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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-05-28, Page 2WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 1980 berving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published 'each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario. By, McLean:Bros. Publishers Limited Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langlois - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Year.; Others Others $20.00 a year. Single Copies 25 cents each. -113ehisd the sceilet. by:KeithRools.to!! (Continued from Page 1) doorstep brought back memories' of a lovely old country church. Nestled on a shady hillside, it stands guard over the churchyard memorials of members of its congregation in bye-gone years. There lilies-of-the-valley bloomed in profusion and the blue of creeping myrtle, with their lush green leaves, kept graves ever-green. There it was that my paternal grandmother, and my parents before me, were baptised in the Anglican' faith. The rays of sun from the colored windows touched the bowed heads of those who knelt in prayer. The choir was small. Some members were not so young, their voices no longer sweet and clear, but they sang in joyous praise of their Lord as fervently as a cathedral choir. The congregation dwindled as the years went by and for a number of years this church was closed. Some 30 or so years ago this church was restored and re-dedicated. At that time I was privileged' to be a member of the congregation. There I ,met, once, again, friends not seen for many a year. The church has since been open on special occasions. They say that no matter how old you get, you keep on learning new things. The last couple of years °I've learned some things I'd as soon not have. One of the things I've just as soon have done without learning about is the appear - lance and diet of the Ontario black fly. Now I grew up in the country. As a boy I took long hikes through fields and woods and yet I never• got to meet, the blackfly in person. I'd heard the tales of the blackflies that carried off horses up north in logging camps and always thought how lucky Lwas not, to live up there. I imagined those blackflies being huge flying beasts, slightly smaller than a turkey vulture. It wasn't until about three springs ago that I got to really meet the blackfly. Our • whole family began breaking out in welts which persons more experienced than I assured me were :blackfly bites. But I hadn't seen any huge, man-eating- flies large enough to carry away horses. All I'd seen were these little, scrawny flies that looked like they might be decent houseflies if they °ever grew up. Those, I was told, were the blackflies. I didn't believe flit first. In the springs since then I became a believer. I've watched the little ... uh, devils...take huge hunks out of my flesh. I have given up going out of doors to enjoy the spring weather. ,Smelling the 'cherry blossoms may be nice but you can't smell much if you're covered with calomine lotion. I don't know where these blackflies came from all of a sudden but I wish they would • quickly roturn. If Lnever sp,e, another one• it — • will'beNiffine I think the experts 'were trying to keep Canadians from overdosing_ on good news last week. It had been an unbelievable 'Week. Quebec had voted to stay in Canada. The' postal strike everybody had felt was as sure as death and taxes didn't come. The dollar went up and the interest rates dropped. So instead of cheeringi the media people proceeded to tell us the reasons we shouldn't get too happy. After all, nearly half the French-speaking people in Quebec voted "oui." After all, the premiers may all talk about reform but it was a long way to go before the reform took place. But thebest one of all was the reaction to the fact the bank rate dropped one and a half per cent. Suddenly all the politicians and experts who said the country was being ruined by high interest rates turned around and told us that the drop in interest just proved that we had' followed the U.S. into a recession. Come•on fellas, all this may be true but can't you give us just a few moments of euphoria before you pull the rug out from y time under us'? We''ve certainly stiffered long enough through the rlm predictions to have earned a little' good ne.,ws for, a change. Sure we' may still see our.country: break into a. million, pieces. Sure we may beat the high interest rates only to g- et a depressions, sure we may be foolish for feeling happy when the world is going to rack and ruin around us, but for heaven's soankee , letw ee ku s b e before frivolous you l oawnedr thehappy gloom f000rmj os nt us. mit** The results from Quebec last week were important in many ways. They did wonders for the self confidence of the nation. They gave hope the country could be salvaged. They gave a sense of urgency to the people who have the responsibility for redesigning the constitution. In the long run, though, I think the results will have their greatest effect in bolstering the morale of those both English-speaking and French-speaking who think that we can build a country with Understanding between two different lang- uage groups. The two decades have seen a lot of work done in the rest of. Canada to try to right the wrongs of two centuries before: People have had to fight their Miighbours, even members of their own Wilily, to make people see that Frencb Canadians had rights too, that they ifere justified in their complaints, that. Ate country could get along without,ifine side beating the other clown. . Shim the election of the • Levesque. government however, many of us who have been waging this fight for understanding have been getting the feeling we were fighting for nothing. While Understanding people in the rest of Canada were trying to fight bigotry, the government of Quebec was bent on promoting distrust between French and English. Did anybody over there really want to get along together, we wondered? Now we know. We linirk that there are 60 per cent of the-people of.Quebec who are willing to go on working to prove.„that we - can have a country where people speaking two languages can get along. We know that a majority,on that side is as willing to fight bigotry as a growing majority on this side, is. This country has come a remarkably long way since 1960. We need time to continue to bring understanding. The Vote gave us that time and it gave us the confidence the job can be done. 'No matter how much the politicians fumble the job in the coming months and years, the poeple will be makiiig necessary changes to keep under- standing alive. • os ••• • pas...„ • • • • We're a united front A majority of Quebecers voted against the prospect of sovereignty association on Monday night, but not against the prospect of anew. constitution for, Canada. Not only Quebec, but many of the Canadian provinces are looking forward to constitutional changes, a tough task for our political leaders. They have however, promised to make those changes and they should now go about keeping that promise. Things have changed since the formation of the BNA Act 113 years ago and. Canada should keep up with the new times. When things have been tough in the past, Canadians have formed a united front, not like many other countries which divide up into two or more opposing forces and wind up fighting against each other, instead of showing a unified front to the world. . Canada has been given one more chance to shoW thAt` the country does care about Quebec and what's happening there. Let's hope the government will not let that chance escape again. ° Then we can regain pride in our country and once again show that unified front which has become so familiar to other countries around the •world. Short Shots by Evelyn Kennedy Sugar and spice By Bill Smiley Headlines are not reassuring these days, to say the least. By the time this appears in print, they may be terrifying. The American debacle over the hostages has ended, and who knows what violent and world-shaking stunt the CIA and the U.S. military will try next. There is no more dangerous time for our , society on earth than one in which the Americans are embroiled in foreign affairs and, at the same time, there is a presidential election in the offing. This has been proved, over and over again. The incumbent president, if he wants another term in office, and he nearly always does, is tempted, especially if it is going to be a close race, into perilous ventures from which he will emerge as a hero and waltz into office. President Jimmy Carter showed, for a long period, admirable restraint as the lawless Iranians twisted the tiger's tail. But, as the election loomed, and the situation remained stagnant, he came under more and more pressure from the "hawks" among his advisers, and from the mood of his people, to "do something." He gave in, with the resulting fiasco in Iran. A completely bollixed rescue sortie. The hostages, target of the attempt, scattered. American soldiers killed in action for the first time in his regime. At the White House, the moderate Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, resigned because he was against the somewhat strident mission. And a new, harsh, hard- nosed voice for Carter, as No. 1 man on foreign policy, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who doesn't believe in the soft-shoe shuffle, but in hob-nailed boots. Another arrogant idiot like Henry Kissinger, the late, unlamented mouth for Richard Nixon. Lord help us all. Behind all the pious expressions of grief for the dead men, and the lukewarm sympathy' of America's international •"friends" lie a lot of unanswered questions. Why didn't Carter wait another three weeks, until the date many of his allies had agreed to apply heavy sanctions on Iran? You supply the answers. How could a nation with the greatest technology in the world, a nation that put a man on the moon, so abysmally foul up a rescue operation similar to the one carried out successfully by tiny Israel at Entebbe? Why did they leave their dead behind, tc be ignominiously displayed • before the world's television cameras by the Savages masquerading as holy men, of Iran? Surely. you take your dead with you. Those are just a few of the questions the headlines force one to ask, unless one is a booby, and trusts the leaders of nations. Let's leave the Yanks alone with their troubles, and have a look closer to home. More questions pop up. If Canada really sympathizes with the American position on Iran and the hostages as our leaders indicate, why don't we do something about it? Whatever the Shah did, and his was obviously a corrupt and brutal reign, his successors are no better. They have hanged hundreds after kangaroo trials, persecuted racial and religious minorities and surrend- ered the principles of justice and mercy into the hands of a narrow, religiously fanatic old man. Why doesn't Canada kick out all Iranians, stop trading with them, seize any assets they have in this country, refuse them entry visas; and keep it up until the hostages are released and a stable and civilized govern- ment is restored in Iran? Why doesn't Canada, internationally knoWn as a peace-maker, go back to that role, and work through the United Nations, the Commonwealth, and the other great powers, to bring Iran into line? If we deplore Russia's invasion of Afghan, istan, which we claim to do; why don't we do something besides deplore? Because we might lose some wheat sales; that's why. We make 'a feeble gesture by talking our athletes into staying away from the Olympic Games, poor devils. But we go right on planning to host Russian hockey teams in the "great" Canada Cup series. Of course, that paradox is simply enough explained. Olympic athletes don't, make money, they cost money. And they aren't Very well organized and don't have much clout.. On the other hand, Russian hockey teams fill arenas, bring in big television revenues, and the N.H.L. is well organized and carries a lot of clout. Maybe I sound like a hawk in this column. I'm not. I'm a school teacher. Perhaps because of that; I realize that, as there must be order in a classroom, there must be order, and a semblance of civilization, in the structure of nations. There are times when I'm ashamed of my country.We are not without guts and imagination, as Ambassador Ken Taylor's high finks in Iran proved. But time and again it has been proved that Canada will never take strong measures, Whatever the provocation, if it's going to cost us a few bucks in trade.