Mariellen – Well said. Reading your column made me feel like I was tranced in a yoga class. For a brief moment, I forgot about the mortgage, utility bills, credit card bills, and expensive groceries. Then at the end, you reminded us of reality.

The reality is, is that we are united during hardening times – and not just in Toronto – not just in Canada – but the entire world. We are united by a common tie of difficult times. The world has been slapped with a heavy recession. But what goes up, must come down; and what goes down must bounce back up. In the meantime, we can get through by, as you said, living in the moment. Living in the moment is subjective.

For me, it meant forgetting about reality when I cut back and relax with a good swim. I concentrate on my strokes by feeling each muscle pull and contract. With each handful of water, I imagine throwing it back to where I came from as to send myself streaming through the water like a shark. Living in the moment helps us through hard times.

As a recent graduate of Toronto, I felt the swift power of the recession as I conducted my job search. A local consulting company caught my eye for several reasons. The key point to joining was their desire to make the world a better place. Specifically, doing a high percentage of charity work. When we heard word of the strike in Toronto, we all put our heads together to figure out how we could help. We made some calls, and within a few days, GarbageHelp.com was up and running. The website uses geographical information to help residents work together to clean up the trash.

I think this is beautiful – how a big city can come together like a little city. When I go for my regular jog, I inhale the fresh morning breeze and give thanks that our biggest problem is a union who refuses to let their employees back to work… or a stubborn mayor who refuses to put more money on the table… whichever way you want to think about it. In other parts of the world, they are faced with war, famine, hate, and other living conditions which my imagination does not have the capacity to comprehend. In the past, our ancestors who occupied the vary air which we breathe now, were faced with wars which completely tore apart any sense of life. Compared to this, we are living in paradise.

Indeed, the universe is unfolding perfectly, and we should all continue working together for our greater economic good.

Thank you - for putting this into words. Each I ride to work along the Gooodman trail, counting swans along the way. I see picketers with iPods, and Tim's on the left and that enormous lake on the right. I can't quite understand why human greed, arrogance and control has lead to this. This is not a finger pointing post toward any side - but this strike sure sounds like a school yard melee! I am grateful for that which is - hopefully they too will someday.

I read to the end, then smiled out loud. Thank you, Mariellen, for this.

I'm also a practicing yogi of 22 years and have lived in Mumbai. While I value the positive and loving approach of this author towards the issue of the garbage strike, I find it sidesteps the political problem completely. This is a real political problem, and new age introspection is not going to address it.

Yes, there is always beauty in Toronto, but as someone who has been to Delhi and travelled India, you should know how garbage and lack of city hygeine takes a collective toll on everyone. Furthermore, as a Western nation where people have the right to strike and demand more pay, people here have abused it.

The city workers are already paid enough, but like the TTC, school administrators, and other civil service positions, people feel they are entitled to be paid more for doing less at the expense of everyone. The greed of union leaders is, in the long term, going to actually damage the beautiful parks in our city.

I too enjoy our city's parks, however I am tired of the bureaucracy and ungratefulness of our city's unions. It's time that the government legislated them back to work for the safety of all. Their demands are unreasonable and even as someone with a spiritual background, I recognize the political need to put one's foot down.

Going for a walk in the park is not my idea of solving the problem. I would rather join a protest against the city workers.

Perhaps it depends on where in the city you live. Here by the Distillery District, the stench of putrifaction completely fills our apartment. There is no escape. We are sick to our stomachs, our heads hurt, our minds are foggy, we have chest pain, cannot work out or study (and I am a personal trainer and rather poor political science student), and outside it is even worse. I doubt you would have written this article if you'd been to my place.

I just read the headline. Oh, by the way, I have bankable sick days at work!!
I work for the federal government.

Thank you, we need more writers like you in our world.

To the one who calls himsel "me"

"These contracts are no different then those of professional athletes."

Being, are you serious? You somehow think that because you are a city worker, who clearly doesn't do an 8th of the physical (and clearly mental) effort a profesionnal athlete does deserves the same amount of sick days they do? Keep watchin TSN while drinking your 50 pal. The author is right you're way out of touch with the real WORKING world.

2. As the saying goes: "Don't pee on my leg and tell me its raining, "Me"." We all know that those so called "sick" days will be used for convenient vacations or worse yet, added on to the "vacation days" you are already banking and getting more of than the rest of us. Don't expect me a taxpayer who pays your salary to content myself of 5 days so you can lay on your porch drinking beer because your, ahem "sick" for 18 days. There mere fact that these people are DEMANDING 18 bankable sick days when they don't work nearly as hard as people who get 18 days and know that most of only get 5 sick is proof that they are dishonest who clearly plan on ABUSING the privileges supposedly promised under their contract. Again, as a tax payer I don't intend to support peoplewho plan to "screw" me over.

3. Blocking the dump sites the city has designed while "you people" sit at home "striking" - because clearly if you're writing here its because you're not busy picketing. Shall we pay you for that too? - The last thing you are getting from putting the city under siege is sympathy.

4. Finally, I doubt any contract in the world offers what these so called "working people" claim is part of their contract. Seems tome like its a convenient "interpretation" of the contract strongly backed by a union. This isn't the 70s anymore, too many laws are in place protecting employees from lousy work conditions. They had a purpose in the 70s when employers were really crooked but there are so many laws now to make sure there no "near slavery" work conditions, unions are obsolete.

5. Get back to work.