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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-12-01, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016. PAGE 5. Other Views 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.