGH….

In May of 2017, PTSD started kicking my ass again, HARD. I did all of the survival things that I know to do to keep it at bay, under control, under wraps, I succeeded most of the time and failed miserably a couple of times. 

And that brings me to some people that I am hugely grateful for.

My contractors.  Yes, my family too, but today it’s the people who work with me I want to talk about…I am grateful to them and for them for so many reasons.

I have an injury that no one else can see, and sometimes I come across pretty impatient, harsh and intolerant with my tone of voice.  Sometimes my volume goes up and the aggression comes out and then the tears start to flow – tears of frustration at not being able to let nice Renee out.

For these people to keep hanging in there with me, through the ups and downs, well a girl can’t feel much more gratitude than I do right now.  I have come so close to losing everything I have worked all my life for, including my sanity, thanks to PTSD.

PTSD is hard to explain because no two people truly experience it the same way.

My triggers are someone spitting in my face while they are talking/yelling at me, the color orange when I feel threatened or vulnerable, someone coming at me from behind, unsecured loads, fire…there are a few others but these are the most important, the most hurtful of all of the triggers because they can spiral me into a pit of despair so fast.  These are my least controllable triggers.

In May I had a disagreement with someone who reminds me a lot of my mother.

My mother is a huge contributor to my hidden injury called PTSD.

Anyway, the relationship I had with my mother was love/hate.

It was stormy, and at times violent.

This happened on May 4^th, the anniversary of Fort Mac, I was already fragile, but I knew if I got away from the TV and radio and all of the accounts and documentaries and threw myself into something I am wildly passionate about I’d be OK.

Once at the monument site, I had this person that was yelling at me about something she knew nothing about, she was doing it in front of a crew of construction workers, many in orange safety vests as she was spitting in my face while yelling.  I triggered hard. I was vibrating from head to toe, shaking like a leaf, and I asked this person 3 times to “PLEASE get out of my personal space”. The fourth time I didn’t ask, I yelled at her calling her some very choice, un-lady like names and ran to my car.   I drove out of the parking lot too fast, to a safe place about 2 blocks away and stopped the car. The waterworks were just flowing.

My heart was hammering, my mouth was dry, my ears were ringing, and my palms were wet. It took me a good half hour to get a grip on myself.  I went back to the job site and thankfully she and her vehicle were gone.  The rest of the day went uninterrupted, but I felt my embarrassment and I also felt the embarrassment of these men who were volunteering their time to help me at the monument site, having to witness this altercation, it was truly mortifying.

All summer long I battled the dark thoughts, the self-destruction, the pulling back from life and finally I sought out a business coach I know.  With her help, I started re-carving a path forward for my business and me.  The PTSD still weighs heavy on my brain, but having her to talk to and guide me, motivate me, understand and support me – WHEW – HUGE. So Holly Sorgen of EmPower Up, thank you for being such a kick assed business coach and holding my feet to the fire to perform and show up.

Susan Healey – for 12 years of the 15 I’ve been running this business, this gal has become my friend, my sister, and my anchor.  It’s so funny – this quiet, unassuming human being can whip my ass into shape over my tone or the way I say something or react to something like no one else can.  I almost need to be paying her fees for therapy because she sure helps me. I know there are times that if she didn’t need this job she’d have left me, but I am so grateful she’s stuck it out.

Grateful that today we have the kind of relationship where she is helping to prepare me to be a boss, a manager of people. That thought alone used to terrify me, that’s why I had a hard time growing this thing.

Her patience, perseverance and quiet unassuming way coupled with the knowledge that she is always there for me to bounce things off of, to vent to, so that I can think clearer…yes, without Suzie I am not sure where I’d be, but it wouldn’t be as the editor of a newspaper for motorcyclists that’s for sure. I’d have given up a long time ago.

Then there’s Dave T.  Dave has been with us three years now and his passion and dedication for helping all of the charity events, big & small across the nation get added to our calendars and promoted on Facebook is nothing short of a blessing.

Dave also has the patience to deal with my invisible injury.  He is not afraid to let me know if I cross a line, he’s kind but firm about it!

And last but not least there is Rhonda, my one and only sales rep; Rhonda is the president of RAGE in Saskatchewan and also has PTSD.  She was run over by a drunk driver in an SUV and was pinned under that SUV - ON HER MOTORCYCLE. Along side her many physical injuries, PTSD is one of her most painful and challenging to manage injuries too.

Rhonda’s PTSD reacts different from mine – where I knee jerk and generally become hurtful with my mouth, Rhonda turtles, pulls inside her self.

She drives me crazy, challenges the hell out of me, and forces both of us to be more compassionate with one another. Hidden injuries are hard to deal with in others, even when you yourself suffer from a hidden injury. Ask any veteran.

We are a team, as dysfunctional as any family can be, but as tight as any family can be.   As I sit back and reflect on a year filled with ups and downs, smiles and tears, I can see the perfect balance these people bring to my life, my business and me.

My only hope is that I bring value to theirs as well.

My team of contractors balances me out; they hold me accountable while understanding that PTSD is not always “controllable”.

Sometimes you have to ride it out. 

The fact that they get it makes me feel blessed and special.

I am not sure why I deserve their loyalty and friendship, but I am grateful for it and hope they know I have their six and that they are part of my extended family, and are loved and appreciated even when it doesn’t seem so.

I hope that as you reflect back on your year that you can count many blessings and I’ll bet as you examine all of those blessings, a person is attached to them somewhere!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all the best to you and yours in 2018!

Belt Drive Betty,

Editor & Rider

You Live in the Land of the Zombies and yet YOU Want to Lane-Split?

The Zombie Apocalypse is here just incase you missed it. No there wasn't a horrific invasion, there was no violence or bloodshed either.

In fact, the people who have become zombies, it would appear, did so willingly.

Texting while you walk, while you drive, while you have meetings and right after you have sex.

Looking down, oblivious to the world around you, yes, you are a part of the biggest invasion in the world today, the Zombie Apocalypse.

There is a movement that began here in Canada a little over a year ago, wherein some motorcyclists are calling for the legalization of lane splitting.

I have ONE, only ONE huge objection to that....

NO ONE FOLLOWS THE RULES OF THE ROADS AS THEY EXIST NOW.

You know, without a doubt that your city has the stupidest drivers ever. You encounter them daily.

You know without a doubt that there are immigrants to this country who have gotten a license that should not have one, even in a smaller city like Grande Prairie we have them.
It's as if someone gets tired of doing their job and just gives these people licenses.

There are drivers both professional and unprofessional that are texting, reading, disciplining their kids, putting on make up, fighting with their spouses and closing business deals, all while driving

People don't just drive in their vehicles these days, they are too busy living their lives inside their cars, trucks, SUV's and vans to care about you and your life or your legal right to lane split.

Let's take a look at a few hard facts about the Canadian end of the human race:

#1 - People know drinking and driving kills and yet, they catch an average of how many drunks each year driving?  The stats from MADD here in Alberta? 1 in 5 people involved in a crash had been drinking. In 5 years 8,600 Albertans have been charged with impaired driving.

#2 - People have known that texting and driving is dangerous for a good number of years now, and yet according to Rate.ca: Distracted Driving is now the number one risk on Canadian roads contributing to 8 in 10 collisions.

#3 - We live in a country where we have a TV show called CANADA's WORST DRIVER - does that not tell you anything?

And you want to risk your life Lane Splitting, on your Motorcycle? Seriously?

I hope your ICE card is up to date and that you have your affairs in order. Let me ask you something....

Do you really think that you could educate enough drivers out there to make the risk worth it?
Do you really think that the guy who is stuck in traffic is gonna let your bike through?

Go drive down on the lower mainland of BC during rush hour and tell me if you really think that you want to risk your life that way.

The hot heads and road-ragers out there will tune you in in short order and they won't care if there is a law that would allow you to do that.

The video below is from Los Angeles, where Lane Splitting has been legal for years:

The rider in this video does not help his cause and is just as much of a hot head as the guy in the car and puts himself needlessly at risk.

And that my friends is the human race and you really want to risk your life to lane splitting?

Whatever floats your boat, but knowing the quality of people driving that I have encountered on the roadways of Canada, you won't be catching this gal lane splitting, legally or otherwise any time soon.

And that's what's on my mind today...

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider

Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest:
You the riding community and our partners from the Rider Friendly Business Association and Community Futures of Canada help us find that community that made riders feel the most welcome during the 2017 riding season! Join us January 2nd, 2018 as the hunt begins.

The war is on!

There is a war heating up in Canada that has already been active in the US for a while and that is the war for your recreational dollars, especially if you are aged 25-39.

There are those in the motorsports industry that think that the market has shrunk because millennials aren't buying motorcycles, some who think this is just a Harley-Davidson problem and that other marks are doing well...

But what is really going on here?

We at Belt Drive Betty are on a mission to find out what Millennials are really thinking about motorcycles.

What are millennials riding and why?
If they aren't riding - why?

In doing the online research as to what the challenge seems to be for the manufacturers as to why young folk don't appear to be riding, I came across some interesting survey stats on millennial and the kinds and volume of vacations they take!

The American Society of Travel Agents recently did a survey of 1,500 travellers in the US between 25 and 39 years old. According to an article on the survey that appeared in the Boston Globe, they learned that 80 percent of those surveyed had taken a leisure trip in the past year.  In fact, millennial took more vacations in 2016 than any other generation! The numbers break down like this:
Gen x - those aged 40 to 51 took 1.8 vacations last year.  Baby boomers, ages 52-70 took 1.65 vacations per year and millennial?

2.38  vacations in 2016

Perhaps millennials have it right, the work life balance thing that is! Maybe from watching their parents and families stress and make themselves ill over things, they decided that vacations were vital, who knows, but it sure is interesting!

The millennial's reason for travel according to the article was to relax and connect.   "It matters who you go with, even more than where you are going."

At a recent Travel Alberta conference I attended, we learned that millennial want experiences.
They want different, off the beaten path, out of the norm kinds of experiences.

A very odd statistic that came out of the survey - millennial love cruising. ON CRUISE SHIPS.

Something else that is proving interesting, Millennials tend to use travel agents far more than their counterparts in other generations, and they are using them to enriched their experience, not just to handle the logistics.

Also in doing the research for future articles I learned that when things are measured through the eyes of insurance agents doing quotes, that millennials are in fact buying motorcycles but the kinds of motorcycles they are buying are 5-750 CC's because anything more in the power department ends up being a huge hike in insurance costs.

Yet another viewpoint of this discussion comes from Harley-Davidson themselves. In an interview with TheStreet newspaper, Harley-Davidson's CEO, Matt Levatich was quoted as saying:

Q. It's said that millennials aren't riding motorcycles, but I see them everywhere on bikes. Why are people wrong?

A. Number one, the ability to research this is difficult. There was an analyst report that referenced millennial ownership trends in new bike sales. You can't just look at new bikes. 
The used bike marketplace has 2 1/2 times the turnover of the new bike marketplace.
There are plenty of millennials riding motorcycles. It's up to us to inspire them to ride and engage with Harley-Davidson. As we look at an increased level of sophistication of our outreach, we look at psychological, life-stage and demographic trends to surgically grow riders, and Harley riders. We have to understand and meet customers where they are, whether they are millennials, Gen X, Gen Y, or baby boomers or generations yet to come. We have to shift from we build bikes to we build riders. End Quote

Revzilla had a very engaging article on attracting the millennial into the riding world, the big take away?

Millennials value experience over possession.

Yet another article, this one at motorcycle.com claims it is because Millennials are broke, but if that's true, why are they taking so many vacations?

Armed with this information, I can't wait to start interviewing younger riders and find out what makes them tick...are we old codgers  in for any surprises or will they still love the wind? The experiences that your motorcycle takes you to and through? The community the motorcycle creates, will they still embrace it and what about the charitable aspect?  Are they still going to love rallies or will they be riding for purely transportation purposes?

I have a lot of burning questions as we look for the answers to burning questions like, what will motorcycling look like in 10 years? 20 years?

If you have a millennial in your life, please invite them to answer some questions for me....I will be holding TV Interviews at the Western Motorcycle Shows - times and information for each show below.

And that's what's on my mind this fine day.

If you are blessed enough to be riding today because you live somewhere warm, with no snow, please send me a plane ticket....

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider

To register to be interviewed at the Calgary Motorcycle Show:  http://goo.gl/7do5M9

To register to be interviewed at the Edmonton Motorcycle Show: http://goo.gl/bmJkjF

To register to be interviewed at the Vancouver Motorcycle Show: http://goo.gl/tzFQ4c

Looking forward to what we learn!!!!!!

Buyer BEWARE - not all Disability Tax Credit Companies are created equal

Versus

Today we are going to do a comparison of two companies that offer help to get your disability tax credit from Revenue Canada approved.

Through a good friend and colleague of ours, my husband and I recently found out that he qualified for the Medical Disability Credit from Revenue Canada. (I can't believe that through all of the years working with Chartered Accountants not one of them determined that he should apply, but that's a whole different story.)

Our friends went through True North Disability Services, they charge 20% of whatever you get for a refund cheque from the government.

We went with Disability Credit Canada at 25%.

Now the gal I dealt with there, Rose, explained that while their fees were a wee bit higher than True North's, we would get the best and most personal service.

Wow, that was one expensive decision that burned us badly in at least two ways.
Poor customer service and a $1,300 hit on the refund.  

The customer service with Disability Credit Canada was anything but good.

In fact, they kept spelling my husband's name Marc instead of Mark or calling him Michael, I had to get darned right pissy about it before they finally got it fixed. I was Mary, not Marie.
They failed to communicate with us the way we were promised they would. I in fact have emails that Rose never responded to. Just totally ignored, which is why I ended up having to call them all the time.

Now our friends applied two weeks before we did. We both got letters from Revenue Canada that we were approved on the exact same day. The difference is that they knew they were approved about 10 days before we did, because True North called them and told them so.
Our friends got their cheques, both husband and wife in September.
We are still waiting on ours. For only my husband. He is the only one who applied.
We got told by Disability Credit Canada that hubby's cheque would be direct deposited to his account on November 14th, but my husband does not have direct deposit set up with Revenue Canada and therefore, after three days of looking for a cheque they said would come and hadn't I emailed them again and got told sorry, it will be mailed on the 14th.

Oh and we already have their invoice, not just by email but by regular post as well.

I bitterly complained about the service throughout the entire process but the answers were always to blame Revenue Canada.  

What I have learned:

If your doctor fills out the forms properly, and uses the words that Revenue Canada likes and your disability hampers your day to day life, you can qualify, often on your own.

Disability Credit Canada would have you believe that they are there to help you and to a degree they are I guess, they do check on the file periodically, especially if YOU take the time out of your day to question them as to the state of your application but beyond that they truly do nothing.

The only benefit to working with a tax recovery company from my perspective I guess was that it is one less thing that you do not have to think about, at least if you work with the right company, which my hubby and I were clearly not.

"You get what you pay for" is NOT ALWAYS A TRUE STATEMENT!

At least our friends who only paid 20% commission got great customer service.

They got a phone call/email every couple of weeks just touching base, they got told when their claim was approved before the government told them. Not us. We found out from the government first that we were approved and later got the call from Disability Credit Canada.

There was nothing about the service we got from Disability Credit Canada at 25% that was any better than True North's at 20%, in fact, right across the board Disability Credit Canada was hands down WORSE in the customer service department.

Suggestions:

If you aren't patient enough or confident enough to do the paperwork yourself, then based on my knowledge and experience I would recommend you use True North Disability Services. If you are going to give up some of your money that is meant to support you to a company to do the work for you, PLEASE pass by Disability Credit Canada and go straight the the cheaper, more effective and communicative True North Disability Services.

In my personal humble opinion, Disability Credit Canada is there not to help you but instead they are there to take advantage of you and your disability by charging 5% more for lesser quality service.
They could care less about helping you except for that first 14 days. 
Once they get through the period when you are able to cancel your contract - forget any kind of customer service quality. The upper management is rude, dismissive and condescending.
They only want to get that 25% and in the case of my husband who was approved for 10 back years of an illness that has had him taking daily injections, going through tests, taking crap like prednisone, experiencing things like paralysis etc....that 25% was just under $6,000 as opposed to $4,700 at 20%.

And $1,300, well, that's a lot of money to pay for such poor service.

Like I said, BUYER BEWARE - I am turning in a complaint on this company, Disability Credit Canada into the Better Business Bureau and I am going to write the CRA because trying to talk to the company about their lack of promised service is like talking to a closed door in a house that has no one living there.

It has been our experience that Disability Tax Credit Canada doesn't ADVOCATE for the disabled the way they claim. As a matter of fact, based on our our experience I would say they RIP THE DISABLED OFF.

They will treat you really nice just long enough to get you through that 14 day cancellation period and then their service becomes NON existent. 

THAT WAS OUR EXPERIENCE.


That's what's on my mind today, stay warm and if you are blessed to live somewhere warm where you can still ride, please send me an airplane ticket....

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider

The Toronto Star has a good article about a different company, same kind of scenario:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/01/05/agency_charged_woman_10000_for_tax_claim_she_could_have_filed_for_free.html

 The Canadian Personal Finances Blog also speaks knowledgabley about these kinds of companies and that it is easier to file on your own than you think: https://www.canajunfinances.com/2014/03/26/disability-tax-credit-please-do-it-yourself/

What does Remembrance mean to you?

November 11^th is fast approaching and the question I have had on my mind for the last few days’ centers around remembrance and what it means to you.

After the unveiling ceremony for the Afghanistan War Monument here in Grande Prairie, it became very obvious to me that like everything in life, there are varying degrees of remembrance and various reasons for remembrance.

Our monument and the 4 individual memorials that pay tribute to the fallen connected to Grande Prairie and region attracted approximately 70 citizens for the dedication ceremony. In spite of having done a lot of marketing on radio, social media etc. the weather tanked on us and therefore people just didn’t come out.

My question is a simple one, what moves you to honour or remember our soldiers and their sacrifices, their families and their enduring sacrifices?

I ask as a kid who grew up in a military family. My father did not care of it was 40 below out, on Remembrance day, unless you were advanced in your years and infirm, you were at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day, no ifs, ands or buts.

I remember his diatribes well, “Those soldiers fought in all kinds of weather, conditions, they didn’t get snow days, or days off while in the battlefield, a little snow and cold isn’t gonna’ hurt you for an hour.”

When I compare where we live to the images I see around the world, when I get on my motorcycle or attend a meeting with other business women, I feel so blessed and grateful and I know I have to opportunity I have in part because of our military, their service and their sacrifice and the sacrifices their families make as a result.

Do you honour Remembrance Day?

Do you attend an indoor or outdoor ceremony? Tell me why you chose the service you did too please.

If you don’t honour Remembrance Day, may I ask why? I really, truly would like to try and understand.

Here in Grande Prairie we have two services on Remembrance Day, I’ll be at the cenotaph, because that’s what my father would expect of me were he still alive.

I leave you with this snippet of the poem “For the Fallen”

Belt Drive Betty,

Editor & Rider

For the Fallen (stanzas 2-3)

Robert Laurence Binyon, by artist William Strang.

Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21^st September 1914.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Accepting that Human-ness is the bigger problem not racism, is that possible?

I have taken the unusual tact of going dark on my personal pages on Facebook and Twitter due to the inordinate amount of hateful vitriol I have endured as a result of my stance on entertainers and pro athletes taking a knee or protesting during the singing of the US Anthem at an event wherein:

A) I bought a ticket to attend said concert, play, movie/game
or
B) I pay to watch your concert/play/movie/game on TV by enduring insane amounts of commercials.

NEWS BULLETIN: You lose the entertainment/escape value that I perceive you to have when you try to shove your politics down my throat.

As a consumer, I am not attending your concert/play/movie/game to be subjected to your politics, I want to be entertained. I don't care if you are Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Pink, Purple or Green.  I don't care if you are Polish, Jewish, Greek, English, Hispanic, Hawaiian etc.
If I bought a ticket to your concert/play/movie/game, if I paid taxes for you to be afforded to play in a taxpayer funded stadium, if I endured the endless commercials to watch you on TV, I deserve to get what I paid for - ENTERTAINMENT - ESCAPE.  

I am not saying you don't have a right to protest what you perceive to be social injustice, police brutality and the like. You have a social media platform and the TV Talk Show circuit as well as the press and events hosted specifically to promote said beliefs to engage in your right of free speech, you can demonstrate or rally.

LEAVE the politics out of the entertainment you are being paid to supply to me, the consumer. PLEASE.

I am merely exercising my power of choice to turn off the TV, not buy a ticket to attend your concert/play/movie/game.

Because I have taken this as my personal stand on this topic I have had a long time contributor to my paper pull out and have lost a few people in my life that I could have sworn were my friends before this.

I actually had someone accuse me of supporting a "deranged man" - insinuating that I somehow was supporting Donald Trump on this topic. No debate, no discourse. Nope, instead on my personal pages these great big disclaimers about who I must be and how they can't stand me now.

NEWSFLASH - I AM A CONSUMER and I AM FED UP WITH POLITICS INVADING EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE.  

That's not what Donald Trump is fighting with you all about, but since you gotta got there....

As the daughter of a veteran, I personally think the method of protest these people are taking is wrong minded,.
I feel that during the playing of the anthem of a country is not when you should be protesting.
I am often proud of my country but ashamed of my Government.
The Government is not the Anthem nor is it the Country.
The Anthem represents the Country, and the country is the people that live there and their spirit.
That's how I feel. It's a personal thing.

The former contributor to our community paper told me that since I have a small amount of pseudo celebrity I should stick to talking motorcycles - well newsflash, if you watch my TV Show Ride Like a Local on either YouTube or EastLink TV you are going to get motorcyclist interviews, sometimes motorcyclist related politics and riding...If you go to the Busted Knuckle Newspaper, you are going to get motorcycle news and usually motorcycle politics if there are any to discuss - you know the whole police profiling, the MC world politics, but they are at least specific to our community and that's what a newspaper's job is - information dissemination etc...In fact my blog title and my column in the newspaper is kind of a give away that you might get some personal opinion and some politics if you decide to read my blog. So - the whole you are a "hypocrite" from the former contributor really doesn't work in my case.

On my personal page, the Renee Charbonneau page you are going to get me, unabridged, because you are supposed to be my friend.  Do you know what the real definition of a friend is?

It's someone who knows you and likes you anyway.

I am entitled to an opinion like everyone else and about 25% of the world and I are going to see eye to eye on things and the rest are here to teach me something.

Sometimes the thing they teach me is; "turn it off or go ride your motorcycle more girl."

I enjoy debate. I don't enjoy vitriolic hatred.

I will defend your right to your freedom of speech and expression, but when your rights begin to infringe on my rights, I will push back, as is my right.

Freedoms and rights work both ways, even people I don't care for are entitled to their say, their feelings and thoughts.

As a consumer, I just think that if I am paying to hear you perform, I'd rather you just perform, if I am paying to watch you play a game, please play the game.

If I want to know your political view I will tune into a talk show that you are on or go visit your Twitter feed.

Now I am going to get into another hot topic - White Privilege.

I read an article wherein a woman used a number of situations that have transpired in her life, that in her mind prove that there is White Privilege - click on the words to read her article.

I want to tell you about what I now understand thanks to the article quoted above (White Privilege);
I have been subjected to Black Privilege & Ukrainian Privilege just to name a few.

Please remember as you read on that I am a White, Canadian born female of French, Scottish, English, Irish, Polish descent. Apparently the folks in my family had no problem playing the field so to speak.

 Let's see how many people will actually read what I have to say and then take an honest look at what they are complaining about and understand that the problem here isn't that you are black, brown, white, yellow, green, pink or purple, Ukrainian, First Nations, Polish, Jewish or French but that you are HUMAN. 

A few examples of "Other Race Privilege":

I lived in the US for a period of time when I was married to jet car driver, Doug Rose of Green Mamba fame.  During that time, while pregnant with my daughter, I had to go to the hospital for a check up. My mother in-law was sleeping, my ex-husband was gone with friends and I was alone with no one to drive me to the appointment.  I decide to take the bus.  Unbeknownst to me, I would be travelling through what I was later told was the "ghetto". (I was 24, and fairly fresh off the farm with not much for big city experiences.)

At one stop, there were a lot of Black people, a few Latinos and a couple of other White people.
When I got onto the bus, all the seats were taken. A lot of women, Black women, were seated close to the front but they did not offer up their seats. I was very surprised by the fact that a man had given up his seat for me. He was such a gentleman.

I was terrified by the black women who hissed venom at me, saying things like "Bringing another white trash bitch into the world are we?"  "What is your white cracker ass doing on this here bus in my territory you fat slut?" I was called a few other things by these women, but I won't repeat them.

Now you see based on the logic of the writer of the article referenced above: White Privilege, this situation exhibited Black Privilege because based solely on my skin colour I was verbally attacked and insulted by Black women for being on their bus in their territory.  The same Black man who gave me his seat, intervened on my behalf. If it hadn't been for the kindness of that Black gentleman, I'd probably have been beaten by those women that day, they were truly that hateful.

HMMMM - but what does that say about the kind Black man? And how does that blow the whole Black Privilege narrative up?

We'll get to that a little later...

If what this author says about how to determine if you have experienced White Privilege is true, then.... I guess I could talk about Ukrainian Privilege. My family moved from the farm to a predominantly Ukrainian community, and the Ukrainian girls in my class range did not like me.  They would call my mother in the middle of the night to tell her that I was having sex with some boy, when I was asleep downstairs. They would put gum on my seat so as to ruin any nice clothes that I could afford. I was bullied and brutalized by this ring of Ukrainian girls.
Why? Because I was not Ukrainian and did not belong, they verbalized that on more than one occasion.  The torture went on for 6 years until I graduated and moved away.  Did I mention that I am a WHITE female?  These Ukrainian girls where also WHITE females.  They, like me were also Canadian born. Hmmm...this can't really be called White Privilege so I think I am right in calling it Ukrainian Privilege. Yeah that's it, Ukrainian Privilege.

Based on the logic of the writer of the article referenced above: White Privilege, I guess I can talk about social injustice and profiling by the police too...
I could and did bitch about the police who shut down my event in Olds in 2007 by blocking all the entrances and jacking every rider up all because one full patched member of the Hells Angels was present and it damned near cost me everything I owned. Why did they do that? Because I wear a motorcycle vest and consort with others who do as well. Its profiling, but because it's not racial, it's not protected. They can brutalize a small business because they profile, but there is no civil recourse for me. I am right though, it is a social injustice that I am profiled because of the clothes I wear and the conveyance I ride, there is just little that I can do about it.

I had a Greek man tell me I needed to sleep with him to keep my job as a waitress. I went to the change room, came back and in the middle of a busy restaurant walked up to him, threw my uniform in his face and made it clear I didn't need to sleep with anyone to keep my job - I quit and walked out to huge applause.  Is that White Male Privilege or White Greek Male Privilege - sorry, I get them confused....

These are things I have put up with and lived through - but there are other things we need to discuss - we can't look at the bad things in a bubble, in isolation - we need to look at them in a greater context...

I can also tell you about the times when there were kind Black people who touched my life, like the lady behind the front desk at a motel in Shreveport -Bossier City, Louisiana who lent me her car to go get some Pedialyte for my sick baby. She didn't know me from ADAM!

I can reiterate that the kindness of a Black man saved me from getting beaten by some Black women who did not appreciate a pregnant White girl in their midst in Milwaukee in 1984.

I  have had kind police officers help me get through the aftermath of a crash, or give me the benefit of the doubt over a speeding ticket.

The things these people are upset about really do exist - YES -  but they are NOT RACIALLY MOTIVATED as much as they are part of the HUMAN condition.

 Is it possible to accept that Human-ness is the problem and not racism, is that at all possible?

Think on this - can we agree that....
Not all cops are bad apples, not all priests are pedophiles, not all Black people hate White people and not all White people hate Black people...

Quit judging the world by the actions of the few and look for the good that IS going on all around you. Start acting with kindness yourself and you'll start finding kindness. Work at being the change you want to see in the world.

Our countries, Canada and the USA have flaws, they are, like everything else in the world, a work in progress - we are better at most things today than we were 100 years ago, 50 years ago and we will keep evolving and hopefully continue to work at becoming better, kinder, more in tune people.

The Law of Attraction states that what you put your focus on is what you will find.
The Law of Attraction works on everyone equally the way the law of Gravity does.
Focus on bad crap - then that's all you see.
The war on drugs brought more drugs. The war on terror brought more terror.

Focus on the good things and very soon you will start seeing more good things.

Quit giving the negative people and things all the energy folks. 

If we simply were to start focusing on everyone having enough, feeling accepted and learning to embrace every little thing that happens that is good - you'd see so much more good in your life.

It's never going to be perfect - it's not meant to be - what journey is?

Life - it's short and it's precious - live it like it is.

Precious, that is.


That's why I have shut out social media for a while, seeing so many hateful things being hurled about has me over the edge with frustration.

I just need a break from all of the negativity.
I need to recharge my soul. I need to look after my health, physically and mentally.
I need to ride my motorcycle, support the children of our community here in Grande Prairie, mourn the the loss of another friend, work on our Afghanistan War Monument Project and see to it's unveiling ceremony on October 7th .

I need to do things that are positive, that move things forward in a positive way, spinning my wheels trying to fight keyboard warriors is not my idea of rich, fulfilling or rewarding work.

And to those that turned on me because of my stance over PAID entertainers and pro athletes protesting, people who assumed they knew what was in my heart without having a civilized conversation or asking me that question, please know, I love many people who have differing ideas and opinions from mine, I am always willing to have a fair and honest discussion, until you start with the name calling or the profanity or the vitriol that is so outlandish that I can't abide by it.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

Port Alberni, time in Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community - Part Two

My time in Port Alberni was rewarding.  After partaking in a toy ride that saw well over 1,500 bikes come out (the official count was under 1,300), we pulled into the parking lot at the Glenwood Centre, everyone dropping of their toy and then off to buy tee shirts, get an adult beverage and a seat to watch the rodeo.

The games were run with a precision I have not seen in years! Everyone in the stands were hooting and cheering the competitors on.

Man does this toy run get crowd participation happening! There was no shortage on competition, these folks love their rodeo!

During the Toy Run I was blown away by the number of signs thanking the riders for supporting their community. During the event that followed I was blown away by how much the community at large participates in what the committee hosts.  The number of families and children that were present just made you smile - this is what a toy run should be.  Here is one of the the Facebook Live videos I did that day:


The guy that was cooking up the pig, a 200 pounder, had his son and a friend helping debone the meat and get it ready for the midnight luncheon at the toy run dance.

He was handing out cracking like it was crack and people were gobbling it up - me included!
He was also playing in the band Big Daddy for the dance!

After the rodeo, I went back to the hotel for a bit to change footwear and ended up having wonderful conversations with a number of my Island friends.

 At 9:00PM I headed back over to the Glenwood Centre and the dance. They had two bands playing and both were really freaking good!

I was shocked to see how many people were already there and dancing - the dance had only been on for a half hour or so!

By the time I got done interviews the hall and the beer gardens were packed. Everyone was dancing, having fun.  The Shuttle bus was busy making sure no one risked drinking and driving.

There was one other rather interesting observation that I made.... all weekend long did I see a police car or an officer other than for one walk through for the liquor permit.

This event is attended by people who have great respect, there was not one harsh word, no one disagreeing or fighting, and I guess that means the police feel good about the precautions the Toy Run Committee takes and what transpires with the attendees!


Port Alberni British Columbia on Vancouver Island is a must do for any rider, but if you love Toy Runs, the Port Alberni Toy Run is also a MUST do!  You need to see for yourself why Port Alberni IS Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community!

To see the interviews and video from the Toy Run, tune into Ride Like a Local on EastLink TV or YouTube in December!

If you are blessed enough to be riding today,
please ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.




Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

SaveSave

Some time in Port Alberni, "Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community"

The Rider Friendly Business Association in conjunction with Community Futures of Alberta & BC hosted this years Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest.

Port Alberni won this, our second contest and it was my pleasure to head out there for their Toy Run this past weekend...their 33rd Toy Run!

I arrived on Thursday and stayed with some friends, Trish and Quentin, and on Friday morning, I connected with David Wiwchar, the Chairman of the Toy Run Committee.

I set up my cameras and set about the task of interviewing members of the Toy Run Committee.
It's my favourite job, getting to know the hard working folks behind the scenes of an event.
I know how many hands it takes to do a job and do it well.  These folks, they do it very, very well.

There is a pride here, a quiet, yet fiercely determined pride.

The kind of pride that moves mountains.

Each person I interviewed spoke with such pride of their fellow committee members and the fact that they leave their egos and attitudes at the doorway of every meeting. These people come together to not just for this monster job of hosting a toy run, but they come together to engage their community and man do they do it right!

I can not wait for the TV episodes to air - there will be two of them I am pretty sure and in their own words these beautiful people will tell you all about the work they do!

Anyway, I spent the day interviewing and hanging around the Glenwood Centre where the bulk of the activities would be taking place. I watched with amazement as task after task was accomplished with military precision. We broke bread around 6:30 pm, corn on the cob, hamburgers and potato salad.

I went to my hotel, the Best Western Plus, Barclay Hotel. The committee however was there at the Glenwood, until well past 9 PM putting the finishing touches on the Centre.

The hotel staff got me checked in and explained the features and amenities of the hotel, I took my luggage rack upstairs, unloaded my bags in a really nice room with two double beds and by the time I took the cart back downstairs, the Langley HOG Chapter had rolled in and their parking stalls were all filled!

Gotta love a hotel that will treat their two wheeled guests with such extra courtesy.

I got up nice and early on Saturday, I wanted to catch as much of the feeling of the day as possible.

I was greeted at the Glenwood Centre by Robin and Tom, they were so upbeat and happy, Tom's daughter was busy setting up the kid's area while his wife was getting the free popcorn and candy floss ready for the kids.

You see what THIS community sided group called the Port Alberni Toy Run Committee has done, is to EDUCATE about and INVOLVE their entire community in the event.

The Toy Run supports SOOOOO many causes ALL YEAR ROUND!
AND it's free to ride in the toy run, but so many choose not to register because they don't understand that registration is JUST to count bikes.

The coffee and donuts are free - well, by donation if yah have...this is NOT a cash grab event folks. You buy dance tickets if you want to.
You buy Pork Buns with salads and corn on the cob if you want. (midnight lunch)

NOTHING is expected of you other than you to bring your heart, some toys and or a donation to the cause, buy a tee shirt...they are grateful to take what you donate and turn it into a year's
worth of support for the kids of their community.

The teens breakfast program is one they are particularly proud to be partnered in as it has helped the graduation rate to flourish.  They support parks and recreation by helping to host free swims, hot dogs and other free items for first night,  Easter festivities and Halloween too!

They support the Salvation Army and their Christmas Hamper drive and oh so many more non profits that help kids that benefit from what 30 dedicated Toy Run Members do all year round.

Every year, organizations that have benefitted from the fundraising done by the Toy Run Committee come out and volunteer for the toy run in return!

It is a totally a unified project that brings together many non profits, all supporting kids, all working together for the kids and you should see the way this city gets out and thanks the riding community for their support. They come out in the hundreds withs signs saying "Thank You Riders"

I can't say enough about this community, this crew of people...they are utterly awe inspiring to watch in action.

Later I arrived back at the Glenwood Centre where I handed off the trophy for "Canada's
MOST Rider Friendly Community" after saying a few words on behalf of Bob Ross and his beloved town of Two Hills, the first community to win our contest.

But that's not where this story ends....more tomorrow!

Until then, if you are blessed enough to be riding, please ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Edito & Rider

Monuments - things to be fearful of? Insulted by? OR....

Monuments - things to be fearful of? Insulted by? OR....Could a monument really be something less than sinister?

This topic has been on my mind since all of the strife in Charlottesville triggered the tearing down of monuments. As I get ready to, as project lead, install a monument to honour the 158 souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country during the Afghanistan War, here in Grande Prairie, Alberta, I have to wonder.

158 names grace the monument, 158 names that are connected to families, wives, husbands, children, grand parents and uncles and aunts, cousins, all left here to miss them.

As the person who conceived the idea to build an Afghanistan War Monument & Memorial Gardens here in Grande Prairie, Alberta, it was with a heart that wanted to thank the soldiers and their families for their sacrifice and to remember that sacrifice. 

WAR IS UGLY. 

The Afghanistan War Monument does not glorify War and is not intended to.
It honours the sacrifice, the hurt, the pain, the sorrow, the promise cut short.

Our soldiers prepare for war, they train for it, but they do not seek it.
They go to battle by the orders they are given by the government of the day.

The men and women who answer the call to defend and protect our country, its allies and the defenceless around the world; they deserve to be thanked, to be remembered, to have their families embraced and supported.

That's what's in my heart.

That's why I have pushed relentlessly to build this monument and the gardens that will be forth coming.

MY SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR?

20 years from now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now, when I am dead and gone and can not tell you why I conceived this monument and these gardens, is someone going to take offence and pull it down? Will they decimate the gardens we are lovingly designing?

Will they deface the historical points of interest we create that tell the story of our history as a collective of humans who live on a land mass we call Canada?

If you go to Ireland, there are military monuments everywhere, even in churches.

All of these monuments thanking the people who sacrificed their lives, assuring that the story, the history of Ireland is kept alive. Many ordered at the request of a grieving spouse or family member.

Saying thank you, honouring the sacrifices of those who fought for what we believe in, is important, but what happens 100 years from now? What happens when the beliefs of our day give way to beliefs of a different nature as population demographics change?

Trying to hide the past, to rewrite it, is a dangerous thing. If something or someone being honoured is truly offensive, then build something instructive that puts the truth into perspective and park it RIGHT BESDIE THE MONUMENT. Let's remember that the art itself has a certain intrinsic value and that No one alive today knows what was in the heart of the person whose art they are defacing.

The sculpture, the foundry artist, was it just a job or a passionate creation for them?

We will never know.

AND REMEMBER - FREE SPEECH is a double edged sword.

OH, and remember something else - the whole - your rights end where they infringe on mine, is equally a double edged sword.

Now here is my stance on the politics in our country, Canada...on the removing of the names of men like John A Macdonald or removing plaques from the Confederate daughters like what happened in Montreal last week....

Without tension, pressure; carbon is just carbon. A diamond can not be created without tension or pressure. It also requires time. Canada is a young and imperfect lump of coal that is a diamond in the rough.

Our leaders have over the decades failed ALL OF US who live today in one way or the other. They were after all human. 

Many lived in a time that we can not truly fathom and they made decisions that we can only guess at the reasons behind them.

Wiping them out of our history is not going to change how we got to where we are.
My motorcycle has taught me to look to where I want to go, but to glance in my rearview mirror once in a while, to measure how far I have come. History is supposed to help guide our future, it can't do that if we hide it.

It's not going to make the hurt better.

It's going to create more hurt and hatred, because as I said before - there is a double edged sword called the Charter of Rights and Freedoms - and your rights stop where they infringe on mine.

Under the Charter is that other double edged sword called freedom of speech and expression. You have your right to feel, and believe what you feel and believe. You have no right to force that on me.

You have no right to deny me my speech or expression, because we are supposed to be EQUAL.

Let's approach tender topics as equals TODAY.

None of us can change the past but we can chart a better future.

Now that the political commentary is out of the way, here is a little bit of info on the project here in Grande Prairie:

This project has three phases. Phase one, the Afghanistan War monument and the memorials to the 4 fallen from the Afghanistan war that are tied to our city.

Phase two is the building of the memorial gardens, with little memory walks inside the bigger gardens.

The outer walk way is to be the history of Canada, in War and Peace time as told from the perspective of grade 6 students.

The idea that I have pitched to our principals and teachers is that there are 15 decades, when we know how many classes, we divide the decades up - we could end up with drilling down to 1/4 decades if enough sign on. The kids will research their time period as teams, the team will collectively write an essay, deliver that essay to their classmates. It will then go to a vote and the class will present us with the 200 word essay that they feel best represents the time period.

We will get French translations done, find appropriate photos and create the historical points of interest that will then be placed in our gardens in the "Canada at War & Peace" memory walk.

We have our first schools coming on board and we only had the meeting on Monday!

Inside of that outer walkway will be smaller ones.

There will be walkways devoted to our military services clubs from across the northwestern part of Alberta. There will be one talking about Army Training Base 32 Grande Prairie and the other bases in our region. There will be walkways devoted to the history of our First Nations & Metis soldiers and we will honour and remember the Canadian Soldiers who have taken their lives because of the burden their soul carried.

The third and final phase is to find a piece of military machinery to stand sentinel in the gardens.

Lest we Forget, because if we forget, we will repeat our mistakes and the lives that were cut so short, will have been in vain.

I hope you have a blessed day and if you are lucky enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you!

Belt Drive Betty,
Editor & Rider