Posted on October 16, 2024 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with 4 comments

It’s time for you to have your say.

This just in.

There are municipal elections this weekend across Nova Scotia.

A week ago, I was substitute teaching at our local Junior School. I was filling in for a grade 7 teacher who teaches English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies. I loved the assignment as English is my preferred subject and I enjoy teaching Social Studies. I also enjoy working with young adults.

I didn’t follow the lesson plan precisely as the teacher had laid it out and during the ELA classes, I introduced the long-forgotten spelling bee. When we were children, spelling bees were a staple especially when the boys were pitted against the girls. Of course, the girls always won!

In Social Studies, the teacher had been priming the students for a mock Municipal Election. I shared a slide presentation helping students to understand the differences between dictatorships and oligarchies, democracies and constitutional democracies. Not surprisingly, all of the students thought that democracy was the preferred model. They liked the idea of free and fair elections.

Municipalities are the creation of the provincial government. The Municipal Government Act is a piece of legislation that gives councils the authority to govern their municipalities.

I happen to know a little bit about this subject. I served on Town Council for 9 years several decades ago. I also ran unsuccessfully for mayor. Kay Chisholm was my opponent and the winner. We remain best of friends to this day. Getting elected used to be the fun part of the exercise. Once elected, the tedium of endless committee meetings sets in.

I’m not going to waste a lot of oxygen talking about the good old days. There have been challenging conversations between the Town of Antigonish and the County of Antigonish since time in memoriam. For sure, there were heated debates back in my time, but I don’t ever remember it being personal. We fought our battles. We won some and lost some but when the dust settled, friendships stayed intact.

Let’s face it. The average citizen is not terribly demanding. They want clean water coming out of their taps. They want the lights to stay on. They want their garbage picked up. They want their streets plowed when it snows. In order to receive these services, taxes must be paid. Those are the basics. Civics 101. To the uninitiated, high school civics back in the 1960s was the study of the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and how to be an active, informed, and responsible member of society.

The current Municipal Election has challenged the notion of civics as once understood. Civility has been replaced by enmity. Decorum has been upstaged and, in some cases, replaced by impropriety, rudeness and disrespect.

It’s quite shocking and disturbing. The threats to democracy around the world have trickled down to our small town. No longer is it acceptable to agree to disagree. The recent debate about amalgamation laid bare the worst in human behaviour. In any debate, there are two sides to an argument. Points are made followed by vigorous discussion, points and counterpoints. There are winners and there are losers and then it’s time to move on.

Sometimes, there are people who just won’t let go.

The amalgamation discussions turned very nasty and personal. There were threats levelled at several municipal officials in the town and the county. There are lots of screenshots, e-mails and voice mails to corroborate these activities.

How did we get to such a place where we are unable to have a civil discussion?

I realize that things don’t happen overnight. Societies shift and change like sand on the beach. I happen to believe that part of the problem has been the demise of community newspapers. Thankfully, we still have excellent regional papers like The Guysborough Journal and The Reporter in Port Hawkesbury but in Antigonish, the loss of The Casket as a true weekly newspaper, has had a big impact. The Casket once employed thoughtful journalists and writers who kept tabs on the comings and goings of our town and county. They reported objectively on the pressing issues of the day.

These days, “news” is most often gleaned from social media, the wild west of journalism. It’s hard to know what is real or fake.

I often have a discussion with students about winning and losing. School provides one of the first opportunities for young people to experience the agony of defeat and the ecstasy of winning. I tell students that in both cases, win or lose, learning to accept the outcome with grace is the most important lesson to be learned. In a lifetime, we will pile up a lot of defeats and victories.

“If you can meet with triumph and disaster,

And treat those two impostors just the same.”

If – Rudyard Kipling

It is time to vote.

There are some candidates who seem to have an axe to grind. Maybe these folks should go out to the woodshed, sharpen their axes and do something meaningful and chop some wood.

Maybe prospective candidates should take part in a spelling bee.

Here is a list of words that they might want to spell correctly. More importantly, maybe they should also have to explain the meaning of these words:

Civility.

Enmity.

Respect.

Acrimony.

Collaboration.

Impropriety

Decorum.

Integrity.

I don’t often share my vote with others.

This time, I will make an exception.

My vote is for civility and decorum.

 

Posted on October 2, 2024 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

Any day of the week is a good day for a hike at Keppoch Mountain

 

“Sunday will never be the same.”

Sunday Will Never be The Same – Spanky and Our Gang

What is your favourite day of the week?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a story, and someone sent me a message afterwards, reminiscing about Sunday evenings, sixty or more years ago. Sundays had a predictable rhythm. We were marched off to Sunday mass to start the day. In the afternoon we were banished from the house for an afternoon of unstructured play. Our parents weren’t running the roads driving hither and yon to hockey games, dance classes or soccer.

After supper, we gathered around the black and white television. We watched Lassie, followed by one of the all-time great cowboy shows, Bonanza. Who can forget Ben, Hoss, Adam, Little Joe, and Hop Sing? But the most anticipated moment was the opening theme music for the Ed Sullivan Show. At the time, the Ed Sullivan Show was the longest running TV variety show. For many of us, this was our first exposure to The Beatles and Elvis Presley. The network refused to show Elvis from the waist down. The gyrating “Elvis the Pelvis” was deemed offensive by the network.

And who amongst us aging grey hairs can forget the performance by The Doors. Prior to a performance, Jim Morrison had contractually agreed with Ed Sullivan that he would not sing the shocking lyrics “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Well, guess what? Jimmy went ahead and sang “Light My Fire” in its entirety earning the band a lifetime ban. Yes. Political correctness has always been with us.

“Monday, Monday, so good to me,

Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be.”

Monday, Monday – The Mamas and The Papas

I’m retired now… sort of, so the days of the week are often indistinguishable. But during my working life, Monday was, well, Monday. Most of us working stiffs had a small knot in our stomachs on Sunday evening, dreading the thought of another long work week. I don’t ever remember meeting anyone who actually liked Mondays. They probably don’t have any friends and eat kale 7 days a week.

“Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday,

Who could hang a name on you?”

Ruby Tuesday – The Rolling Stones

I haven’t read any longitudinal studies on workplace efficiency, but I suspect that Tuesday might be the most productive day of the work week. The final dregs of alcohol consumed on the weekend have been extinguished, you have Monday in the rear-view mirror, and you’re ready to take on all comers.

“Hump day,

It ain’t just any other slump day,

There ain’t no other day like Wednesday,

And they can’t take it away,

Until the clock strikes midnight on Tuesday.”

Hump Day – Samuel Stokes

You’ve made it to Wednesday! Congratulations. It’s hump day. You’re chugging along, chewing up the hours and you know that you have just about broken the back of the week. I don’t know about you, but Wednesdays had a special feel about them. You could almost taste the weekend even though it was 48 hours away.

“Well, it started out just like a dream.”

Thursday – Jim Croce      

There was only one thing better than the weekend when we were working stiffs and that was the anticipation of the weekend. Work productivity started to wane as we dreamt about all of the social engagements, parties and sporting events that we could attend on the weekend. You could literally taste the weekend, and some workers actually dropped into a pub after work on Thursdays just to start revving up the engine.

“Everybody’s working for the weekend,

Everyone wants a new romance,

Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end,

Everybody needs a second chance.”

Working For The Weekend – Loverboy

Yes! Woot! Woot!” We survived another week and we’re ticking off the minutes until the workday ends. People’s spirits were high. (“Girl we couldn’t get much higher”!). Freedom. Frivolity. Fun. Friendship. Friday. I must admit that even in retirement, Fridays still have a feel to them. A very good feeling. A happy feeling.

“Saturday, in the park,

I think it was the Fourth of July.”

Saturday in the Park – Chicago

As a kid, Saturdays was simply THE best day of the week. No school. No homework. A full day of doing nothing but enjoying life. In the summers, we had pickup games of baseball or football and in the winter, we skated on outdoor ponds and built snow forts. We went to a matinee at the theatre, often a “spaghetti western”.

After supper we polished and shined our shoes within an inch of their lives in preparation for Sunday mass. I can still see the 10 pairs of shoes lined up on the floor on a newspaper. Most of us then gathered around the old black and white TV, adjusted the rabbit ears and eagerly awaited the opening bars of the theme to Hockey Night in Canada. I can only remember one sponsor of those iconic hockey broadcasts – Murray Westgate shilling for Esso. We lived and died with the Habs and any game featuring Les Canadiens and the dreaded Maple Leafs was filled with high tension and emotion. One of my next-door neighbours was a diehard Leaf fan. Depending on which team won or lost, it seemed like life and death.

What was your favourite day of the week, then and now?

These days, any day that ends in the letter Y is my favourite.

It means I’m still alive.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on September 18, 2024 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with one comment

Take a walk on the wild side.

 

I’m in love.

I first encountered romance as a child. Most of us had a crush on someone “special” in grade 3. My first time away from home, passion hit me hard in Victoria, B.C. in the summer of 1972. On a trip through California in 2015, I was bowled over and speechless. Those of you who know me well might find that unbelievable. I found love once again in Spain in 2019 and 2023. And most recently, I fell hard again, in the playground of a school. Of all places.

Speaking of falling hard, if you think that this is a typical human love story, you are sadly mistaken.

You see, I have always been in love with trees.

“I think that I shall never see,

 A poem lovely as a tree.

Trees – Joyce Kilmer

I often refer to myself as a hopeless romantic. The key word here is hopeless. I tend to see the world through rose colored glasses. One might even suggest that I am afflicted with the Pollyanna syndrome. For the uninitiated, Pollyanna is a novel that was written in 1913 by Eleanor Porter. Someone labelled as a Pollyanna is one who is excessively positive and blind towards the negative or real. I have to admit that I just can’t watch the news anymore. There is so much negativity in the world.

My one place of solace is in the woods.

The other day, I took “the road less travelled” and went through a path on the campus of St.F.X. University that I hadn’t trod on in eons. This trail meandered through the woods not far from where I grew up. Memories washed over me.

Growing up (did that actually happen?!), I lived on a dead-end street. At the end of that street, there was an endless forest. As children, we spent countless hours in those woods making forts, exploring, eating spruce gum and climbing trees. You see, you had to perch high in the trees so that you could spot invading armies. We encountered snakes and all matter of insects. When we got tired, a bed of moss gave us a place of respite. We even made small fires and roasted marshmallows. The word, idyllic comes to mind.

Do you remember the first time you left home? In the summer of 1972, after completing my 3^rd year of university, I went to Victoria, B.C. It was one of the most exciting times of my life. I came to understand why this city was so popular with young people and retirees, or as they say in Victoria, “newlyweds and nearly deads”! The city and environs are an outdoors paradise. Once you’re outside the city, there are countless places for hikes and long walks in the forest. There are also some gems within the city limits. There is a wonderful walking path on the campus of the University of Victoria. The chip trail meanders throughout this beautiful campus. One of the most unique features is Mystic Vale. This is a forested ravine. It is a Douglas Fir ecosystem, home to more than 75 native plant and wildlife species. When you walk down into the ravine, you enter a truly mystical world surrounded by massive Douglas Fir trees.

I travelled across the United States in 2015 with my son, Peter. We saw a lot of the country but we both agreed that California, with its unbelievable diversity, was near the top of both of our lists of favourite states. In Northern California, we went to Redwood National Park. Standing amidst the giant redwoods was both awe inspiring and humbling. Words can’t describe it.

I walked across Spain twice, once in 2019 and again in 2023. I particularly enjoyed my early morning (5:30 a.m.) walks through the many forests along the Camino. I strapped on my headlamp and wandered alone through the woods. The sense of tranquilty and serenity was almost overwhelming. Gradually, I would hear one bird and then another, often followed by a cacophony, as nature came alive. Quiet walks in the woods are good for the body, the soul and the mind.

And now, I have come full circle. Recently I was substitute teaching at a small, rural elementary school, a throwback to a simpler time. Despite a recent wholesale cell phone ban in schools in this region, there’s no need to worry at this school as internet and cell service are spotty at best. The playground covers several acres and surrounding it on three sides is a forest. This was my first time at this school. I saw children wandering into the woods at recess, unsupervised. I was a bit alarmed until another teacher told me that there was an elaborate trail system and that children were allowed to go there without teachers hovering. I was shocked and thrilled. Imagine, allowing children to discover nature on their own terms.

I didn’t hover but I was quite curious to see the trails. I took a few steps into the woods and found three small children on their haunches, examining a centipede. For a brief moment, I felt that there was still a chance for civilization.

Very often, we can’t see the forest for the trees because we are so wrapped up in our own little worlds.

Grab a pair of boots and go for a walk in the woods.

You’ll be glad you did.

Pick a little spruce gum while you’re at it.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. I will be performing a one man show of music and storytelling on Wednesday, October 16th at 7:00 p.m. at the Antigonish Heritage Museum.