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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1982-04-14, Page 6• editorial The LUCKNOW SENTINEL "The Sep y Tome" Established 1873 SHARON J. DiETZ • Editor PAT LIVINGSTON - Office Manager MERLE ELLIOTT - Typesetter JOAN HELM - Compositor )t ndmow Sentinel, Wednesday* Aped 14, 1982 -page 6 Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528.2822. Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NOG 2110 Second Class Mail Registration. Number 0847. Subscription rate, 514.50 per year le advance Senior Cithen rate, 512.00 per year in advance U.S.A. and Foreign, $38.00 per year In advance Sr. Cit. U.S.A. and Foreign, 536.00 per year is advance Life or the bomb The .continuing controversy over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and the imminent danger of a military confrontation between England and Argentina, strengthens the . fear • that the situation could lead to • a global confrontation. The threat of a nuclear holocaust is very : real and a growinganti-nuclear movement is cutting across . all party and creedal divisions. An enormous effort is being made by ranks of people everywhere to step back from the nuclear brink. What is significant about the growing anti-nuclear movement, all over the world, is that it no longer belongs to the "peace-niks", the would-be radicals orcyrpto-commun- ists. • The movement is beginning to take shape in Canada as well. The leaders of churches, most notably the Roman Catholic bishops and the Moderator of the United. Church, have called on all their members to pray, form networks, write their members of parliament and do all in their power to let all in authority know "enough is enough". Part of this movement is the attempt to make the threat of nuclear holocaust an issue in the municipal elections .to be held this• fall. An effort is being made for municipalities to hold a referendum on the nuclear issue at the time of the municipalvote. Usually considered to be a federal or global issue, people now believe the threat of nuclear holocaust is everyone's decision. What is most devastating is the awareness that the . nuc- lear weapons now. in the arsenals of the superpowers have warheads, whose lethal power makes the bomb which fell on Hiroshima look like a firecracker. Crude estimates put the combined explosive force of the 50,000 nuclear devices, in the hands of Americans and. the Russians at a million anda quarter times that of the one which obliterated Hiroshima.' What began as a search for security under the slogan of deterrence has now escalated to where both sides are talking of first -strike capability, of winning limited nuclear ;wars and of "acceptable levels" of casualties: Logic and reason have been abandoned and insanity rules. Nobody wants a nuclear war, but unless there is a gigantic leap forward in human thinking and the silent majority of. ' the . world who have remained passive in the face of this, threat for too long, voice their unqualified objection, a nuclear Armageddon seems inevitable. But something else•mustbe altered; our perception of the Soviet Union as it prevails today. A statement by George Kennan, former U.S. diplomat and long time analyst of U.S.-Soviet affairs, made in an address . he gave on the • occasion of his receiving the Grenville Clark Prize is relevent. "And . we shall not be able to . turn these things around.,..until we correct our tendency to see in the Soviet Union only a mirror in which we look for the relection of our own superior virtue. -, until we consent to see there another great people, one of the world's greatest, in all its complexity and variety, embracing the good with the bad - a people whose life, whose views, whose habits., whose fears and aspirations are the products, just as ours.:.not of any inherent iniquity but the relentless discipline of history, tradition and national experience "Above all, we must learn to see the behaviour of the leadership of that people as partly.' a reflection of our own treatment of it. Because, if we insist on demonizing these Soviet leaders - ' on viewing them as total incorrigible enemies, consumed only with their: fear or hatred of us and • dedicated to nothing other than our destruction - that in the end, is the way we shall assuredly have them, if for no other reason than that our view of them° allows tor nothing else, ° either for us or for them." The choice is . ours: life in all its glory or global obliteration. klnlough news •from page 4 LeAnne Haldenby had Judy Helm and Susan Mac- Gregor as her guests for her 19th birthday party on Satur- day., Weekend visitors with Mr. and Mrs. Alex Percy were Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Jansen and Joe, Mr. 'and Mrs. Randy Jansen and Scott and Susan Yancie of Cochrane, Mr. and Mrs. Roy MacGreg- or, Susan and Steven. and Raymond Trafford of Tor- onto. Easter visitors with Mr. and Mrs. lack Barr were Mr. and. Mrs. Gary Fair, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Van De Klippe, Kincardine, Mrs. G. Hamil- ton, Mr. _and Mrs. Bruce Hamilton and family, Luck - now, Mrs. John Barr and Donald Barr. Home with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Don' Bushell for Easter were Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Neilsen, Bracebridge. and Mr. and Mrs, Glen Mor- ningstar, Port Elgin. Mrs. Frank. Maulden, Mary Maulden and Edna and May Boyle were afternoon tea guests of Mrs. Harvey Webster at Lucknow on Mon- day. • • redtrees by don canpbell In May, 1843, the peaceful environ- ment of the Caledon Hills, was disturbed by \the sound of axes and saws clearing the hitherto undisturbed timber growth of centuries. In the centre of :this "community" activity, David Grant, Ate blacksmith, set up shop beneath a rough .canopy . of canvas, his anvil resting upon a broad, squat log of green lumber, recently acquired from the forest. Grant could not keep up with the demands upon his services. From dawn to sunset, and even by the pale light from the fire and lantern, he laboured at his many and varied tasks. There were wedges .to be forged, for splitting logs, chains to be fire welded, nails fashionedfrom thin rectangular sectioned metal, and of course, the continuous task of shoeing the many horses of the "Friends of Skye". No record was taken of the jobs he undertook and no accounts rendered for his skills. In that unusual but, admirable trust , of one man for another, the Highlanders worked together as a team for their mutual benefit, and hopefully, individual prosperity. • Amongst the items which the black- smith had brought. from Toronto, was a large screw shaft some six feet long and eight inches in . width. It was equipped with a ,device like a nut which, when turned, moved up or down the entire length of, the screw thread. Grant was particularly proud of this modern mechanical device and was . pleased to describe the contrap- tion into . which it would be incorpor- ated. `Twill be a tree root puller," he explained. "There are such machines made oot o' wood.` But this will be the strongest in the whole of Upper Canada. 'Twill pull the biggest tree roots oot o' the earth!" The primitive but highly efficient workplace of the blacksmith was a centre of attraction for those too small to help with the dawn to dusk labour. Wide eyed children watched the craftsman as he worked, and marvel- led at the physical power of his blackened and sweated body. David Grant was to many young minds, the ultimate in manliness.) There were only two people in the group of settlers who had actual. experience of building cabins. These were Hamish Murdoch and ; Chippy Chisholm. With characteristic leader- ship and common sense, Neil Mac- Crimmon directed that all males over the age of sixteen should be employed in building the, first. cabin for the use of 'Doctor Cameron and his new bride. "The doctor needs a hoose, sae that he can ' be ready tae : tend, the sick among us: Whilst ye build, ye can learn the ways)andymeans of building ye're ain hames," MacCrimmon told them. one foot in the furrow You still think food costs are too high in this country? Consider this: For every two dollars spent on food in. the United States, a third dollar is spent to get it to the people who eat it. The average bite of food travels 1,300 milles before it is eaten. • The cost of slicing and wrapping a loaf of bread is more than what the farmer got who grew the wheat in that. loaf. ' As mentioned in this deathless prose •a week or so ago, Canadians spend less of their disposable income ,dollar on food than any other country in' the world with the possible excep- tion of the United, States. All this information and much more was released in a weekend conference of the Lutheran Church in America held in Elmira the end of March. The position paper prepared at the end of the, conference makes pleasant read- ing for farmers. So many times, they have 'felt all alone in their struggle to get people to listen to them. They have been screaming in the boondocks for 20 years. Now, they are getting some support. The position paper produced by the Lutherans has some exceptionally strong, outspoken support for agricul- ture. The' problem of agricultural land and its preservation prompted the conference to say that the church has a role it must play in' the political arena: The church, said the delegates, is an ally with the farmers in making their voices heard. The church should not only make people aware of food and land issues but 'should also be active as an advocate for social and economic justice. The church should 'continue to provide an environment for education and advocacy. • Those are strong statements from one of the most influential Christian denominations in Canada and the United States. And so isthis one: We see the biblical witness as God, people, land, food and 'economic justice as part of the Kingdom of God. And • this: There is a need for Christian voices in our society to speak for conservation° and stewardship for our foodlands. Christian farmers should be leaders in that effort, undaunted by evidence that few listen, fewer hear and an inadequate respon- se. Silence (by farmers) may cost them the ownership of their farms. All the more reason for farm Hamish Murdoch supervised the felling of trees, trimming, squaring and placing, the logs. Chippy Chisholm revealed the more finer skills . of fashioning • door and window frames, the placement of joists and rafters, and how to `' split lumber for roof • shingles. . With so many men and ample horse power for the purpose, the building proceeded at a rapid rate. The doctor's house was by necessity, much larger than those which the settlers would build for themselves. It contained a large room which could house patients in an emergency and a smaller room for the doctor's surgery. ° Whilst the first clearing in the forest grew by the hour, large fires burned away unusable branches and brush. The smoke hung like a. pall over the Caledon Hills: It penetrated into the. bush and crept- like a mist along the still damp, springtime undergrowth. It caused the eyes of -the men to smart and water, so that there were tearmarks running across their black- ened faces. Nobody escaped from the pungent odour. It clung to the clothes of (lie people people and 'crept into the wagons, where women tried to make a tempor- ary home in cramped conditions. But it was a smoke resulting from the fire of determination; the inherent desire to succeed against all adversity! by bob trotter organizations to keep shouting. Feder- ations . of agriculture, farmers union locals, breed organizations and mark- eting boards have been doing a great deal to bring the plight of the farmer I across to the rest of the nation. if they seem discouraged now and again,, who can blame 'them? Ninety-five per cent of the popula- tion of this country are not actively, engaged in farming. Which means that only about five per cent must do. the, educating of the 95 per cent. To find,a group of concerned church • people actively listening and support- ' ing the cause of agriculture should be a shot in the arn, for farmers. The. position paper prepared by the church. will be widely distributed. Whether the major newspapers in this country will use .it remains to .be seen. Unfortunately, the big newspapers serve the big cities and big , city readership depends on news of inter- est to city dwellers. Perhaps, because the news has the official blessing of the Lutheran church, more 'newspap- ers will use it than if it came from a farm organization. 1 have seen too many editors 'glance at farm news releases and throw them in the round, green file under their desks.