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The Citizen, 2017-05-04, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017. PAGE 5. Other Views It's great to May is here at last — the most optimistic month of the year. It's the month that begins on the verge of spring — real spring when things come back to life, not just the melting of snow — and ends on the verge of summer. When I think of May I think of the colour green, the green of new growth whether grass or grain or leaves — a green so vivid it almost hurts the eyes. In mere days trees go from naked branches to glorious canopies of fresh, un -nibbled, unweathered leaves. There are other colours of course. Early May has a dash of yellow as the daffodils and forsythia finish out their blooming. Next, tulips in their glorious variety of shapes and sizes brighten the landscape. Not only gardens are in bloom but the woodlands and riversides are brightened by the yellow of marsh marigolds and dog -toothed violets, the unique colour and shape of the jack- in-the-pulpit and, of course, our provincial flower, the trillium. Since discovering the woods along the Maitland Block south of Auburn where trilliums grow not by the clump but by the acre, I usually try to make a trip there each spring. All too soon the cheery early flowers are gone, not to return for another year, reminding us how quickly time passes. We don't dwell on it, though, because the apple and cherry trees are in bloom and a succession of other flowers are on the way. Here in the countryside spring means cattle and sheep and horses released from their winter indoor quarters to the green of lush pastures and sunlight. Newborn calves and lambs kick up their heels with joy, excited to be young and alive. Horses chase each other across the pasture in sudden, enthusiastic bursts, celebrating their freedom. The optimism of May is expressed in the miracle of planting. Seeds are slipped into the Respect: all Ashleigh's maternity leave has led to an interesting debate that happens nearly every morning: Should we face the cold, hard cruel world of today or the relatively rosy world of yesterday? As someone who spends a lot of time during the day watching e-mails and news feeds, I'm usually content to let my mornings be a little softer. Around 7:30 a.m. most days, just after Mary Jane has finished her breakfast and Ashleigh and I are enjoying a coffee as Mary Jane plays, the question of what to watch comes up. Ashleigh pushes for CNN to see what's happening in the world and I push for the Comedy Network so we can watch Corner Gas. Ashleigh wants to see what happened with our neighbours to the south and President Donald Trump but, as someone whose news feeds are inundated with information about our neighbour's orange-ish leader, I urge her to give it a pass until I'm gone. Monday, she won the argument, mostly. The talking heads on CNN were discussing the give and take between the media and Trump over the weekend. Trump, in a move unprecedented for more than a generation, didn't show up to the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 29. The event, hosted by the White House Correspondents' Association, in modernity, typically features skits and comedians and has more and more welcomed celebrities. The last president who didn't show up to the event was Ronald Reagan, and while, if you watch any of Trump's speeches about the media, his intentions in not going were politically motivated, Reagan only missed the event due to surviving an assassination attempt. Interestingly enough, the association was live in Huron in May Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk warming earth and after a spring rain, emerge as green shoots a few days later, beginning the cycle of growth. Whether in a 100 -acre field seeded with a 40 -foot planter or a tiny raised - bed garden planted by fingers, it is a re- enactment of the age-old ritual on which all of civilization is based. Without seeds and earth and sun and rain there can be no 70 -storey condo towers, no space travel, no artists with the time to make great art instead of scrambling to find food. Spring is a time for visiting nurseries where your imagination and ambition do battle with common sense and your budget as you see thousands of containers of tempting flowers and vegetables lined up for the choosing, grown by people who have been enjoying spring and summer inside their greenhouses for weeks, even months. Here, and in the planting of seed, optimism can get the best of you. How many of us have dreamed big in the spring, ambitiously planting gardens that will prove too large later when weeds are growing at a jungle -like pace and other jobs distract us long enough that when we return to the garden it's beyond rescue. But the joy of May is also simply the rediscovery of the natural, rich glory of being outdoors where the busy-ness of modern life drops away as you do a simple, physical chore among the buzz of the bee, the chirping of birds, the sighing of the wind in trees. There's a healing power in being outside. Sometimes you need to stop for a moment and just take it all in and remind yourself of the blessing of being alive in these peaceful, bountiful surroundings. It isn't Eden, of course, and perfection is limited. Blackflies and mosquitoes can spoil the pleasure mood and send you scurrying indoors, or at least for the insect repellent. There's something special, almost like a gift, in picking rhubarb and asparagus, those first products of the garden, planted so long ago that you've long since forgotten the labour of getting them established. Now they are the first harvest from the garden, bringing with them the pleasure of cooking and eating something that's grown on your own property, not having been purchased from the produce counter as most of the meals you've cooked over the winter were. Others will turn to nature to reap the rewards of the season, heading to the streams, fishing pole and creel at the ready, to catch trout, their flesh firm from the cold water. By Victoria Day weekend the summer mindset begins to take over as people dream about lazing in the sun on a beach and our summer -only neighbours arrive to open their cottages for the year. Community celebrations ramp up, distracting us from jobs around the yard. It is then that we rediscover how quickly nature exerts itself, particularly if we have a large property, with everything — trees, shrubs, grass and weeds — bursting forth. A week, even a few days, of distraction can leave you hopelessly behind in trying to wrestle nature under control leaving you to sigh and say "maybe next year". But this is what we've waited for, through all those short, dreary winter days, through the brown and grey of late March and April before the first signs of rebirth exert themselves. Make the most of it. Ignore your TV and cellphone for rainy days and celebrate the glory of spring in Huron County. a matter of perspective atDenny Scott Nall Denny's Den formed in 1914 when U S administration was rumoured to be trying to select which media could attend press conferences of then - President Woodrow Wilson (interesting because of Trump's administration attempting the same kind of selectivity with media at its own events). While the entertainment at the dinner, held in Washington was focused on roasting the president, the president was, as he put it, "more than 100 miles away from Washington's swamp" at a campaign -style rally in Pennsylvania. As Trump made his jabs at the media, the dinner welcomed comedian Hasan Minhaj who in turn took some jabs at the president. Trump made light of the fact that he didn't attend, saying the involved celebrities and press corp were "consoling each other". "Media outlets like CNN and MSNBC are fake news. Fake news," he said. "If the media's job is to be honest and tell the truth, then I think we would all agree that the media deserves a big, fat failing grade." Minhaj, meanwhile, implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin runs the country, poked fun at the amount of time Trump is golfing, and making fun of some of Trump's advisors. The talking heads, on Monday morning, were debating the importance of respect and whether respect for the office of President should translate into respect for Donald Trump and the debate was interesting to say the least. Respect, to me, is something that can be earned and lost, and, please keep in mind I'm not commenting on political affiliations here, Trump has lost a lot more than he has earned from my view in the den. I'm not saying that, when I meet new people, they are without value to me — the reality is quite the opposite actually. My father taught me, when we started refereeing soccer, that you have to give respect to the people on the field and let them prove they aren't worthy of it rather than the other way around. It makes sense because, with most of those people you run into in a job like that, it's such a brief period that no one could earn respect. Asking people to respect him because he is the president is the same as those sycophants in the world who immediately label deceased individuals with virtues they didn't possess. I'm not saying to speak ill of the dead here, that's just plain disrespectful. I'm talking about how some people do a complete reversal of opinion about people the moment they pass away. Take, for example, Rob Ford. While there were many people who respected and appreciated Ford and, no doubt, mourned his passing, there were many others who, at the moment of his passing, went from bashing him to praising him. Death, like the presidency, is not some doorway to respect and legitimacy. The presidency is not some shiny trinket that boosts credibility when worn. It is a mantle of responsibility and not one that should be taken lightly. The only interaction it has with respect is to multiply losses. Everything a president (or prime minister) does is under the microscope and mistakes they make are made larger than life because of the office. So, to those saying respect the president because he is the president, I say no. Shawn rte, a� Loughlin Shawn's Sense A few more losses The community The Citizen covers has again lost some of its best people because of death or other opportunities and things here just aren't as bright as a result. First, of course, we lost Murray Scott. Murray was one of the nicer local politicians to deal with. As is noted in his obituary this week, he was always fact -checking our work in the form of reading council stories from the local newspapers. As a long-time local representative, he would often figure prominently into those stories. Murray served his community in a number of ways, whether it be through the world of local politics, farming organizations and businesses or through helping to preserve the environment through various projects on his land. For a man of an older generation, he certainly cared about the environment and was progressive in his thinking — not to mention the fact that he was always eager to share what was being done on the farm, even going so far as to construct a people -mover to conduct tours. I spoke to Murray and his wife Wilma extensively a few years ago when I wrote a story on their families for our annual Salute to Agriculture. Theirs is a history with roots that run very deep in the fabric of Huron County and what they've done over the years has been very important to the area. Not only was Murray's resume impressive, but dealing with him one-on-one left you with the best impression of him. He was a great conversationalist who I found to always be patient and understanding. Every time the community loses someone like that, he will always be missed. Last Sunday, of course, we also lost Rev. Gary Clark from the Blyth and Brussels United Churches. Gary hasn't passed away and he assures me that he will be back for frequent visits to Huron County, but he will not be serving regularly in our churches any longer. Months ago, Gary announced that he had decided that it was time to leave the area. For reasons hard to understand for those outside of the church, Gary felt he was being called away from the community, despite having a solid history here and being happy in his day-to-day life with his partner Kathy Douglas. Gary and Kathy are off to Kitchener, but Gary has said they will be back as often as they can. What they leave behind, however, is another hole in the fabric of the community that will be tough to fill. Gary's impact is well known by many. He reached out into the community through churches both in Blyth and Brussels, as well as with involvement in the church in Goderich. He has also served with a number of local volunteer organizations, including the Blyth Lions Club and the International Plowing Match (IPM), for which he plans on returning. Kathy has worked extensively with youth outreach in the community, hosting various camps and workshops on everything from food handling and cooking to organizing trips to London mosques. No matter what the forum, Gary and Kathy have made a difference. It is always hard to say goodbye to people like Murray and Gary and Kathy. Good people like them don't come along every day and our communities were lucky to have them for as long as we did. Say a prayer for Murray and his family and wish Gary and Kathy well as they move away from us — hopefully to return soon.