I witnessed justice served to a rude, aggressive Ottawa motorist last Saturday morning. I was driving back from the parklands where I take Maggie for her daily training run. I was cruising along Riverside Drive at about 70 kph, just slightly over the posted limit, but still among the slowest vehicles on the road. Some cretin came speeding up from behind me in the right-hand lane, swerved in front of me without signalling and sped on his way. Too bad this cretin executed this manoeuvre under the gaze of a policeman who in an unmarked car was on the lookout for just such a rude and stupid motorist. I saw the policeman chase down and pull over the cretin. I had a chuckle as I drove past the scene. I hope the cretin was served a hefty fine for his rude and reckless driving. I am confronted by motorists of this sort on an almost daily basis. It is so refreshing to see that some are caught and sanctioned.

While I was out walking Maggie late last night I saw a cat toying with a mouse. The cat let the mouse run out onto the road where Maggie spied it. When the cat saw that Maggie intended on making a meal of the mouse, he scooped it up and made off with it. Maggie likes to chase cats, at least the cats she sees outside when I take her for a walk. She was fine, however, with my mother's cats indoors when I visited mum and dad last Christmas. Cats generally have nothing but the greatest of disdain for dogs, although there are some cats that really take to the dogs with whom they are kept. One thing about cats is that wherever you go you can pretty much count there being cats watching you. I see cats perched in the windows of the houses I pass by, sitting on porches and verandas, hiding in the shrubbery and under automobiles, always giving passersby a baleful glare. Sometimes an outdoor cat will come up to you looking for a friendly pat, other times they scurry away. One night I remember seeing a cat that had just been run over and killed by an automobile. Another cat was sitting with it as if keeping a vigil. I scooped up the dead cat and moved it off the road. I put its remains near a house whose occupant leaves food and water outside for the stray cats. I thought this person might see that the deceased cat was given a more dignified disposal. There are still plenty of cats to be found in the district of the city where I make my home. There is no shortage of people who like keeping cats as pets.

The Roman Catholic Church asserts that its legitimacy and authority is derived from the Sacred Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition. This is not unlike Judaism which has the Torah and the Talmud, i.e., a sacred text and sacred tradition in which the text is interpreted. Protestant Churches accept neither the primacy of the papacy nor the Apostolic Tradition. Skeptics consider religious belief nothing more than stuff and nonsense.

That the Roman Catholic Church asserts its primacy in Christendom should not surprise anyone. If you are a practicing Catholic this is nothing new. If you are Protestant, you disagree and maintain that the authority of the Church rests in the Sacred Scriptures alone. If you are a skeptic, you likely could not care less. There are some interests who have an axe to grind with Christianity, Roman Catholicism in particular, rabble/babble crowd comes to mind, but so what? The principle of the separation of church and state prevails in Western societies. Religious leaders are free to pontificate, and religious organizations are free to operate their own hospitals and civic organizations, but government remains steadfastly secular. If you are not an adherent of a particlular religion in the Western world, you are not subject to the rules of said religion. Get on with your life and live and let live.

I wonder at times if I am too passive. Everyday as I drive to the fields where I run Maggie I am confronted with rude, aggressive motorists. People frequently barge ahead of me without signaling or looking to see if the way is clear, they run stop signs, yield signs and red lights, tailgate (like they think tailgating me is going to make the vehicles ahead go faster), lean on the horn when I insist on coming to a full stop at stop signs and red lights. It makes me angry at times, but I try to let it go. I drive defensively; I expect the worst from other motorists, and they usually do not disappoint me. Occasionally, cretins bellow "asshole!" at me if I refuse to let them cut me off. Does the fact that I refuse to take the bait or succumb to road rage mean I am overly passive? Is it worth risking a collision or a confrontation with a rude and aggressive motorist over who has right of way? I have been driving since I got my driver's license at sixteen years of age. I have never received a speeding ticket and the only collision I had was when a man driving a pickup truck skidded into the back of my car on black ice. Damage to my car was minimal, a chipped tail light; whereas the front of his truck was badly damaged. I kept my cool. He asked me not to file a claim with my insurance company, offered to pay for repairs to my car, because this was not his first collision. As there was no damage to my car to speak of, I told him not to worry about it. I hope to maintain my spotless driving record as the years go by, but wonder if maybe I should stand up to rude, aggressive motorists more often.