HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-12-01, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016. PAGE 5.
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The National Bird of Canada?
Wby did the Canadian cross the
road? To get to the middle.
— Anon.
It is with mixed emotions that I offer my
congratulations to Mister Gray Jay, Esquire.
He has been nominated by the Royal Canadian
Geographical Society for the prestigious
position of National Bird of Canada.
A gray jay. How... Canadian. He can join our
other majestic national animal icon. You
know... the buck -toothed rodent with the tail
like a pingpong paddle.
The average Canadian has most likely never
seen a gray jay; they don't hang out in our
cities, towns or even countrysides. The gray
jay is a creature of the deep boreal forest and
even there he's hard to spot because he's, well,
gray.
Not only is the name namby-pamby, it's
vowel -optional. Is it Grey Jay or Gray Jay?
The society might at least have honoured the
traditional Cree name for the bird —
Wisakedjak.
0' Royal Canadian Geographical Society,
you could have done so much better! You want
a bird with gravitas? I give you the Snowy
Owl. Fearless and lordly — master of all he
surveys.
;V Arthur
Black
Looking for a bird with chutzpah? Check out
the Raven — sleek as polished ebony, smart as
a Montreal street hustler. He even comes with
his own poem!
And really... gray? Have you seen our
magpie? He flaunts magnificent raiment of
irridescent blue and pearl white, culminating
in a tail of icy emerald that looks like the train
of a Chinese emperor.
You want more colour? I give you the
Harlequin Duck — the Boy George of the bird
world.
Heck, I hate to be obvious, but what about
the Canada Goose? He's big, bold and, unlike
your Gray Jay, he's everywhere. Often
underfoot, even.
Okay. Maybe the pushy and noisy Canada
Goose is a bit too American for the job. If it's
sheer ubiquity and overall, well `chipperness'
you're after, what's wrong with the Black -
Capped Chickadee? Everybody knows the
loveable chick -chick -chickadee and aside
from the odd house cat he hasn't got an enemy
in the world.
The only bright spot in this grim
grey/gray story is this: it's not a done deal. The
Royal Canadian Geographical Society's
nomination of the Gray/Grey Jay is just a
suggestion. It awaits official ratification from
Ottawa.
There's still time to switch to the clear and
obvious ornithological option you've missed,
Royal Society, I'll leave the last word to
Richard Lambert of Metchosin, British
Columbia. Here are the final paragraphs of his
inspired Letter to the Editor of the Victoria
Times -Colonist newspaper: "This gadfly
jaybird has no experience whasoever and will
without a doubt lead the country to ruin. Such
a character has no place in the bird house — my
gracious, have you heard what it's been
tweeting? Even its nickname, the whiskey
jack, is redolent with moral turpitude. It is time
for the people of Canada to exercise our
democratic rights and make sure this grey jay
never takes office.
Loonatics of Canada — take to the streets!"
A full life isn't necessarily a busy one
Most recent weekends (not the last one
when I was running to and from
Christmas celebrations throughout
The Citizen's coverage area) I find myself
watching a lot of television.
I'll do my normal daily routine of walking
the dog, having breakfast, grinding and
brewing a pot of coffee, however, that's where
my mornings change. It used to be that I would
look to social activities on a Saturday morning,
or look at what work needs to be done around
the house. Now, however, I make a bee -line for
the living room and the cable television.
It's not my norm to sit and watch television
like this. I usually prefer to be more active in
my activities and I mean that two -fold. Either
I'll be active (cleaning, driving, playing games
with friends, etc.) outside the house or, if I'm
going to sit around the house, I'll be more
engaged in what I'm doing (reading, playing a
video game, etc.). Watching television, a
decidedly passive activity, is not my norm.
Recently, however, it's starting to work its
way back into my repertoire of activities
because it's one of the few things that my wife
Ashleigh and I can do while still spending as
much time as possible with our three -month-
old daughter Mary Jane.
As I've told everyone who asks, Mary Jane
has been a blessing as far as children are
concerned. I remember my youngest siblings
when they were babies (I'm 10 years older
than them) and I have friends who have
children and let me tell you, my little girl is
like a dream compared to some of the
memories/tales that I've been told.
First off, she sleeps like a log. Ashleigh will
put her to bed between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and
she won't wake up until 6 a.m. at the earliest.
Second, she's typically pretty quiet unless
she's hungry or being changed.
Thirdly, her smiles are quite possibly the
most addictive thing I've ever encountered in
my entire life, and that's a life that includes
some pretty addictive things (like video
games... they're supposed to be addictive
right?). I've even laid claim to getting
Mary Jane out of bed in the morning
because, without fail, the first thing she
does when she realizes someone is standing
over her crib is make eye contact and smile at
them. I've even started changing her first
diaper of the day because, against all odds,
she just keeps smiling through the entire
experience as long as she can see my
face.
What I'm getting at here is we're lucky.
With her quietness, however, comes
something that no parenting book prepared me
for: the downtime.
Whether I'm sitting as still as possible to
allow Mary Jane to sleep a little longer curled
up in my arms, or whether I'm attending
Ashleigh while she holds the sleeping baby, I
spend a lot of time just waiting for the next
thing to happen.
I feel that entertainment has really failed to
prepare me for moments like these.
I was ready for ridiculous diaper changes,
sleepless nights and projectile spit -up because
of Hollywood and, well, none of that happens
regularly.
Sure, there's the odd night when Mary Jane
won't sleep or when a onesie goes straight to
the wash because a diaper couldn't cut it, but,
for the most part, it's all business as usual.
The sitting though, is something I wasn't
ready for.
Before I get any further here, I'd like to say
that the sitting, as I've come to call any activity
that revolves around Ashleigh and me quietly
spending time together while Mary Jane
snoozes or just cuddles quietly herself, is not
negative. Actually, it's brought me a significant
realization.
Before Mary Jane I was always worried
about what I was doing with my time.
Could I justify playing video games when I
knew the eaves needed to be cleaned? What
could I be doing at home to help Ashleigh
instead of watching yet another pop -culture -
dissecting video on the internet? Can the grass
wait one more day if I decide I'm going to visit
friends?
Those kinds of thoughts plagued me most of
my weekends. (Work weekends, however,
were spoken for and provided a much-needed
respite from evaluating my life's ambitions.)
I was constantly concerned about trying to
balance a busy social life with the life of a
husband and a homeowner.
Mary Jane changed all that.
Suddenly, sitting in a chair and watching
television isn't a waste of time, it's spending
time bonding with my daughter, even if she's
barely awake.
Being there to help Ashleigh by getting
everything from lunch and dinner to glasses of
water while she spends time with Mary Jane
doesn't feel like something I need to weigh
against any other responsibility in my life.
Mary Jane's presence has made me realize
that a full life doesn't necessarily mean a full
schedule.
I'm sure, if I framed it the right way, I could
convince Ashleigh to take care of Mary Jane so
I could go out and do something, but, with the
exception of (what used to be) a weekly board
gaming session with friends, I don't feel the
need to leave the house that much. As far as
I'm concerned, the best show in the world is at
home.
I won't lie and say I don't slip into the back
room every now and again to play some video
games if I'm looking for something a bit more
active, or grab a book and find a quiet place to
think, but that's not how I spend the majority
of my time anymore and, even when I do, I've
got one ear out for the sound of a crying baby
and I'm ready to find out what's wrong at a
moment's notice.
As a society, we put an onus on children
by telling them what they are capable of from
the day they start saying they want to be
astronauts or marine biologists, but I think
we need to remember that a life's worth
isn't dictated by a career or by trophies on
shelves.
We need to remember to tell children that
keeping a roof over your head and finding a
life you enjoy is just as important as reaching
whatever accolades you struggle for because
accolades don't keep you dry when the rains
come.
Fulfillment in life shouldn't be about
what you achieve within your career or
having the nicest house or the fanciest car.
Fulfillment should be about enjoying what
you do, whether that's at work or at home,
and remembering to make ample time for
family.
411, Shawn
ornalLoughlin
Shawn's Sense
A bit of history
Last week I was reminded just how much
people change — or, rather, just how
much people can stay the same,
depending on who's asking and who we're
asking about.
Huron County Council spawned a great idea
last Christmas when seeking a creative way to
give to the Huron County Christmas Bureau:
all of the councillors and staff members took
part in a Secret Santa (you know Secret Santa,
a hat full of everyone's names, you pick one
and buy that person a gift but never reveal it
was you who bought the gift) for one another
with all the gifts eventually going to the
Christmas Bureau.
The catch was that all of the gift -buyers had
to buy what their gift recipient would have
liked when he was a little boy or when she was
a little girl. A unique gift exchange like that
certainly gets the wheels of a different thought
process turning.
So the gift -buyers must have had a lot of fun
at the toy store thinking what a Jim Donnelly
(Goderich Deputy -Mayor and former judge)
would have wanted to play with when he was
a child, or what would have lit up a young
Warden Paul Gowing's eyes when he was a
toddler on the farm.
Of course, the thought process for a Secret
Santa gift -buyer would be looking at a person
now and making that person a seven-year-old
child and transposing their current traits,
whether it be their interests, their hobbies or
their career to a younger version of
themselves. For example, if we use Donnelly
again as an example, perhaps a toy police car
or some other toy that promotes truth and
justice might be a good choice.
And that was the way it went around the
Huron County Council table for the most part.
Gowing, a farmer by trade, received a farm
play set, while Huron County Planner Scott
Tousaw, for instance, received a Lego city -
building set.
It's a fun exercise, but who knows who these
men and women were when they were
children. I know with me, as an example, a lot
of friends I played baseball with were
surprised when I went into a life of writing and
journalism. They found it odd that I would go
into a life of being creative.
I don't know if that says something good or
bad about me, but they found it interesting and
not necessarily what they were expecting when
I told them where I'd be going to college.
Using that same baseball team, there were
plenty of other examples of players who were
rowdy party -goers, but who ended up on the
other end of their lives with completely
respectable careers of engineers, pilots,
advertising designers, police officers, media
personalities and engineers.
I guess what I'm getting at here is that
someone who has just met one of my former
baseball mates might get them a gift of a toy
gun for a police officer or a toy plane for a
pilot, not knowing that their interests when
they were younger were completely different
and that a lot had changed in those decades.
Despite what it makes you think about, what
Huron County Council has done to benefit the
Huron County Christmas Bureau not only
came with a happy ending for dozens of less -
fortunate area families, but they had a little fun
with one another along the way.
This Christmas season, while you're likely
busy looking for the perfect gift for your loved
ones, don't forget to make charity part of your
plans. And if there's a fun way to get that done,
that's even better.