When I came to Canada over 25 years ago, to visit an aunt, I saw multiculturalism of an extent unseen in any other country that I had ever visited.

I assumed that these many folks of different ethnicities, who had decided to call Canada “Home”, would be bringing the best of their culture with them and that they would be leaving the wost of it behind. After all, if they had wanted the same-old, they could have easily stayed in their of birth.

It was then that I decided to call Canada my home. I thought, how could you not want to want to live with the best that every culture has to offer, all under one roof?

Over the next few years I learned that I was wrong; that folks (for the most part) had not left the “worst” behind, with a view to embracing and contributing towards a new country. Rather, it would appear that they had all brought along the same “kill-or-be-killed” rule of the jungle with them. They came to take, but not to give.

They stayed and worked within their ethnic communities. Did not make much of an attempt to learn the language. Took advantage of the country’s resources while contributing very little to it.  Talking, always, about how lovely their mother-land is and how they would use the savings earned in Canada to purchase properties back home.

Please keep in mind that this is just my observation and views. I realize that this is not the case for every immigrant. I, for one, put myself through a great many years of post-secondary education, never asking for a loan or a grant (and that was when they were practically giving it away). I was also never on any kind of social assistance.

I paid my taxes. In fact, for a few years there, I kept ending-up with a balance owing at tax time.  The lady who prepared my tax returns explained to me that it was because I was working too many hours at too many jobs (all menial, by the way as I had/have no connections).

So you might ask, what has all of this got to do with God, or Religion?

Well, for the most part, the immigrant folks mentioned earlier are deeply religious, irrespective of their country of origin to include; East Indian, Italian, Portuguese, Latin American, the Carribeans, Irish, English, Middle Eastern, Eastern European…….

So my question is, how can anyone be so religious and God-fearing, as they rip-off/abuse and consequently ruin a country or society?

I wanted to wait a few day before posting this so that everyone had some time to digest the whole event.

Sure, he was a bit strange but, who amongst us is so “normal”? He may have even hurt a few people along the way but that may also be explained by his childhood.

Years ago I heard someone say that “through plastic surgery, Michael Jackson has made the transition from a black man to a white woman”. I found that particularly funny especially for those of us not living in LA where it’s fake everything.

I imagine that for most people, once you start such alterations, it would be hard to stop. For example, many a time I see a woman’s innocent plucking of eyebrows turn into a parting of Red Sea.

I suppose we ought also to remember, that the sort of wealth and celebrity status as was accomplished by this icon would inevitably be accompanied by all sorts of baggage; in this case, to the extent that perhaps only a select few individuals will ever experience. So, it far to easy for us to judge someone like Michael Jackson from so far away.

It is also rumoured that that he spent far more than he earned. To me that translates to not just bad accounting, but good for the economy. That money got to move around as opposed to sitting in some bank account.