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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1981-08-05, Page 2Published at BRUSSELS, ONTARIO every Wednesday morning by McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Andrew Y. McLean, Publisher Evelyn Kennedy, Editor Box 50, Brussels, Ontario NOG 11-10 519-887-6641 Behind the scenes Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association, Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association and The Audit Bureau of Circulation. It was a great weekend and to say everybody had a good time would be an understatement. This of course is in reference to the Morris Township's great big 125th birthday party held over the holiday weekend. It was obvious that everyone who had had a hand in the celebrations worked hard to make it a success and it certainly paid off. Even the weather co-operated making all the outdoor events possible. Thank you to all the people who made this event possible. It certainly livened up the village of Brussels and made an exciting weekend of entertainment for all. The wedding of the year has finally taken place. Prince Charles and Lady Diana tied the knot last week. It's one event that has provided a great boost to Britain not only economically, but for that country's morale as well. With every type of souvenir imaginable to sell, the fairytale story of the Prince and Princess has done wonderful things for this nation where other newsworthy events lately seem to be the riots in the streets and the hunger strikers. One wonders, however, if Lady Diana had had more choice in the matter, whether she would not have preferred a quieter and more private engagement and wedding ceremony rather than having the whole world watch her every move. However, there are a lot of people out there grateful for the fact that Prince Charles and Lady Diana have provided a happy note in an otherwise pretty bleak year. For that we should be thankful. EST; 1872 Brussel.s PostBRUssE Established 1872 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 1981 Authorized as second class mail by Canada Post Office. Registration Number 0562. A great show A happy note by Keith Roulston Anne Chislett's hit play Quiet in the Land poses an interesting question: how far do you go in upholding what you believe in despite the costs? The play, about an Amish community torn by the stresses of World War I and modernization, deals with an Amish leader who refuses to budge from the religion of his fathers even though it costs him a rebellious son who goes off to join the army. Even when the son comes back to his father after the war and confesses (through a closed door since the father will not face him) that he was wrong, the father takes it as a sign that he was right all along. He refuses to take his son back since having killed men during the war the sou is nowtainted by the ou tside world. He uses his son's confession as the proof to himself that he was right and that he should hold that hard line on his followers., even if it means that some will go their own way to new church. To the majority of threatregoers who have packed into the BIth Summer Festival to see this play, the old man undoubtedbly is seen as fanatical old fool. Destruction has been spread around him because he refuses to budge an inch from his convictions. There's another question that comes to mind by this example, however: what is the line between standing by your beliefs and fanaticism? Canadians,' more thin most, are a people of compromise. Our nation has been since the beginning built on our ability to find an acceptable middle path between two ex- tremes. Anyone who holds to one extreme or the other is likely to be regarded as an extremist. But what if the extreme is right? What if justice calls for the extreme view, not the compromise? Probably in Germany during the Second World War there were people who felt strongly about what their government was doing to the Jewish population. Equally probable was it that someone who heard their protests thought they were being extreme. After all, Hitler wasn't persecuting everyone, only the Jews. In the play, the angry son accuses the father of profiting by the War, which indeed the farmers of the Amish community were doing. They were of German descent and refused to take part in the war because of their passifist beliefs which made their their pacifist beliefs which made their' angry. With the boom in farm prices the war brought, however, the Amish had more money than ever, money to expand their farm operations, to buy farms for their sons while others' sons were off in France. In the face of this the Amish elders held that war was wrong and that they must not take part in killing. How futile it seemed. Here they were, one tiny group of men, claiming that war was wrong while the greatest war in history was going on. And they were benefiting financially from it. Yet were they really wrong? Because you are in minority does that mean you should give up and join the majority even if you'don't believe what they say you should? Those people in Germany who held their beliefs against Hitler during the war are heros today because Hitler is now seen as an evil man. If Hitler had won the war they would have been traitorous fools. The dissidents in the Soviet Union are regarded as brave, heroic figures in our part of the world but miserable traitors intheir own land. The line between fanaticism and sticking to principals is a fine one. Lord save the world from the righteous fanatic. Some of the worst crimes against humanity have been perpet- rated people who felt that they had the word from their god. Look at the Ayotollahs of Iran. Look at the Christian Crusades. Look at the righteous right wing dictators ready to kill thousands to save them from the horror of communism, or the communist dictatorships ready to'sacrifice thousands of workers so the workers can, rule. In the long run, of course, each of us can only make the decision ourselves as to what we believe. The Amish passivity was a futile gesture at a time when half the world was at war but it does not make it wrong. If everyone who says they don't believe in war (and who doesn't) showed the same determination not to get involved in wars that the Amish do there would be no wars. We cannot make decisions for hundred, thousands or millions. We can only decide for ourselves what is right and hope others will decide rightly too. The cost of believing