I have found much support & love coming from the folks on this board. The same kind of support I used to feel on the "other board" until about 2 years ago. I will always defend people's rights to speak up and "tell it like it is" on this board. I now understand (finally; I'm a bit "thick-headed," ya know!) that the "other board" operates from a totally different stance/funding source & therefore has a different leaning/perspective/path. That's OK. What I appreciate here is that I will always be able to read "the truth," even if it's not pretty. Life in pretty much every country in the world (with the exceptions of your beautiful native Canada & some of the Scandanavian countries) does NOT have ALL beautiful parts. I think that, as a visitor to a new country, I NEED to be prepared & know beforehand the difficulties that I may encounter while visiting; that will ENSURE my preparation for this & that I will "go in with eyes wide open" & have a great trip, as "knowledge is power."
What I wish for more than anything is that we could all just "agree to disagree" & move on. The "fighting" & negativity just won't get us anywhere... Believe me, this I know; there are no guarantees in life & there's very little in life that we can control; we'd do better to "let it all go......" As Rodney King once said, "Can't we all just get along???"