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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-05-12, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016. PAGE 5. Other Views Out for a walk, don't fence me in Took my aged mutt on one of our favourite walks yesterday morning. It starts with a steep drive up a mile or two of winding road which dwindles down to a couple of ruts that ramble across a wide swatch of grassland. I park the car and we follow the ruts on foot for a half mile or so to where the forest begins — towering cedars, fir and broadleaf maple. Here the ruts give way to a carpet of fir needles that winkles through the trees. Not a house or a barn or a chimney or an exhaust pipe in sight. It's a beautiful walk. Used to be anyway. This morning, right where the ruts give way to the fir needles there is a locked metal gate with a sign on it: NO TRESPASSING. NO PUBLIC ACCESS. All perfectly legal, of course. Somebody else owns that land. I have no entitlement that allows me to walk there with my dog. Whoever owns the land has a perfect right to keep me and every other would-be interloper out. But if I may ask a simple question: Why? We mean no harm, my dog and I. We will chop down no trees, start no fires, vandalize no property and leave no garbage behind when we leave. You won't even know we were there. But I'm talking to a NO TRESPASSING Arthur Black sign; I get no answer. Other countries do things differently. If I was a Scot or a Swede or a Finn or a Welshman I would enjoy a legal right to walk through privately owned forests. In England I would be protected by what is called the Countryside and Rights of Way Act which enshrines citizen access to "mountain, moor, heath or down". Finns have something called 'jokamiehhenoikeus'. In Swedish it's 'allemansratt' (sounds like 'all mans' right', ja?). The Scots know it as their 'right to roam'. Germans and their forebears have been living by the Black Forest for thousands of years. It still looks the way it did when Roman legions tromped through, except it's cross- threaded with hundreds of walking trails, all free and unfenced; all used by countless hikers every day, as is their right. We Canucks are heir to some two and a half billion acres, but we're only allowed to walk on a fraction of it. We do have the Trans -Canada Trail which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific — or will, once completed. There are still 240 gaps constituting nearly 4,000 miles of NO TRESPASSING, NO PUBLIC ACCESS sections that have yet to be negotiated with private landowners before Canadians can, as Thoreau wrote in a simpler age, enjoy the thrill of meandering "through the woods and over the hills, absolutely free of all worldly engagements." Sure, Canadians have plenty of parks and recreation areas and community trails to enjoy — and none of us have to travel too far north before the fences melt away and the black flies begin. But there are many more millions of acres of our country right around us that are fenced off and signposted for no very good reason other than somebody else 'owns' them and you and I don't. Wouldn't it be nice if Canuck roamers and rovers were as untrammelled as, say the Brits? Or the Germans? Or the Swedes? Perhaps we could add a clause to our national slogan: A MARI USQUE AD MARE — DONT FENCE US IN. Twofouls committed by Wade Dwyane Wade is a basketball player for the Miami Heat and, I'll be honest, up until the weekend when he decided to commit two heinous acts, I hadn't heard his name before. I guess before we get into this whole incident, I should admit that I'm not a big basketball fan. Sure, I enjoy a good game of NBA Jam (a classic two -on -two NBA video game), I played in the real world a bit in high school (one season), I've been to a Raptors game once or twice in my life and years ago I did a speech on James Nasmith for my public school public speaking days but, beyond that, I'm not really invested in the whole basketball scene. There's nothing wrong with basketball, it's just that I'm usually more invested in other interests when basketball is in season. The regular season usually starts in the last week of October and runs until mid-April with the playoffs beginning later that month (thank goodness for Wikipedia or I would have no idea when the season ended). If you asked me about any specific event in the NBA playoffs, even when the Raptors are involved, I would likely answer with, "No, I was watching the hockey game that night." There are probably some people who are equally passionate about basketball and hockey, but, in my experience, most people choose one or another (because of the overlapping schedules) and I chose hockey. Anyway, pardon the tangent, but I was talking about Dwyane Wade. The first of his two heinous acts was to continue his warm-up when everyone should be standing at attention for "0 Canada!" In some interviews after the fact, he said it was because the schedule was constricted due to the team being on the road and he had to finish his warm-up. Regardless of why it happened, Wade has had a target on his back for many Canadians since it happened. Twitter was abuzz (or is it a -flap?) with people responding to Wade including Toronto Mayor John Tory who reminded Wade that a Canadian invented the game so he should respect our national anthem. Toronto Councillor Norm Kelly also suggested that the next time the Heat are in town, the Air Canada Centre should play the Canadian national anthem the entire game. Wade said that he normally takes shots before and after the national anthem, but because there were two anthems played, his routine had been thrown off. Regardless of his reasons, Wade did practise a lay-up, a shot and a three -pointer during the anthem which does show disrespect. Normally, this is the kind of thing that would make my blood boil — it's basically spitting on a country you are a guest in — but something different happened when I saw the news about it. I just didn't find it in myself to get worked up and frustrated with Wade. Maybe it was because (through his excuses) he showed that he just really didn't care about what he did. When someone apologizes, regardless of the voracity of the apology, it shows that they know they did something wrong, however, with Wade, he says it's something he has done before. I get angry when people do something stupid then turn around and apologize for it because the apology usually gets them off the hook. But with Wade, he was genuinely unapologetic about the entire situation, saying he meant no disrespect. Maybe it's age, maybe it's a lack of energy to carry a grudge like that around, but the simple fact is that it didn't make me as angry as it might have 10 years, five years or even one year ago. Fortunately for my rage -induced outburst quota, Wade did something that I just couldn't ignore; he referred to himself in the third person during his not -really -apologetic apology. "It's something that I do before every game that I prepare for, and I've been doing it my whole career," Wade said. "So I understand whatever is said from this standpoint, but I'm not a disrespectful person. So if anybody thinks I'm being disrespectful towards a country, then they have no idea of who Dwyane Wade is." Maybe that statement was why I didn't get angry: he honestly seems to be completely unaware of just how disrespectful it is to be doing anything but standing for the national anthem during the game. Regardless, however, I could overlook, due to Wade's apparent ignorance, the disrespect done my nation (it helped that the Raptors did win) and I could overlook the fact that he was completely oblivious to the fact that he had done something really wrong as far as being a good person went. What I couldn't overlook was the fact that he referred to himself in the third person. That is absolutely insufferable. I honestly didn't know, outside of rappers and politicians (Bob Dole, Donald Trump, etc.), that people actually referred to themselves by their own name like that. I know, it's a television trope. George Costanza did it on Seinfeld. Beyond those examples above, I thought for sure it was a fictional character attribute. To hear someone do it as they tried to reason away disrespecting Canada was just a little to much for me to find humorous. Now, I'm not typically one to hold a grudge or wish ill upon others, but I will say this; the NBA does have rules about how to act during the national anthem, rules that Wade broke when he continued to warm up. While I don't wish any ill upon him, I do hope that the NBA reacts accordingly. Unfortunately, it looks like it won't. Thus far, the only action being taken is to make sure Wade's team will work to make sure this doesn't happen again. As for me; I get the feeling that Wade feels he is above recognizing the social norms, even when codified in a rule book, so what's the point in getting angry? It won't solve anything. All I can do is hope that others learn from the outcry and make sure they do what's right. Final Thought Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds — all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have. — Edward Everett Hale Shawn lornialii" Loughlin Shawn's Sense A charitable group t s always been so encouraging to know just how charitable the people of Huron County, and all of rural Ontario, can be. Indeed, there are a number of examples in this week's issue of The Citizen. In Auburn (Auburn!) alone, there were two groups of young girls who were selling their wares at the village -wide garage sale and donating the proceeds to Fort McMurray as it continues to fight devastating wild fires. Sure, it's only a few hundred dollars, but to girls that age — we've all been that age — it's a fortune that could easily be put towards something else. But, not in Huron County. In Huron County that money will be better spent helping others. Then, we've got the congregation of Huron Chapel — again, in Auburn — contributing $2,400 to a family dealing with an unspeakable tragedy. The people of the church stepped up to make life just a little bit easier for the family in their time of need. On Friday, there was the case of the Plunkett family, who lost their home to a tragic house fire in the late afternoon. Several neighbours and friends, including Pastor Ernest Dow, have mobilized in an effort to help the family after their entire home was burned to the ground. The same was done for the Laxton family just a few weeks ago after they lost their Londesborough -area home to fire. The community came out in full force. This week's issue is also peppered with stories about community members and service groups that help those in need on a regular basis, such as Lions Clubs, the Kinsmen and mission trips that lend the funds, talents and efforts of locals to those in poverty around the world. Just over the weekend, Jess and I were in London for a Knights playoff game where the Red Cross was collecting for Fort McMurray. In addition, a 50/50 draw netted the winner over $16,000. In an arena that holds under 10,000 people and where half of the 50/50 (obviously) goes to charity, that's a pretty amazing result. I'm pretty sure that's a bigger 50/50 prize than at most of the Toronto Blue Jays games I've been to. I don't mean to run Toronto through the ringer... OK, maybe I do, but I'm from the GTA originally, so I think I'm allowed to. What I'm getting at here is that there's a comfort about living in an area like Huron County that wraps around you like a warm blanket. You know that if something goes wrong, people will open their hearts and their wallets to help you out, just as you would do for them. This is a history that goes way back. It's not new. Some of the most important institutions in the community are built on charity and giving to the greater good. The genesis of Blyth Memorial Community Hall came from service groups wanting to pay tribute to soldiers who had given their lives for their country. Then, of course, there are the stories of our community centres, which have been recounted frequently in recent weeks. Service clubs in Blyth and Brussels and everywhere in between ponied up plenty of money and lots of blood, sweat and elbow grease to make those buildings happen, which is why people have been so defensive when they've perceived a threat to them. Huron County is built on a foundation of charity and each generation, it seems, is continuing that tradition adding its own unique line of bricks to that foundation.