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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