The Rural Voice, 1990-05, Page 20•..•e.. 0......= 410,
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16 THE RURAL VOICE
THERE BUT FOR
THE GRACE OF GOD . .
•
Keith Roulston, a newspaper publisher
and playwright who lives near Blyth,
is the originator and past publisher of
The Rural Voice.
In a recent interview, actor Louis
Delgrande spoke about the "state of
grace." If you asked most people these
days what grace is, he said, they wouldn't
know (they might think of rock singer
Grace Slick).
The word "grace" has many meanings,
but the one Delgrande meant is defined by
Webster's as "the unmerited love and
favour of God." Now that is a concept
people in this day and age don't want to
think about: not just the religious aspect,
but the thought that we might be where we
are, have what we have, because of lucky
circumstances, not through our own doing.
There's a certain self-satisfaction today
behind the move to the political right in
most western countries, behind the grow-
ing intolerance of minorities and those
who have less than we do. We like to
think that we are where we are through our
own hard work and intelligence. So we
find it easy to conclude that others who
aren't as well off deserve to be where they
are because they didn't work as hard and
weren't as smart.
We've certainly seen a lot of that kind
of "thinking" in the farm community in the
past decade. Those farmers who got into
trouble in the early years were seen by
many of their neighbours as the authors
of their own destruction. They shouldn't
have expanded so quickly. They should
have known interest rates would go up to
unheard-of levels. They should have
managed their farm better.
Since then, of course, the situation has
only become worse. Many who smugly
said their neighbours were to blame for
their own misfortunes now find themselves
in trouble. And no doubt some who still
haven't felt the harsh realities of the time
still feel they are riding high because of
their own good management.
Nobody wants to admit that perhaps
we're really on top by the grace of God or,
if you want to stay away from the religious
aspect, through pure good fortune. We
want to think that somehow we deserve all
the good things that have come to us. We
hate to think we're riding the crest of the
wave simply because of good luck.
This phenomenon exists throughout
society, not just here in rural areas. For
those with good jobs in the city, there has
never been such wealth in the history of
the world. People not only own expensive
houses but they furnish them like some-
thing out of glossy magazines. They have
cottages or country places to which they
drive in expensive cars. They take twice -
yearly vacations to the south and Europe.
Tell these people they're just in a state
of grace and they'll deny it. They'll point
to their education and the long hours they
work as proof that they have only what
they deserve. Show them the people sleep-
ing on subway grates (an estimated 20,000
homeless in Toronto) and they'll find a
way to justify the difference in lifestyles.
But, as with the farmers of a decade
ago, their hold on the peak is tenuous.
This affluent society is based on two -in-
come families, which means any recession
that takes one partner's job could tip the
balance. Equity in their house in the in-
flated real estate market could disappear as
quickly as equity in farm property did, and
all the hard work, all the education, all the
smarts would be in vain.
Some of the so-called financial gen-
iuses of the country have found out how
fickle grace can be. Peter Pocklington,
Nelson Skalbania, and Robert Campeau
have all gone from being business heroes
to business bums in a few short months.
Farmers in the old days had a greater
respect for grace. They knew that a lan-
tern knocked over could change their barn
from a showpiece into a pile of ashes in
minutes. They knew that insects could
reduce a good crop to a useless mess in
days. They knew that they had to work
hard but that hard work didn't guarantee
anything except the chance to do well if
all the uncontrollables co-operated.
We've got so used to controlling
through technology that we sometimes
forget how little control we really have.
We've become cocksure and a little vain.
We're not apt to use the old expression
"there but for the grace of God go I."
Maybe we should remember that
it wouldn't take much to put us in the
position of needing the help of others,
just as other people need our help now.0