Look back, think deeply, and move on.
Last week was one of the most eventful weeks of my life. We attended a “Celebration of Life” for a relative and lifelong friend, Arnold Brownlee, whose grandfather, David, had taken his wife and young family into the wilderness of northern Ontario to turn bush and hope into very productive farmland where his family would grow and make their mark in the world. David Brownlee’s descendants would become nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs, miners, mechanics, bankers, pioneers who cleared lands and turned wilderness into farms, very successful farmers, teachers, farm equipment dealers, truckers, and many community leaders. This was a celebration where neighbours of different cultures, people who spoke different languages, and of different religions, all came together to honour and reminisce about Arnold’s contribution to his community in his very full life.
A few days later, I woke up to a very heavy rain pounding on our tin roof. My first thought was “Oh those poor girls who will get married today in the rain,” and my next thought was a saying that our ancestors had: “If rain starts before 7, it will stop before 11”. Sure enough, the rain stopped shortly after 5 a.m. By sun-up, all the rain puddles had soaked into the ground and our part of the world was all washed up and green for wedding celebrations.
Like many weddings now, both weddings that we attended were in the beautiful outdoors that God had created for us. Both the aisles that the wedding parties walked down and where the bride and groom made their vows to each other, with both God and hundreds of friends as witnesses, were on a carpet of beautiful green grass. The tents that were there just in case of rain were used as places to escape the hot sun. With all the doom and gloom in our confused world, it was a breath of fresh air to be a small part of celebrations where young people allow love and confidence in the future take precedence over thoughts of the disasters that too much of our world is now caught up in.
Why can’t we all be like the young bride and groom, and pledge our commitment to look after each other and love one another in whatever language, religion, and culture that we choose? Let’s help all the young couples achieve their goals in life and celebrate the accomplishments of our hard-working neighbours. After toasting the newlyweds, wishing them all the best in a future where their only worries might be small ones, and enjoying an evening of music, dancing, and food, we snuck off home to unwind.
After getting home I thought I’d watch the end of the late night news. That turned into a very late night when we quickly found out that a young 20-year-old who had been bullied at school and was a member of the Republican party had tried to assassinate former president Trump. Although he had only winged his target, a bullet had killed one of Trump’s supporters who was only a few feet behind the former president. So why would a card-carrying Republican try to kill the front runner? Was it because he had been bullied in school? What was the motive? Most of the people who have assassinated presidents from Abe Lincoln on were killed before they said why. The only person who really knew why, in this case, also died before saying it.
The most desirable countries for refugees to flee to are democratic countries like the USA and Canada. There have been many attempts to undermine the benefits of democracy. Many democratic countries have a secret service that keeps very well-documented files on people and forces that try to downplay the benefits of democracy. Thank God that these files are kept secret. Imagine if this information got into the wrong hands. Many of you have had ancestors who fought, and some who died, for us to enjoy our freedom and the right to a religion, language, and culture of our choice. It’s up to us to protect this for our next generations.
Let love and democracy always win over hate and anything but democracy.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
