WHAT IS VISION ANYWAY?

According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, vision is the 1. act or faculty of seeing. 2. a thing or person seen in a dream of a trance. b.a supernatural or prophetic apparition. 3. a thing or idea perceived vividly in the imagination 4. imaginative insight. 5. Ability to plan or form policy in a far-sighted way, e.g. in politics. 6. a person etc. of unusual beauty. vt. see or present in or as in a vision.

Hmmm. Maybe we all need to work on creating a little more vision in the world.

As Canadians, we have a particularly strong indebtedness to vision. Without seeing past the problems and the impossibilities we would have no nation. The colonists would have thrown their hands up in defeat and accepted invasion and the loss of their dreams.

And Today. Do we still need vision? Yes. Without a vision of the future we cannot solve problems of inequality, homelessness, and violence it the world. Lack of vision leaves us in the mire of despair and uncertainty. Without vision we can't even figure out who we are.

It's that idea -- of vision -- that I am most interested in exploring in my writing and in my everyday life: Where it has brought us; where we came from and where we are going; and what inspires us to dream that vision.

It's those questions that prompted me to write Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada. And it's that search for vision that keeps me working.