Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-11-04, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1987. Opinion Pulling together There were two examples of the best part of human nature last week as two local communities pulled together to help neighbours. The Brussels community quickly pitched in to help Ken and Lynda Smith and their family after fire left them homeless. It is the kind of community spirit that has always made small town life so special. The same night a shower was being held for the Smiths in Brussels. 150 people turned out in Ethel to let an official from Canada Post know they weren't happy with the treatment their local post master. Doreen Suter, had been getting with a take-it-or-leave-it franchising offer that would have seen her have to choose either to deprive her community of its post office or work for pennies per hour. Thank fully the former exam pie is a co mm on one still in Huron county. When people are hit with a disaster like a fire or a wind storm, neighbours still pitch in to help. Unhappily the latter example has been all too rare in recent years. Hit with the loss of railways, the farm crisis and a general feeling that their life is destined to become a thing of the past, rural residents seem to have become too tired to fight any more. Farm groups seem lifeless. Rural councils have taken to worrying only about just good roads and bridges and not looking at the future of their communities. In short we have been rolling over and playing dead. Hopefully the fighting spirit of Ethel may spread across north Huron. He was a democrat Like him or hate him, the one unarguable fact about Rene Levesque who died Sunday was that he was a true democrat. When he came to power as leader of the Parti Quebecois in 1976 many Canadians shivered in their boots. Sure the man had promised that his government would call a referendum before it tried to negotiate taking Quebec out of Canada but could the man be trusted once he was in power? Well, as it turned out, he could. Perhaps some other members of the PQ might have been tempted to do otherwise but Levesque did call a referendum. He fought hard and his defeat in the referendum, thanks in large part to that other great Quebecer of the period, Pierre Trudeau, was bitter. But Levesque, the democrat, accepted that defeat too. When it became obvious that the people of Quebec had turned their back on the independence movement, he tried to ease his party away from it too, losing the services of many followers along the way because of his stand. It’s easy to see why Rene Levesque is mourned so in Quebec this week, even by those who disagreed with everything he stood for. In an age when too many politicians stand for one thing before they’re elected and another once they’re in power, he was a man of unusual integrity. We need more leaders with his dedication to democracy and honesty. The poppy's significance A young Blyth student, Sara Jean Allan last year won the J unior Poem Division in both the branch level and the zone level of the Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day poetry contest. With Remembrance Day just ahead, the poem is more timely than ever. SIGNIFICANCEOF A POPPY / think of the poppy scarlet red It reminds us of the blood once shed. It stands upon a hill oj dirt A symbol of all the pain and hurt. It grows beneath a cross of stone That marks brave soldiers now lying alone. Each year it rises fresh and new To bring new hope for me and you. The poppy stands bright and alive And teaches us for peace to strive. Let in all men and women grow Compassion for both friend and Joe. The poppy though ‘tisjust a flower Reminds us of the greed and power. War is cruel and war destroys Shattering the future of girls and boys. So remember the poppy 's scarlet hue Let love of mankind spring anew. Autumn reflections Letter from the editor moment, where death can strike from the air or from roving squads of soldiers. The sad irony is that the longer we go without a real knowledge of the pain of war, the easier it is for us to fall into the trap of thinking that some issue is best solved by resort to arms. Nowandthenwecan have the glimpses of reality that bring war home to us. I recall, for instance, the October Crisis of 1970. The air force base at Clinton was still operating back then. As the local newspaper editor 1 had been used to coming and going to cover events as if it was any other local community. I would barely wave at the guards at the gate on my way through. Suddenly one day, with the armed forces on alert, I found myself being stopped, my identity and my destination checked. The sight on television of troops in the streets of Montreal suddenly became more personal. I get the same twinge at times travelling near the Canadian Forc­ es Base at Ipperwash where you might suddenly meet a whole line Continued on page 25 [Published by North Huron Publishing Company Inc.] Serving Brussels, Blyth, Auburn, Belgrave, Ethel, Londesborough, Waltonandsurrounding townships Published weekly in Brussels, Ontario P.O.Box152, P.O.Box429, Brussels, Ont. Blyth, Ont. N0G1H0 N0M1H0 887-9114 523-4792 Subscription price: $17.00; $38.00foreign. Advertising and news deadline: Monday 2p.m. in Brussels; 4p.m. in Blyth Editorand Publisher: Keith Roulston Advertising Manager: JaniceGibson Production and Office Manager: Jill Roulston Second Class Mail Registration No. 6968 Sarah Jean Allan We need awareness of war BY KEITH ROULSTON The difficulty, as Canada pre­ pares for another Remembrance Day, is that so few of us have anythingtoremember. Thedanger is that as fewer and fewer people know what war is like, war becomes more possible. Whole generations of people 40 and under in this country have never known first hand what war is about. For the first generation there was at least the first-hand accounts of parents but for a generation nearing adulthood, all first-hand knowledge of war is now two generations in the past. Most of us have seldom even seen a soldier in dress uniform, let alone in battle dress. Canada is the most fortunate landintheworld. Wehaven’t had a war fought on our own soil in more than 170 years. Our soldiers have more often been involved overseas but even then, it is more than 30 years since the last time, with the Korean war. We don’t even have a large armed forces. Contrast that with so many­ places in the world where troops are in the streets daily, where tanks stand on street corners, where fighting can break out at any