My opinion is just that, mine … and I have every right to express it, just as you do yours

Peace brother ... and out

The other day I was described in the following way, by an individual who didn’t agree with a position I had taken, with regards to the free-wheeling illegally operating pot stores in the City of Kamloops:

Garrett Gilmour: We get it, Alan, you're 89 years old, your great great great grand-pappy settled these here lands back in eighteen odd six, and you drive in one lane traffic at 35 kilometers during rush hour and think its your god given right to do so. Trust me. We get it. 

Well I certainly believe that people should have the right to their opinions, and be able to share and exchange them, I would hope they would have balance and at least be somewhat accurate.

So, for your information, this is the 'accurate' readers digest condensed version of me; who I am, and who I've been.

The old mare I first learned to ride
after arriving in the Cariboo in 1965

I have been politically active since my teens ... I have been a union member and shop steward ... I have been a retail clerk … I’ve been employed in all facets of the broadcast industry … I’ve been a mine worker … and I worked at Fields back when it was a full-fledged department store, even selling furniture and appliances as a 16 and 17-year-old.

In my teens I shoveled snow and mowed lawns to earn my own money to buy records, and eat at the Dog N Suds … and I even used our family horse in the Cariboo to deliver the Vancouver Sun in our neighbourhood -- just once though as hoof prints in the lawns were a problem  :D

I’ve been an employee, and I’ve been management.

I have over the years supported the NDP, Liberals, Reform Party and Conservatives.

I love classic country and new-country ... and I love classic rock ... along with big bands, and the classics like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and company.

I even smoked it back in the day, and … I inhaled.

I’ve had cats of all kinds, and dogs too from Golden Retriever, to mutts, to now a very small dog called a MiKi, that weighs under 4 pounds.
 

Me ... with hair

I’ve had long hair down past my shoulders … short hair over my ears … and for awhile no hair at all, in support of my wife who was undergoing cancer treatment.

I’ve raised a boy and a girl (one by birth and one adopted) … and for well over a decade also brought up and raised a grand-child through pre-school to graduation.

All that is just to say I am not you … just as you are not me. 

And let me say … I am definitely glad I am not Cody Schlecht, and he is not me, as he had some pretty mean-spirited ... or should I say disgusting, words to say too, as the following will attest:
You know Alan having an opinion is a lot like having a dick. It’s cool to have one, it’s okay to be proud of it, but it doesn’t mean you should shove it in people’s faces.
 

Me ... without hair

My opinion is just that, mine, and I have every right to express it, just as any of you who are reading this will be able to comment on what I've had to say today.

You may not like my opinion, in fact you may be adamantly opposed, just as others (myself included) may be of yours.

It's not wrong … and it’s not right … it's just life.  But hey, let's skip the disgusting crap ... the mean-spirited crap ... and the guesswork throwing everything and anything crap.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth, and I hope you’ll join the discussion on this, or any other topic presented here.  Do you agree … disagree?  Post your thoughts in the Comment Section directly below.