HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2001-02-28, Page 5Final Thought
There's absolutely no reason for being
rushed along with the rush. Everybody
should be free to go very slow... What you
want, what you're hanging around in the
waiting for, is for something to occur
to you.
-Robert Fmst
Bonnie
Gropp
The short of it
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2001. PAGE 5.
Other Views
Going from verse to worse
Americans are good at inventing
heroes that weren't, like Paul Bunyan
and Abner Doubleday. (Canadians)
cancel heroes that really were.
, — Axel Harvey
I
'm not sure that I entirely agree with Mister
Harvey. Seems to me Canada has an
inordinate share of heroes, from Billy
Bishop to Mary Pickford: from Roberta
Bondar to Terry Fox. We have our literary
heroes (Margarets Atwood and Laurence); our
musical heroes (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young).
We have painter heroes and sculptor heroes;
dance heroes and sports heroes.
I'd like to add a new name to the pantheon of
Canadian superstardom. Ladies and gentlemen
may I nominate Mister James McIntyre,
Canada's - nay, the world's - foremost Poet of
Cheese.
McIntyre, like Shakespeare and Dickens,
sprang from humble stock. He emigrated to
Canada from Scotland in 1841 and settled in
southern Ontario.
He became a furniture dealer in St.
Catharines. But the spark of creativity
simmering within the McIntyre breast would
not long-be denied.
Soon McIntyre was limning odes to the
world around him - the rustic, dairy-farming
countryside of Oxford County, Ontario.
What sort of odes? Herewith a representative
stanza from his epic WHEN TO SELL
GRAIN AND PRODUCE
Ihas become increasingly apparent that the
rapid pace of progress in many areas of our
society finds us unable to keep up.
As I mentioned in --a previous article, there
are so many cars in Europe that governments
literally cannot carry out road improvements
quickly enough, even if there was room to do
so. • , Yet, so. mportant is the automobile industry
to our economic well-being that we cannot
even conceive of cutting back on the number of
cars being manufactured. About the only thing
that is being done is an effort by certain cities,
such as Singapore, to reduce the amount of
traffic using the centre of the city.
That a similar phenomenon is occurring in
the airline industry has become obvious to me
in my travels this year. If you go to Toronto
International Airport, you quickly have the
impression that most of the city is either flying
somewhere or coming back from a trip. To add
to the confusion construction is everywhere
around the airport as the authorities try to keep
up with the sheer volume of traffic.
Yet Toronto is nowhere near the top of any
list as far as the number of passengers is
concerned. It ranks no less than 25th on the list
of busy airports.
The busiest in the world by the way, is
Atlanta, but there are a number close behind.
I get a good look periodically at a really busy
airport when I fly to Frankfurt in Germany. It
is number four on the world list handling
almost 50 million passengers a year and in the
times I ht/e been there this year it seems like I
have run into at least half of them. But they still
need another runway or two and more docking
space so that you don't have to park the plane
'halfway to the French border like we did the
last time I arrived there.
Also getting there can be half the fun. The
European air traffic control system is
overloaded and out of date. Simply put, this
means that it was not meant to handle the
traffic it is currently workid with. If you
ever fly anywhere and wonder why the
Remember too that of your wheat
The rats of it will fondly eat
Sell it and money then invest
And you can get good interest.
Or consider his lyrical salute to wildlife in:
WILD GOOSE SHOT AT MIDNIGHT
NOV., 1888
But when they flew o'er the river Thames.
They swooped down to take a dive,
But sport with shot gun at them aims
And one at least did not survive.
By now you will have surmised that Mister
McIntyre was a bad poet.
No. Mister McIntyre was a _BAD poet. A
spectacularly, five-star, ne plus ultra, wretched
writer of doggerel that was an affront to the
trees cut down to make the paper he wrote it
on.
-And yet he was published. The editor of The
Toronto Globe frequently ran McIntyre poems
(for comic relief, it's suspected).
Even a scribe at The New York Tribune
confessed to being 'amused'.
More incredibly, the people of Oxford
County adored McIntyre and his musings. He
Raymond
Canon
The
International
Scene
plane is doing a lot of circling, it :is generally
because the control system cannot handle all
the traffic.
Then there is the problem of finding the
planes for these people each year. The number
of air travellers keeps climbing which means
an increasing number of planes arid by now
you see the pattern. Small wonder that Airbus,
the European aircraft consortium. has recently
THE EDITOR,
March was officially declared Kidney Month
in Canada in 1979. The subsequent launching
of The Kidney Foundation of Canada's
flagship door-to-door fundraiser; March Drive,
generated $334,432 in its first year thanks to
the efforts of numerous volunteers, and the
support of-Governor General Edward Schreyer
and Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
Today, the Kidney Foundation continues to
rely on the public's generosity to tight a
disease that has no cure and that requires
dialysis or a transplant once diagnosed. With
its biggest annual fundraiser event underway,
the Foundation hopes to elicit an even greater
response and reach a target goal of $5.8
million.
"There are currently two million Canadians
suffering from kidney and kidney-related
diseases. In addition, each day an average of 10
people learn that their kidneys have failed,"
said Mary Lou Karley, national president of the
Foundation. "In order to better serve these
individuals and their families, our volunteers
was constantly asked to 'deliver a few lines' on
all manner of public occasions.
And McIntyre, was only too happy to oblige
- be it a wedding, a funeral, a store opening
or...just cheese.
To us it is a glorious theme
To sing of milk, of curds, and cream
Were it collected it could float
Upon its bosom small steam boat
Cows, numerous as a swarm of bees
Are milked in Oxford to make cheese.
(from OXFORD CHEESE ODE)
McIntyre, 'though locally loved, never
achieved the international renown he knew he
deserved, despite poems written about his
'colleagues'.
We have scarcely time to tell thee
Of the strange and gifted Shelley
Kind-hearted man, but ill-fated,
So youthful, drowned and cremated.
When McIntyre went to his reward in 1906,
he was remembered in verse by his daughter
Kate, who wrote:
His book he'd give you gratis
Filled with divine afflatus
And local news;
High on the wall of fame
He hath written out his name,
Inscribed his muse. "
Alas, daughter Kate faltered in the footprints
of Canada's worst poet, and published no more
verse.
Pity. She coulda been a contender.
announced that it is building a plane that will
carry 500 —600 passengers at a time.
At the present time I think there are few
airports that can handle such a large plane, all
of which adds to the pressure already present.
Congestion at the airport, overloaded traffic
control systems and a greater number of
passengers means that more and more planes
are arriving and leaving late. This number has
gone up considerably in 2000, so much so that
the American government is doing a study of
the problem. That won't add much to what is
known already but perhaps it will -Spur the
proper authorities into action.
By now f think you gei the picture. When
you hear complaints about Air Canada, you can
be sure that such grumbling is not limited to
Canada only; it is world-wide.
are working around the clock to ensure that
March Drive 2001 is a resounding success."
The only national health charity serving the .
particular needs of people living with kidney
disease, the Foundation funds research,
provides educational and emotional support
services, advocates for access to high quality
health care and actively promotes awareness
of, and commitment to, organ donation. For
more information on the full range of services
provided by the Kidney Foundation of Canada,
visit w w'w.kidney.ca
Ed Sommer
The Kidney Foundation.
A scattered mind
/have been told that my life is never dull.
Now, while I will not presume that the
hours which pass through my day are more
chock full of interesting fodder than those of
my peers, I truly do feel at times/ that I am
overwhelmed.
To actually have someone else verify my
notion that things are a little crazy is nice. It's
a validation of sorts that I have a little bit of an
excuse for being lately what can only be
described as scattered.
Don't ask me about last week. Don't
question me on who did what or where I've
gone because if it really doesn't matter
anymore it's gone. It has been eradicated from
the filing system upstairs. It is no longer taking
up valuable space in my crowded grey cells.
If I may, let me just give you an inkling of
what's currently happening, that's
preoccupying me. First, is post secondary
uncertainty. Any parent with kids planning for
a future after high school knows this is not as
straightforward and clear cut as it initially
appears. It involves anticipating and preparing.
for interviews or auditions, then waiting on
pins and needles for notice of acceptance. This
means figuring out travel and working around
appointments. That done there is much to
consider such as finances, housing,
transportation and on and on.
It is a fairly stressful, though hopeful
occurrence in life. The whole thing rather
reminds me of a game where you only have a
certain length of time to play, but must wait
until you get the go-ahead to proceed to the
next step. It is, therefore a situation out of my
control.
And those who know me, know this is not a
good thing.
Then we have the wedding. Our daughter
will be married in just over three m onths. An
unassuming girl with little interest in fanfare
or fluff and pageantry she has asked for an
intimate gathering lot just less than 150 people
at our home.
Again, a hopeful occurrence in life, but not
without its level of stress. Even the simplest of
weddings don't just happen. There are certain
plans that must be made and issues to consider.
We are, of course„ soon beginning the rounds
of fittings, parties and details,. keeping
appointments for everything from florists to
hairstylists.
There's work to be done outside and in, and
of course no time to do it. We talk over plans.
change our minds, bicker a tad, and go back to
the original, time and again. And while today's
enlightened male has certainly come a long
way, the area of wedding planning still
primarily seems a feminine talent. The rather
ambivalent groom and his equally so father-
in-law-to-be do pop in periodically with a
tidbit, Which, I must admit my daughter and I
through tacit agreement, have generally
received and filed.
And then there's knowing that the biggest
factor to the picture perfect day is something
we can't plan. I certainly don't want rain on
my girl's parade. But this too, I am cautioned
over and over, is out of my control. Not, I
remind, a good thing.
However, all this said, I am not complaining
because the occasions of which I speak are
those of very happy times. I am blessed to
have them happening in my life and enjoying
every busy moment, scattered or not.
Congestion at the airports
Letter to the Editor