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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-12-23, Page 2rialt,Z1011411: ;t I+ fe)i g rroOlg ofromromnwommosuiotavkli +0, itref4.4tP1-#1.,0,,,t1PIFV01,1+-4.mool,P+' W11!",. OM; ,,,•••••• :ehind'the scenes Brussels .Box. 50, Brussels, Ontario N0q. 1 H.0 Andrew Y, McLean, Publisher Evelyn Kennedy, Editor Pat tang lois, Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario' Weekly Newspaper Association and The Audit Bureau of Circulation. A EstabliShed 1872 :819.887-6041 Serving Brusselaand the surrounding:community Published at BRUSSELS, ONTARIO every Wednesday morning by McLean Bros. Publishers Limited by:Keith ROuloon • • Thete70-., something Subscription rates: Canada $12 a year (in advance) outside Canada $25 a year (in advance) Single copies - 30 cents each TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1980 Christmas all year? Christmas is here. This year it seems people cut back on costs by sending fewer Christmas cards, but then went into a frenzy of materialistic shopping. But through it all, the joy of giving at Christmas still manages to shine. Generous people run around in Santa Claus suits 'making visits to the children in hospital. People are more generous with their donations to various charities as they begin to think more of others. Candlelight church services evoke that special Christmas feeling as we are reminded of the birth of the Christ child and the true meaning behind Christmas. Let us hope that with all the past crises of the year 1980 behind us, we will look forward to 1981 with the spirit of peace and brotherhood that should be ours at Christmas and all year long. . The freedom train. Canadian Indians are playing every card in the deck these days. And who can blame them, seeing'as how the deck has been stacked against them for generations? For weeks now Indians in colorful, ceremonial dress (they know what the tradition loving Brits like) have been lobbying in London, England. They have doubtless had an influence on the British Parliament's thinking about sending home the Canadian Constitution. This past week Indians from across the country boarded what became known as the Freedom Train, bound for Ottawa, which-on the verge of winter is not quite analogous to glory. In the nation's capital they hope to persuade the Canadian government not to proceed with constitutional patriation until native rights have been entrenched. While the Indians have a lot of grass-roots support, one could sense they didn't really expect much of a response from Trudeau & Co. In advance they announced that should their efforts to persuade the Canadian government fail, they planned to ride the Freedom Train on to New York to present their case to the United Nations. Canadians who dismiss this kind of demonstration or collective action as a kind of stunt, as colorful but meaningless hoopla, couldn't be more mistaken. Indians are listened to in London, England and at the United Nations, particularly by Third World nations,. There they receive the kind of attention they ought to get in Ottawa. Indians are right to be concerned about their rights under Trudeau's proposed Bill of Rights - as are women or any other segments of society presently suffering injustices in any respect. It is to be hoped the Indians get a better reception from the chairman of the constitutional committee hearings than that given women's groups the previous week. After listening to in-depth presentations from the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and the Canadian Adivsory Committee on the Status of Women, the chairman, Liberal Senator Harry Hays, informed the "girls" thbir time was up. He added fuel to the fire by declaring, "I'm just wondering why we don't have a section in here about babies and children. All you girls will be out working and we're not going to have anybody to look after them." This kind of cliche handed out by a 71-year-old politician who ought to know better is the kind of crap those who don't have to worry about equality under the law have been handing out for years. Indians, like women, aren't about to put up with it any longer. If the presentations to the constitutional committee are ignored, then there will be other presentations. The kind of publicity given the Freedom Train or the Constitutional Express as it is also known, and the uproar over the unfortunate utterances of Senator Harry Hays- indicate changes in thinking are occurring and that is enough to keep the dedicated striving for equality: (The ListovVel banner) I suppose by the time this appears in print I will finally haye struggled down to, buy a , Christmas tree, and put it up. For me there seems to be •something missing about the ritual of putting up the Christmas tree these years. - Our family hasn't succumbed to the *comfort, con- venience of an artificial tree yet ,though sometimes, looking at the price of, natural trees the temptation grows. I almost always get to pick from the dregs of the Christmas tree lots. 'Sometpeople are standing there, impatiently waiting to buy their tree while the truck is still unloading about Dec. 3 but I usually get there only a few days before,the big day. I could blame it on a busy schedule but you're not supposed to tell lies before Christmas or Santa won't come, - Invariably it's a far from perfect tree I come home with. In fact, I usually make very little effort to choose the perfect tree on a lot. I.go to the nearest one that seems to be about the right height (or the right price); pi& it up, shake it then, just to look like a reasonably astute consumer, pick up a second tree. I then go back.to the first one and stuff it in the trunk and pay a price that's enough to make you say "Bah! Humbug!" That isn't the way I remember the Christmas tree ritual. We didn't have any evergreen trees on our farm when I was growing up but my uncle, who lived with us, had a farm about three miles away in the hills we jokingly called, the Kinloss mountains and it had a good plantation of spruce trees not to mention cedar and hemlock hat grew in the nearby swamp. It became a mid-December, ceremony in our home to drive over .V1. my uncle's farm and pick a tree. Usually this also meant a walk from the road back to the bush to where the trees grew although some remarkable years we were able to.drive back a disused sideroad, as yet unplugged by snow, to within a few feet of the plantation. Then came the task of choosing a tree. Somehow we were always more critical there than I am on the tree lot of ttiklay. We'd walk back and forth through the bush looking for the best tree, stirring low-hanging, ever- green branches that would drop bushels of snow down our necks. There was• not only shape to consider in these trees, there was height. Somehow a tree looked shorter when it was in the bush than in the livingroom. The children would always want the tallest, Our family has lived in Brussels for over six months now, and we're very happy here. Before we came here our life was full of darkness without hope, no freedom, liberty and humanity. Therefore we decided to leave our homeland. '- Now we get new life, new hope, education, good culture and religion and all I personally feel this year's Santa Claus parade was very good with the many colourful floats and the added attraction of the Seaforth High School Band. As for Santa arriving in the smallest cart, it is apparent some people clln't know a cart from a surrey. The Quote "If we want the part ._cs to do their, Christmas shopping in our town let's have a terrific Santa Claus Parade so that they will' return the next year." - I suggest if some business people in the most impressive,-looking spruce. Fathir uncle were more worried if it would fl in the doer. Often it,would be h saw off: we'd pi,Fk one halfway in between what adult Witt child wanted.. ; Cutting down the Christmas tree was far more than just a formality. Ever try, to cut off a low growing evergreen tree? You slide under on your stomach or your back and try to maneuvre the saw back and forth until the tree falls over or you pass out, whichever comes first. With every pass of the saw the tree shakes, dumping snow on your face, your neck and any other piece of exposed flesh which turns first to a very Christmassy red, theii to an un-Christmassy blue, usually resulting in some • exceedingly unChristmassy , language from the, tree cutter. But at last the tree fell down. . . well not exactly fell because the plantatian was so thick that there was no where to falL There was also no room to drag the chosen tree between its brothers to get it to the, car. After escaping the spruce prison there was still a half-mile to walk dragging a .tree that yard:by-yard seemed to be growing until it was a 60-foot monster weighing several tons. The snow also seemed three times as deep on the way home as it had on the way there. When we got hoine and went to put the tree in the house of course it seemed as if it had indeed grown on our trip home. Our saw-off now had to be sawed off because the top two feet were trying to protrude through the ceiling into the bedroom above. If the tree looked bigger in the house, 'it also looked less perfect. There seemed to be too many branches here, too few there. But the decorations seemed to cover up ' the imperfections. When the decorations came off in early January the tree seemed ritore forelorn than ever because, half the spruce needles had fallen off. By the time the tree was out the,,,dOor' it was naked and the tiny needles were, in hiding places from which they would only emerge' in May or July. Looking back Coldly, realistically, there should have ,been no pleasure in that kind; of excercise. But there's something about the spirit at Christmas time that makes it seem wonderful. Maybe if I had to go cut a tree myself wilh.three kids tagging along -these .days I'd quickly forget those fond memories. But I haven't had the choice in recent years and somehow I long for the day when we did go through, all that fuss for a tree, an imperfect one at that. people are very kind and friendly. We are truly grateful for all the things the BruSsels community has done for us. We would like to say -thank you and wish all Brussels people a Joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year. Sincerely Suuit-Osoth Larprom & Family town of Brussels feel having a terrific Santa Claus parade will increase business they might try coming out to the meetings for the parade, instead of sitting on their derrieres and complaining after the parade is over. The next meeting of the Santa Claus Parade Committee is Jan. 16, 1981 Brussels, Legion at 8' p.m. Anyone is welcorne,,,Bring your ideas. Chairman Dale Newman To the editor: Thank you Brussels Got complaints? Get involved