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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-11-02, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2006. PAGE 5. Other Views The spirits of the times the front page of The New or of The Citizen, for that there was much rejoicing recently among people of the Sto:lo Nation in and around Chilliwack, B.C. After much trial and tribulation they have finally welcomed home a long-lost relative. -No small thing. He'd been living in a display case in a Seattle Museum for the past hundred years. His name (and I'm glad this is not radio, so I don't have to pronounce it)'is T'xwelatse. He stands a little less than five feet high. He is made of stone. To you and me, that is. To the Sto:lo people he is a living ancestor. Back in the mists of time, legend has it, T'xwelatse lost a battle of wits with a Sto:lo deity and his spirit was imprisoned in granite. The sacred stone was preserved for centuries by Sto:lo elders until- it was `collected' by white souvenir hunters in the late 1800s and shipped off to the U.S. Last month, after years of negotiation, Sto:lo elders convinced the proprietors of the Seattle Museum it was time to send T'xwelatse back to his home here in the north. Coincidentally, during much of the same time Sto:lo people were endeavouring to get their sacred idol back, natives on the South Sea island of Tanna in Vanuatu were engaged .n a similar exercise. For the past 30 years they've been sending letters of petition across the seas in the hopes of contacting their 'god' and bringing him home. Their absent god is also entombed in stone. Ontario has had its own version of Peter MacKay calling former girlfriend Belinda Stronach a dog, although it may not have had quite as much bite. The day before the foreign affairs minister's petulance in the Commons, Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberals shouted down a New Democrat woman MPP in the legislature so she could not be heard. What made this worse was Cheri DiNovo was speaking in a Persons Day debate designed so each party in turn could pay tribute to those who led the fight.for women's rights. DiNovo, who had won a by-election and been in the legislature less than a month, started naming women in her party who helped, and Liberal MPPs, mostly men, began a barrage of catcalls — no dog here — that drowned out her voice. DiNovo protested "women are still being shouted down by men" and Speaker Mike Brown complained he could not hear what she was saying. The MPP was forced to stop twice more, complaining she could not be heard, in a brief speech of only two minutes. Reporters in seats above the Speaker and checking the legislature's videotape of the debate could make out little of what was said, although one was sure Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson admonished "You're in the big leagues now." New Democrats sitting directly opposite said they heard Liberals shouting "Sit down — what do you know, anyway?" "Why don't you be quiet?" and "Why are you so partisan?" Brown twice called on Finance Minister Greg Sorbara tostop interrupting and Sorbara explained later he merely suggested the New Democrat Should also mention Kim Campbell, Canada's first- woman prime minister and a Progressive Conservative. This seemed reasonable except New Democrats were sure Sorbara yelled in a mocking voice, implying Campbell was one in a matter of speaking. Except in this case, it's Buckingham Palace. • The god the people of Tanna bow down to,is Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinborough. Well, that's not quite true. They don't worship Phil in the flesh. They revere him as the human face of an ancestral spirit. The Prince Philip Movement, as it's known, is one variation of a Melanesian Cargo cult. Cargo cultism is a religious phenomenon that has flickered on and off in various parts of the South Pacific for many decades. Its adherents are relatively primitive, with little experience of the modern world. A long- held tribal belief predicted that one day ancestral gods would appear in the skies and spectacular wealth would fall from above. Then — incredibly — it actually happened. During World War II South Sea islanders watched with wonder as U.S. cargo planes roared , across the skies dropping supplies to American troops. To the natives the planes were spiritual deities dispensing undreamed- of wealth from the heavens. The war ended and the planes stopped coming, but the cargo cultists continued to woman politician others dare not brag about, because she bombed and lost government within months. NDP House leader Peter. Kormos, an MPP for 18 years, said he has never heard such a sustained, persistent attempt to shout down. It was clearly an attempt to silence an MPP, but was it because she is a woman? The Liberals recently have tried to shout down many critics, with their ministers joining or even leading attacks rather than leaving them to backbenchers. • They have made DiNovo more of a target than others. Later the same day she argued for a bigger role for civilians in investigating complaints against police and Liberal deputy house leader David Caplan interrupted and cautioned her condescendingly not to refer to cases before courts, although she had not done so. The Liberals could be giving DiNovo a hard time partly because she won a seat from them in a by-election in which they were seen dredging up personal history trying to keep her out. The Liberals could have it in for the NDP because that party has recovered slightly in polls, which could hamper McGuinty in Final Thought "Do not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness." — James Thurber believe. They searched for ways to entice the gods to return. Some went as far as to construct ersatz `airports' with airstrips and walkie-talkies made out of coconuts and straw. Exactly how Prince Philip came to inhabit the pantheon of Melanesian Cargo cult god figures isn't entirely clear, but Buckingham Palace has been receiving pleas, gifts and entreaties from the Tanna islanders for the past three decades. Prince Philip, for his part, has gone along for the ride. He hasn't actually visited the 400- strong cult in Vanuatu, but his staff has sent theme signed photographs of the Prince, including one eight-by-10 glossy that shows him holding a genuine Tanna Island war club. Am I making mock of Tanna's cargo cultists or Chilliwack's T'xwelatse worshippers? Are you kidding? I come from a religious background that promotes belief in talking serpents, encyclopedic orchards, immaculate conceptions and virgin births. I have no grounds to pass judgment on anybody's religious beliefs. Besides, I remember the story of the guy who went to Mount Pleasant cemetery in Toronto to put flowers on his late wife's grave. As he was doing so, he noticed a Chinese man placing a bowl of rice by the headstone of a deceased relative. "When do you expect your departed friend to show up and eat the food," he sneered. The Chinese man replied, "About the same time your friefid comes back to smell the flowers." reviving an argument he used last election that the NDP is weak and Progressives should line up with the Liberals. But they also tried to stifle a woman in a debate staged to honour those who have helped women gain a voice in politics and encourage more to do so, in which she was no more partisan than others. The Liberal spokesperson earlier in the same debate, Economic Development Minister Sandra Pupatello, had boasted McGuinty has improved the lot of women immensely, which many would dispute. The Liberals were the last party in trouble for offending women in the legislature when Liberal Shafiq Qaadri shouted and had to apologize for saying another woman New Democrat who criticized his government must be suffering from a menopausal "hot flash," as if no woman could possibly have the facts on her side. McGuinty's MP brother, David, also has led the Liberal attack in the Commons on MacKay for belittling Stronach. The premier should know the dangers to his party of picking on women. Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity ar.d content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your ielIers brief and concise. People are so nice people are so nice. I've always known it, but like the rest of the world, I don't always give the fact its full credit. It took a particularly dismal time for me to state the obvious. I had suddenly found myself sitting in an unfamiliar place. The world as I had known it had changed and would never be quite the same again. And in the midst of what I was feeling there were the words and kindnesses extended, until quite honestly they overwhelmed me. What this all comes down to is that people in the norm, are a pretty good bunch. The problem is that while the smallest example of pettiness and nastiness can burn for hours, modest gestures are more likely to bring a glow that lingers, but eases away like a perfect sunset. As a result, the negatives are usually given far too much attention in this life, while the positives may be overlooked. That's why I was pleased to listen to a proposal from one of our area schools recently. I don't want to divulge too much information at this point, but I will say that the premise is to highlight a positive attribute on a regular basis.. The idea is rooted in a school board initiative. Having our young people recognize and acknowledge quality character traits in others has become a focus of the board. The system goal is to "promote the development of positive citizenship qualities" in the students. The mission statement is to "cultivate a community of citizens of good character". As a result, a different attribute is chosen each month and a student is recognized for demonstrating it. What the board refers to as character education is an on-going process that is an integral component of all curriculum and learning. The attributes to be noted are fairness, honesty, empathy, respect, courage, integrity, optimism, compassion, perseverance and responsibility. Truly words to live by. And for the most part, we do with a level of success. You probably wouldn't need more than a moment to remember a time when you personally, have demonstrated each of these traits. Another moment and you will be able to think of a time when you have seen examples of it in other people. Which is equally important. What is excellent about the school program is that it doesn't just encourage each student to take actions that exemplify each trait but also to look for it in other people. It wouldn't hurt if society as a whole made a concentrated effort to pay attention to the strengths and niceties of others. While it's essential to do our best every day to be decent human beings, it's also extremely good for the soul to discover the good in another. The world can be a tough place and taking the time to fully acknowledge the kindness and caring, the courage and humility, the honesty and integrity that have been shown toward you or another is nothing short of restorative. If anything has come from that dismal time I mentioned earlier, it has been that I have a different feeling for the folks around me. I have been the beneficiary of some of the best that can come from people, and it came in such abundance and with such sincerity that I couldn't ignore it. It's really not enough to be your best. You • need to look for it in others. 1t didn't make York Times — matter — but „ . Woman trouble in McGuinty government