The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #56

Episode Date: April 16, 2021

More of your best -- some great listener letters about leadership, hockey, UFO's and of course -- COVID.

Hello there, Peter Mansbridge here. You are just moments away from the latest episode of The Bridge. It's Friday. It's the weekend special. Like you, I have been so grateful and so thankful for frontline workers during the COVID crisis. Let's just talk about the frontline workers at SickKids, which is one of the world's best children's hospitals. SickKids doctors also work behind the scenes on incredible breakthroughs to help our kids and generations to come. Listen to their inspiring stories in a new season of the popular podcast called SickKids Versus. Each episode explores a major SickKids discovery, like, well, a virus-fighting supermole super molecule or a cure for hard-to-treat cancers. Just visit sickkidsfoundation.com slash podcast or search Sick Kids Versus and spell versus

VS. So Sick Kids VS. You'll be amazed at what you learn. We love Fridays. We all love Fridays, right? You know, somebody told me the other day that every day is Blur's Day, right? They can't remember the days. That's occasionally happened to me over the last year where I kind of forget what day it is. But not much.

I tend to remember where we are during the week. And the podcast helps. The bridge helps. Because I know Wednesdays are smoke mirrors and the truth. I know Fridays are the weekend special. It all kind of shapes out. And you kind of wonder what you're going to do on these particular days. So you're always focused.

That's one of the good things about doing a podcast. You know what day of the week it is. It's not just Blur's Day. A couple of days ago, I guess it was on Smoke Mirrors and the Truth. Bruce and I were talking about leadership. And I've always been fascinated by that subject. I'm asked to speak on it fairly often. I had a couple of speeches this week.

I've got another one today with a group in Prince Edward Island. And quite often, either the focus of the speech is about leadership or quite often in the Q&A leadership issues come up. And they kind of assume that I know lots about leadership because over my 50 years in the business, I've spoken to a lot of leaders. They may be prime ministers or presidents or heads of companies. You know, you name it. They're all leaders in a way.

When they're in those positions, they're definitely leaders. But everyone's a leader in some fashion. And that's my argument, is that leadership is not just born out of the position you hold in the company or the occupation you're in. But it's how you lead your life, where your focus is, how you try to inspire others to join you in whatever quest you're on. But anyway, we talk about leadership generally, and the other day on Smoke, Mirrors, and the Truth, we were talking about leadership, and in this case, in particular, political leadership as a result of the pandemic we're in. And I suggested that if those of you listening to the podcast

had ideas specifically about what you were looking for at this time or what you wish to see and perhaps you weren't seeing in the leaders of today on this particular crisis, what is it you want to see and perhaps you weren't seeing in the leaders of today on this particular crisis what is it you want to see what is it you want to hear and yeah actually quite a few of you wrote in i'm going to read just a selection of those letters like we do every friday on the weekend special it's not every letter that comes in that makes it to the broadcast. It's kind of a reflection of some of the letters. And while I read each letter in its entirety,

I don't, you know, when they come in, I don't read them in their entirety on the air. I usually just left out particular sections. Sometimes in the short ones, these short focused letters, I may read it all. Like this first one, Patsy Mines, I think it's Mines,

in West Vancouver writes, I'd like someone who is sincere rather than giving the impression that he or she is on the Stratford stage, who speaks with candor about the facts rather than the ridiculous, we have your back, and who acts in the moment to the world situation. And they must have a plan which is easily explained to the general population. This can't last, the pandemic.

Eventually some leaders in all parties will step up. But for the moment, the B team is at work in Canada. So that's, you know, a slight condemnation. I could have said the C team or the D team, but Patsy chose to say the B team. B's not all bad. I wish I'd had B's at school instead of the collection of other letters that I assembled in my time at school. But nevertheless, Patsy's not giving the A symbol

to any of our leaders in Canada right now. But, you know, those are, you know, be sincere. Speak with candor about the facts. Tell the truth, in other words, right? Be blunt about the situation we're in. You know, Joe Biden in the U.S. promised that if he became president, he would always, what was his term? I'll speak from the shoulder.

I'll tell you the truth. And he seems to have been doing that so far on the pandemic. We'll see how long it lasts. But people do want the truth. They can handle it. They can certainly handle the truth better than the lies. And the former guy told a lot of lies and admitted to telling lies on the pandemic situation.

Told Bob Woodward, I'm not going to tell him the truth. It's too ugly to tell them the truth. Be honest. Speak with candor. That's what Patsy wants, and that's what a lot of other people want too. Pat Wharton from Vernon, British Columbia. Really enjoying Smoke Mirrors and The Truth.

Very sad that I can't listen to Good Talk. Well, actually you can. It's available on SiriusXM. And it's free right now. You get a month free. So you get four episodes free. So you got to look it up on SiriusXM.ca slash Peter Mansbridge. And you can subscribe just with your email.

You don't have to give any other information, and you can get it. On your question of leadership, says Pat Warden, I want a leader who has a vision for the country that is not just based on their four-year term. Tell me what you want in terms of the country's future is what pat is saying i don't want to know know what you're promising you'll deliver in the next four years tell me why that makes a difference to the country you see the canada you see give me a vision. Jim Kramer writes from Adelaide, Australia.

Having lived in Adelaide for the last 16 months, I've observed the most callous political theater here on the national level. It makes Canadian federal politics seem mild in comparison. I'm from Alberta, and I've been active in our provincial elections for several decades. Certainly, I've become more cynical of politics over the years, and I'm tired of it. I'd like to see our political leaders set the politics aside after an election until the next, and replace it with the hard work improving our societies based on the policies they campaigned on naive thinking i know but how can we make it change maybe political rhetoric could be restricted to a defined time frame around election dates

as you and bruce pointed out joe biden so far seems to be focused on solutions to the problems. Maybe it's a maturity, age-related derived focus. Maybe not. Anyway, I enjoy your podcast most of the time, especially those with the radish farmer. That's our pal Bruce Anderson. He started a hobby farm just outside of Ottawa, and he's claiming that he's going to grow the best radishes anywhere. We're going to keep an eye on Bruce and his radishes

and see what actually happens there. John Woodcock from Buckhorn, Ontario. I want our national and provincial leaders to work together on a Canadian plan to get COVID-19 to zero as soon as possible. Work together. Now, that's how they seem to be doing it at the beginning of all this, but lately it hasn't seemed that way on some fronts, especially Ontario and Alberta. They are not on the same sink as Ottawa.

There's some tensions there. And what John wants, and a number of people wrote in on this same front, they've got to work together. They've got to cooperate. They've got to do what they claimed they were going to do. Trudeau says, well, that's Canada. That's kind of the system we have. The federal system.

You know, Ottawa and the provinces don't always get along, don't always agree, don't have to always agree. Well, you think on a national crisis, a national emergency where people are dying,

thousands of them, you might want to figure out a way to work together. Theo Huthorst. He's in London, Ontario. He's a retired lieutenant colonel. Air Force. Here's parts of Theo's letter. I retired about 18 months ago after 36 years in the Air Force. As a senior officer, leadership was an essential element of my daily life.

My last posting was at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, teaching the next generation of military leaders the principles of command and staff, among other things. I was also the lead instructor for the leadership course. In the study of leadership, we often refer to transactional and transformational leadership styles. Transactional leadership is a leader-centric approach where followers are inspired by reward or benefit. If you do this, you'll get that. Transformational leadership seeks to inspire the follower by inspiring them with a shared vision of success. In the military, we aim for transformational leadership most often, inspiring our subordinates to achieve the unit's goals and mission. In Canadian politics, Conservative parties have become transactional, hence the constant reference

to the taxpayer. One pays a certain amount of taxes and in return receives a certain level of services. Progressive parties seek to inspire Canadians to make the country a better place for all citizens. For example, I'm an avid cyclist. While living in Toronto, I commuted from Etobicoke, roughly the corner of Scarlet and Eglinton, to North York Avenue in Wilson. That's where the staff college is in that area. By bike, bus or car, depending on weather and schedule. Conservatives would say, in the paper almost daily,

that I needed a license for my bike as a means of tax collection because I used the roads without paying for them via vehicle registration or fuel taxes, never mind my federal and provincial income taxes, municipal taxes and consumption taxes. Use a service, pay a tax. Transactional. Progressives would say that better bicycle infrastructure is needed because more bikes in use means less cars in use, which is better for the environment and personal health, and reduces the number of cars for everyone, helping those who need to use a motor vehicle for whatever reason. A better city overall. Transformational. I'm tired of being called a taxpayer. I'm a citizen who pays taxes but also benefits greatly from living in Canada.

So I want a leader who is transformational, who has a shared vision of the country and its place in the world that I can support and follow. That leader has my vote. Interesting argument put forward that way. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Theo Huthorst, London, Ontario. Thank you, sir. And thank you for your service.

Dina Martin. Dina Martin is in Newmarket, Ontario. What does she have to say? Well, let's get to the crunch of what she has to say. What I'd like to see instead of all this complaining is some cooperation and support from the opposition leaders. If they can't offer solutions,

then please stop complaining and be quiet. Any moron can point fingers and play the blame game, but these guys are paid well, so show some leadership. Work together to serve the Canadians you work for. All right, Dina, let me just say this. We, you know, We are in the midst of a national crisis, and some formal arrangement of cooperation would be good to see. But keep in mind, the opposition actually has a role in our system, and part of that role for the opposition is to oppose. Now, you can just straight up oppose, or you can oppose with solutions. And I guess that's what you're arguing. You're going to complain. Show me what you do. Tell me what you

do. Put forward the argument that you would do at this moment in this case. Now, some oppositions of traditionally, historically, from both sides of the aisle, have argued, no, no, no, that's not our role. Our role is to oppose, to stand up and oppose. We don't have to tell you what we'll do except around an election time. Well, we started to see that from the Conservatives yesterday when Aaron O'Toole put forward his latest climate change plan. I'm not going to go through all that again. We did a good chunk of good talk yesterday with Chantal and Bruce

on that whole climate change plan by the Conservatives, what works, what is questionable, and what it says about Aaron O'Toole and his party right now. Anyway, so there's kind of a glimpse of some of the things that some of you are thinking about in terms of leadership and what leadership you want

in the midst of what clearly is a national crisis. Lots of other topics touched upon on the weekend special this week, and we'll get to the next batch of them right after this. Okay, more of the weekend special now. If you were listening yesterday, we were talking UFOs and how UFOs have made a comeback during the pandemic. At least there have been a lot more reported, apparently, especially in North America, than there had been in the years before.

And we decided that the reason for that is more people are looking at clear skies, either because they've moved out to the country, or there's just not a lot of stuff going on in the cities right now. So the opportunity to look skyward is much better than it has been at some time and you start to see things. First letter from Lorna Grout in Wilkie, Saskatchewan. This is two weeks in a row we've heard from Lorna. She says, today I almost fell out of my chair in surprise when you brought up the topic of more UFO sightings during the pandemic. Why, you ask? Because last month,

on March 21st, 2021, at 5.54 a.m., the wee hours of the morning, after the spring equinox, I too became one of those so-called crazy people that witnessed unexplained fast-moving lights in the sky that I've never seen before. That night was a crystal clear sky here free of clouds where you see everything as you described in your podcast. I'm accustomed to staring at dark skies having been raised on a farm in southern Saskatchewan

and now living in the small town of Wilkie. I suffer from chronic midlife insomnia and observe owls and other wildlife, even some vandals once in these dark hours. I thrill to many months in 2020 of observing the nightly rise and movement of the Neowise comet and its flaming tail. I saw that too. And a night of meteor showers was either the

Perseid or Orinode, Orinid, sorry, I don't know those words, both last year, where I had the once in a lifetime occasion to view a large fireball streaking a huge arc across the sky with an unobstructed view. I've seen and even heard the sizzle of a small asteroid crashing to Earth in Regina back in the 90s during a meteor's night. You've seen a lot of stuff in the sky. And it seems to me, Lorna, you seem to know what all these things are.

They're not unidentified flying objects to you. You got them figured out. Although I guess occasionally there are those ones that you're wondering about. Bruce Gartner writes from Montreal. Here's what he says. I want to thank you for your passing reference to the unprecedented and extraordinarily perilous situation the CFL finds itself due to the pandemic.

In this week's Smoke Mirrors and the Truth, Bruce Anderson made reference to an obscure NFL rule as you were both discussing U.S. politics. At that point, you actually went off topic for a moment and reminded your listeners that things are looking very bleak for the CFL, and we may have very well already seen our last down of Canadian football. Although I've been living in Montreal for many years. I grew up just outside of Regina. So I am by default a rabid CFL fan. And no, I do not cheer for the Alouettes. It did my prairie heart proud to hear such a Toronto-centric guy,

I guess that's me, express with such conviction what the CFL meant to you and how much you too want to see our very own Canadian version of this beautiful game survive past this pandemic. I so much share those sentiments. Well, listen, Bruce, you know, first of all, I'll admit that, well, obviously didn't watch CFL last year because it didn't exist last year. They shut it down. And who knows what's going to happen this year all because of the pandemic. So I've watched certainly a lot more NFL in the last few years than I watched when I was growing up and was an ardent CFL person.

But to your thing about Toronto-centric, you know what my team is in the CFL? It's not the Argonauts. It's the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. I lived in Regina. But even before I moved to Regina, I was a rider fan. Growing up in Ottawa, I followed the Ottawa Rough Riders. And in 1960, we had two quarterbacks, two great quarterbacks.

Russ Jackson, the greatest Canadian quarterback ever, and Ronnie Lancaster, an American. And the town wasn't big enough for two great quarterbacks. The town was divided. Families were divided. My family was divided. And the town wasn't big enough for two great quarterbacks. The town was divided. Families were divided. My family was divided. I was a Lancaster fan.

My dad was a Jackson fan. My sister was a Jackson fan. My mother was a Jackson fan. Anyway, the riders knew that this was a problem in the city, so they sold Ronnie Lancaster to Regina for 500 bucks and a guarantee that Regina would never move him back east because they didn't want to have these divided loyalties going on in eastern Canada. In those days, the schedules were separate until the Grey Cup.

So my loyalties went to Regina, and they stayed with Regina until today. I can remember, boy, when I was living in Churchill, Manitoba, going out on the prairies, or going to prairies, going out on the tundra in Churchill in my car, and there was the only way to hear a Ryder game was you get out there at night and tune in the channel, try to tune in your radio to catch a Regina radio station to listen to the game.

So anyway, I would hate to see the CFL collapse, but it is in dire straits. Don't anybody kid yourself. Okay. That's a good one. Joan Westall. Let me see where is Joan writing from? Well, she got a double address.

Picked in Ontario on Tattamagoosh, Nova Scotia. I'm just going to read a bit of the letter. My husband and I enjoyed your recent podcast on hockey, and I wanted to bring another podcast to your attention. It's called Talking Hockey, The Hockey Talking Show. Here's the link, and she includes the link, and you can find it by just Googling Talking Hockey, The Hockey Talking Show. That link may take she includes the link, and you can find it by just Googling Talking Hockey, the Hockey Talking Show.

That link may take you to the most recent episode. The two lads who do the show, carried through University of Manitoba, have a big interest in hockey and share it from humorous angles, like local beers. They feature a beer and discuss the weekly events in hockey for the duration of drinking the beer. Hockey Heritage, H-A-I-R, featuring great hairdos in the world of hockey,

and often conduct interviews of local hockey heroes. Hosts Randy and Tom play in a hockey beer league in Winnipeg and also have extensive radio experience, so they share their passion through their podcasts. I think they deserve they deserve a shout out and you might enjoy tuning in occasionally well joan that's very kind of you and how thoughtful to you know bring up a couple of local guys who you know you obviously you don't even know these guys, but you listen to their hockey podcast. Or do you know these guys? The next line. Full disclosure, I'm Tom's mom. But despite that, I enjoy his radio presence. I love that.

That's a dedicated mom. Figure out a way to promote their son's podcast. It sounds like a great podcast, and yes, I will listen. I probably won't listen to the heritage moment. Emmy Penny from Pasadena, Newfoundland, in Labrador. We hear from Emmy every couple of months. She has a little store in Pasadena. I'm a little late responding to your question

about how we're coping during the pandemic. My usual answer is, I'm doing fine. And for the most part, that's been true. I've been working steady throughout, keeping busy with my online store as well as my physical gift shop. I felt I was handling it all pretty good. Then came December.

Our beloved cat, a stray, that we managed to capture in April 2011 after she spent a cold, harsh Newfoundland winter outside, became ill. Passed away just two days before Christmas. She loved us, and God knows we loved her. She was a special cat, and it's been a rough few months. It seems during the past year, many people have adopted pets to help them cope. It's a harder time than ever to lose a pet. I don't know if the grief I'm feeling is intensified because of COVID. A dear friend told me that grief is a measure of how much we love, so perhaps it's the price we pay for the gift of love. My heart goes out to anyone who's

experienced any type of loss since this pandemic hit us. Take care, Peter. Stay safe. Thanks, Emmy. You know, it's hard. It's hard to lose anybody who's close to you. Obviously, it's terribly hard. Family, friends, acquaintances. And there is something special about losing a pet. And you don't realize it until that moment comes along. And it can be truly devastating. You know, I've faced it with a number of pets over the years,

and this letter made me look even harder at Bella, our Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, who's, you know, I think 14 now, getting on there. Got a bit of arthritis, has a little trouble walking around. Sleeps an awful lot during the day. And, you know, I caught myself looking at her the other day and just shuddering at the thought of her one day not being there. So I think, Emmy, that we understand what you're going through,

and many of us share that feeling because we've felt it and seen it. Karen Boshy, our retired teacher from edmonton who drops the odd line she actually is a little she came in here with a an idea on leadership that we were talking about earlier a good leader can't be a people pleaser when lives or livelihoods are at stake i want my leader to follow the science stop hesitating to balance, and do what's right to preserve lives and maintain the ability of our health care system to provide essential care. In her case, for Albertans, I think generally everyone is hopeful on that front, that it's not just for one part of the country, but for all parts of the country. Alison Scanlon writes, and this is kind of like Emmy's thing.

It's about, you know, it's the power of the pet in your life. How many of us have found love of the four-legged furry kind during COVID? This podcast on getting a dog and then what's next is really entertaining. anchor.fm slash new dog now what? I'm curled up on the couch with my two grand doggies as I write this. We walk eight kilometers every day and they are constant companions thank goodness our daughter was busy homeschooling her four boys and asked us to take care of them covid has been good for the pet industry i think yeah it's it's going to be a challenge you know when when this finally ends because pets

are now used to in many cases for all of those who who are doing the stay home thing pets have had constant companions 24 7 for more than a year and suddenly when this ends it's not going to be like that anymore and And for some pets, that's going to be really difficult when they're suddenly dealing with an empty house. Coach Bill. Coach Bill is Bill Chichart. I think I pronounced Bill's name half a dozen different ways. He's usually in Grand Bend, Ontario,

but for this part of the year, he's in Sydney, BC. I very much enjoyed your podcast conversation today with one of my favorite sports journalists, Bruce Dobigan. We had Bruce on the other day talking about the business of hockey. When yesterday's NHL trade deadline day was mentioned, I felt Bruce's statement that teams in professional sport don't trade players anymore, they trade contracts, was particularly cogent. The conversation then moved to the larger topic of the business of sports, in this case hockey, but anytime such a discussion develops I'm reminded why I'm a college sports fan and I've moved away from following professional sports. That's not to

say I don't watch any professional sport, but I do so reminding myself that what I'm watching is two collections of independent business people who just happen to play together as part of a contractual obligation. I know that sounds very cold with a measure of cynicism, but as I'm guessing, Bruce might agree. It's the truth. Danielle Crawford. Where's Danielle? She's in luthbridge alberta today the johnson and johnson vaccine has been suspended in the u.s due to blood clotting in women like the astrazeneca some women right very, but nevertheless, seems to have happened.

I'm extremely disappointed in the media rollout of this news, as it seems to be more interested in scaring people rather than informing them and giving a perspective of how common blood clots are as a side effect. Excuse me. In many common drugs. Birth control pills, something that nearly every woman takes at some point in their life, has blood clots as a side effect. One in a thousand to one in 3,000 women will develop blood clots due to birth control.

This is seen as a good trade-off for the benefits. Blood clots is also a symptom of COVID, where nearly 1 in 5 will develop blood clots. Yet none of the media I have read have put the 1 in a million side effect into perspective. Actually, you know, Danielle, that's not fair. You might want to reassess who you listen to or who you read or who you watch

because the media, as I've said many times, is not a monolith. They don't all operate the same and they have different policies, in effect, to ensure that their journalism is, in their view, accurate, responsible, and fair. And I saw many media organizations, including this little podcast,

making these distinctions pretty clear, and have done so all week. You're not incorrect in saying some ignored those comparisons and that context and perspective. And you might want to make your judgments about who you listen to, who you watch,

and who you read based on your own knowledge of situations that you're not seeing or reading or hearing on the media that you follow. Alan Adams. Now, I don't know where Alan's writing from. Remember when you write in, please let us know where you're writing from. Truly enjoy the bridge, and here's a segment suggestion. Great story today in the New York Times. This was written Monday about how Canadian basketball officials bought the field of play,

in other words, the floor on which the Toronto Raptors won the NBA title. They bought the floor hoping for success to rub off in Olympic qualification. But Canadian NBA players haven't always answered the bell for the national team, unlike their hockey counterparts. Lots to look at here. The good luck charm, rise of basketball, how hard it is to get stars to play for Canada. You know, one of the greatest Canadian basketball players today

and this day is Jamal Murray, who plays in the NBA. And he was going to play for the Canadian Olympic team this year. He wanted to play. He had said he would play, and he would play. But he got a terrible injury in the last week, and he's going to miss most of the NBA season, if not all of it. And therefore, he's also almost certainly going to miss the Olympics. So that was a big hit.

But, you know, Alan, you're right. Other Canadian players in the NBA, and there are a lot of them now, some of the others have said they won't, they're not going to take time off from the NBA season to play on the Olympic team, which is a real shame if that's what happens. But the floor of, you know, buying the floor that the Raptors won the world championship on

a couple of years ago is like the Olympic hockey team, team right who uh what did they do they put a loony in the ice at center ice they slipped in the middle of the night before the big game the gold medal game put a loony in there which they figure um gave them good luck it obviously worked because they won that year um so maybe the floor is a similar kind of idea. That's for the qualification round for the Canadian team. It's going to be tough without Jamal Murray, but it's not impossible. Okay, we're getting near the end here.

This will be the end. This is the last one. And this is an appeal from youth. And the letter comes from Ida Mortazavi. I hope that's close, Ida, on the pronunciation of your last name. So here's what Ida has to say. I'm writing to you about today. What I'm writing about, rewind, when we start all over again.

Hi, Peter. We'd just like to start off by saying I really enjoy your podcast. I, too, have discovered the podcast world during COVID, and it has really helped me get through it. Anyways, what I'm writing to you about today is the anger directed at young people during this pandemic. I'm from Toronto, but currently in my last month of undergrad at Queen's University in Kingston. The past few weeks, there's been so much hate directed to us Queen's students on Facebook via Kingston locals.

And look, I get it. Those 18 to 29 currently make up 70% of the active cases here in the Kingston region of cases of COVID, obviously. However, it's not fair to blame us students for trying to stay sane as safely as possible. Kingston locals have constantly been posting videos of students gathering by the water, Lake Ontario, accompanied by nasty captions like, learn to stay home, or you should all be ashamed. Last time I checked, going outside and sticking to your bubble, five people maximum, was allowed. I also don't need to explain how devastating this pandemic has been for the mental health of young people in particular, and how some of us literally need social interaction to survive. As for me, my fourth and final year has been completely ruined by COVID.

I've been imagining my graduation day for four years, just to have it cancelled. In my opinion, the students here, including myself, are trying their best to turn a miserable situation into something positive. Also, the Queen's community makes up a massive part of the Kingston economy, so pointing fingers at us and telling us to leave just makes no sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I understand the frustration directed at young people who are being unsafe, but it's not fair to blame us all. Curious to hear what other people think of this. Thank you.

Best, Ida. Ida, I think that's, you know, a sincere letter conceding the points that, you know, some people have let things get out of hand. But also making the passionate plea that, you know, this has not been easy for students. And I know exactly what you're saying, this fourth year issue. My son is in fourth year at U of T. And like you, this has not been what he dreamt of,

not just for the last four years, but all his life. All his life he wanted to go to U of T. All his life was pointed towards graduation day. It's not going to happen. There'll be a picture of him at some kind of virtual ceremony. He hasn't been in a class since last March. His conversations with professors, most of whom he loves, he thinks they're fantastic,

have been virtual or by email. This is not the memory that he wants to carry forward the rest of his life with. This is not the vision he had when his goal was set on being a U of T graduate. And that's the same for Ida. That's such a terrible disappointment. And to realize that all kids, all students, are paying the price for the actions of a few,

just doesn't seem fair. So I'm glad you wrote. I'm glad we had the opportunity to read your remarks. Okay, that's going to wrap it up for the weekend special for this week. I haven't thought of anything in particular for next week

other than the usuals, but the usuals are what you like. Monday, we'll start off with a sense from one of our infectious disease specialists on where we are in this incredible fight that we're in. Wednesday will be Smoke, Mirrors, and the Truth. Friday will be the weekend special. And in between, I'm sure we'll have a few surprises here and there.

So have a good weekend, as good as you can make it, given the situation. Keep things in mind. Don't forget what we have to still get through. And we will get through it. But we'll get through it sooner if we follow the guidelines. You know what they are. Wash your hands.

Stay socially distant. Wear a mask or two. Get the vaccine. If you can, get the vaccine now. If you can get the vaccine now, if you're in the right age group, if you have access to one, get it.

Try and keep the negativity out of your view. Stay healthy, stay safe, and be kind. We all need that. All right, I'm Peter Mansbridge. This has been The Bridge.

Thanks so much for listening. We'll talk to you again on Monday.