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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-12-13, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1995. PAGE 5. A body could get depressed A body could get very depressed surveying the state of the world today, if a body had a mind to. There's AIDS. And Bosnia. And Newt Gingrich. And Jacques Parizeau. Not to mention depletion of the ozone layer, the rape of the rain forests and jock itch. But whenever things start to get me down, I have a fail-safe mantra that I chant to buck my spirits up. I simply repeat, in a low voice, 10 times: "At least we have no Vikings". It's been close to a thousand years since anybody looked up from their sheep barn to see a swarm of wild-eyed marauders with swords in their hands and horns on their heads kicking in the front gate. I think they're gone for good. But they had a pretty good run. Peasants first began whispering about the wicings (Old English: pirates, warriors) around 780 AD. For the next five centuries the Vikings raped and plundered the coasts of Eastern Europe, using their long, skinny dragon- prowed knarrs to unleash lightning raids. The Viking ships were long, skinny, swift and remarkably maneuverable. The Vikings themselves were rapacious, fierce and utterly merciless. And they didn't confine their predations to coastal towns and villages. Danish Vikings invaded France and Germany. Swedish Adjusting attitudes One of the nicest things about going off to Switzerland each year is that I get to talk with a small number of friends with whom I either went to school or worked and who have an above-average knowledge of Canada. Some of them have lived and worked here or work for companies which have Canadian affiliates. They can be counted on to give a thoughtful insight into our country as well as the direction in which the western world is heading. -Our mini-conference this year was held in a restaurant on the second floor of the main station in Zurich. The food and service are excellent and all the hustle and bustle of the station are shut off. Unfortunately the international press did not see fit to cover this, which is perhaps just as well since we did not run the risk of being misquoted. I shall certainly try to avoid that as I bring you the gist of what was said. We were all agreed that the western world is at one of its pivotal points where a lot of the ideas that were developed in the aftermath of World War II were in need of being altered. The secret is what to maintain and what to discard. The ideas of the British economist John Maynard Keynes came about just before the war and these were mated with the sincere desire of most of us, including all those present, to try to avoid the excessive Vikings smashed deep into what we know as Russia. In fact, some people claim they created Russia. For sure they established the city of Novograd in 862. The Vikings weren't just pirates of course, they used their knarrs to cross the Atlantic long before Columbus was born. Viking ruins have been authenticated at L'Anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland. The experts best guess is that they date from at least 1,000 AD. Even more intriguing is the near certainty that Vikings got right to the heart of North America. Nearly a hundred years ago, a Minnesota farmer found a huge rock ensnared in the roots of a tree on his farm. The rock bore Scandinavian runes chiseled into its face: Experts scoffed at the Minnesota stone and dismissed it as a hoax because the inscription was virtually unintelligible. Last year, a linguist at Cornell University declared the inscription is written in a dialect of ancient Norse that has only recently been authenticated. "There is no possibility of any faking. Nobody (in the 19th century) could have had the knowledge." But the Vikings are remembered for their temperament, not their trekking. Almost everything about their culture was steeped in violence. To most of the world, the little mistletoe is a cheery plant associated with Yuletide festivities, friendship and smooching. To the Vikings it was evil. Viking legend has it that a mistletoe spear was used to slay one of their gods. Most people who see the aurora borealis are enchanted. Robert Service writes of the Northern Lights "dancing heel and toe". The By Raymond Canon suffering of the great depression of the 1930s. The result, as you all Imo*, was a far greater role played by governments in the life of the individual. Governments, by their very nature in a democratic society, are very bad at any long- range planning and for this reason the assumption that government revenues would increase exponentially to cover the general social welfare programs was flawed. The costs of the latter went up dramatically while the revenues flattened out. We are now on the horns of a dilemma; a new approach to all these programs has to be worked out with the realization that most governments, with Canada one of the worst offenders, are up to their eyeballs in debt. How hard this is going to be can be gleaned from the lusty howls of protest that greet even the most minor changes. The rights of the individual have gone in the same direction. So anxious have governments been to assign a high level of such rights to each person that the responsibilities of the same people have been lost in the stampede. "I demand my rights" has become a catch-all phrase. We have to swing back to an emphasis on responsibilities to society. For countries such as Switzerland this is easier since compulsory military service is still in effect. It was my suggestion that we should work toward something like national service which embraced roles other than military where a certain amount of time could be given to the country. vikings believed the Northern Lights were the flashing armour and spears of Odin's handmaidens, the Valkyries, galloping out to collect Viking warriors slain in battle. It's funny how national characteristics change over the centuries. The tiny Netherlands once pretty well ruled the Maritime world as it was known. It's hard to imagine modern day Spain as an arrogant, continent-conquering world power. Watching Marcello Mastroianni on the screen does not bring images of flinty, fearless Roman Legionnaires to mind. Similarly, you'd be hard pressed to recognize the Viking marauder in Scandinavians today. Twentieth century Danes and Swedes are more renowned for their civility and stolidness. Sawed-off pepperpot Don Cherry gets away with calling European hockey players "chicken Swedes". If he'd tried that with Lief Ericsson he'd have wound up carrying his brush-cut head under his arm. Even the words the Vikings left us are, well, Viking-like. Anger comes from Old Norse. So does ransack, and snare and And my favourite - the most Vikingish word in the English language. What do you call warriors who fight like rabid animals? Who turn into whirling, maniacal, howling, killing machines? Who get the killing frenzy so severely that they bite their shields, race blindly towards certain death, killing everyone and anyone in their path? You call them the same thing terrified Europeans called them when they leapt from their knarrs onto the lucky beaches of Eastern Europe 1200 years ago. You call them berserkers. Our society is in a state of constant change and this is likely to continue. We have to teach our young people the art of adjusting quickly and often. Basic skills, such as the ability to communicate effectively, have to be emphasized, not to mention the art of evaluation in any number of situations. This comes in handy when looking objectively at the changes which are taking place. One of the things which struck my colleagues' attention was the level of tolerance in Canada. That is not to a say that intolerance does not exist but, given the multicultural society in which we live in this country, it is remarkable that tolerance exists to such a degree. One comment which was made was that, if Toronto were in any other part of the world, it would likely be wracked by constant violence. We were awarded high marks for our efforts in this field. By dessert we were around to the excellent reputation Canadians have as foreign tourists and in the contribution made to peace- keeping forces in troubled spots. One asked if we were still trying to deal with _aux inferiority complex; I replied that it was there when I arrived and it would probably always be there as long as we lived beside the United States. It is hard to overcome when your neighbour considers himself to be number one in so many fields. All in all it was a fantastic lunch. I caught my train back to St. Gall thinking that I could do with many more such discussions. Life still does have its high points. The Short of it By Bonnie G ropp A season to bring out the best in us I heard a couple of news items recently that gave me hope there is still some good left. While I can't recall the one, the other was regarding refunds for beer bottles. Several beer stores throughout the province are asking customers to donate the refunds they receive from cashing in their beer bottles, to charity. Imagine! An idea that makes sense in the 90s! With some people unable to afford even the simplest of luxuries, it seems only logical that a portion of our Christmas 'spirits' be used to help bring them some enjoyment as well. It is an unfortunate aspect of life today, that more cuts, ever-increasing taxes and lower incomes make it a little harder to part with our pennies, so it's good to know that while most of us are not living the high life, at least at this time of year stories that tug the heart strings manage to loosen the purse strings. Less heartening, however, is the reality of the new year when the bills must be paid. Keeping a generous soul isn't always that easy. Hearing news of goodwill and kindness has a two-fold edge for me. In addition to knowing about the goodness inherent in most of humankind it also inspires a sense of hope, something that it's often hard to dredge up of late. Let's face it; the direction in which society seems to be spinning doesn't give us much to look forward to. Violence is increasing, unemployment is barely improving and the poor get poorer while the rich get richer. Children carry knives to school and adults carry the weight of an uncertain future on their shoulders. Then there's the recent budget message which has made us feel like ungrateful children, who acted foolishly, wasting the fruits of our labours with carefree lifestyles, and now pouting because we are going to be punished. The sad tale is that I thought I already had been. Everywhere we go it seems we get less for more. As I have been doing my. Christmas shopping this year I noticed an interesting pattern which formed over the past few decades. In the early 70s when my family drew names for Christmas the limit was set at a comfortable $15, with which I could purchase a number of nice gift selections. As time passed, it was the cost of things that precipitated an increase in what we were to spend, but ironically by the time it was up to $25, during the early to mid 80s, that was actually well within the means of all my family member's budgets. This season, however, the common thread among so many people, is that finding the perfect present costs so much more than it did before, while personal coffers are anything but full to overflowing. Few can afford extravagance and little can be found that isn't. In spite of all this, though, most of us realize, as we look around us, that we're doing okay. We're keeping our head above water and are ready to throw a line to anyone finding it hard to stay afloat. No, we don't hear a lot of positive things happening, but at least at this time of year we see more to be proud of. Arthur Black International Scene