In the spring of 2014, we were lucky enough to be one of three couples who visited Ireland together. One couple had very close ties and relatives in Northern Ireland. Another couple had . . .
an old friend who lived in Southern Ireland so we visited and toured both the north and south. That was only a few years after the troubles in Ireland had once again pitted Catholics against Protestants, resulting in another long struggle resulting in distrust and many deaths on both sides.
After several years of bloody fighting, burning, looting and murders, John Hume negotiated a ceasefire that ended a fight that had rekindled many times since 1690. John Hume was knighted in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI as Ireland’s greatest person ever.
On our first night in Ireland, while dining in an old pub in Derry, we had the privilege to have John Hume sit at our table. When we visited Derry, although there still existed the remnants of stone walls topped with razor wire which divided the two sides, the animosity between the two sides had all but disappeared. Because we were farmers, we visited with farmers at a spring fair and farms in both northern and southern Ireland. No mention was made of Protestant or Catholic strife. While talking to farmers from both north and south, they both felt sorry for the financial state of the farmers on the other side with no mention of religion
However, as I watched the evening news on the telly it became evident that politicians from both sides had done a poll to see where the majority of votes were and were trying to rekindle hatred between the two old rivalries so they could win the upcoming by-election. Can you see a resemblance in Quebec today?
I have several friends who work in or own daycares in Quebec. They are not bigoted and children of different colours, religions and mother tongues, attend and get along. The kids probably spend more awake time with their friends than with their own parents so they very soon learn to play with each other, eat with each other, share toys and food with each other and communicate with each other. By the time these kids graduate to kindergarten, they are not only bilingual but have also learned that nice people are nice people no matter their skin colour, religion or language.
Some of the school boards realized many years ago that being bilingual was a great advantage to anyone venturing into this world which is becoming so much easier to move from country to country and hence the people that you will encounter at work and in everyday life.
Some members of other school boards probably never learned another language and didn’t think it necessary to have it taught in school either. I once had the opportunity to observe a group of concerned mothers do a crash course re-educating a school board that had been dominated by a few of these people who had not been observing some obvious changes.
When our own Pontiac County was first settled, some old army generals (like the Pendergast who was charged with the surveying and allotment of properties in Clarendon), knew that most wars in history were fought over religion or language. That is probably why people of different religions or language were assigned land grants in different areas of our county. One area might have been mostly English Catholic, another English Protestant, another mostly French Catholic, etc. There was a lot of bush to cut using up energy between these areas.
In the early 1800s even the churches discouraged marriage or even associating with someone from a different religion or who spoke a different language. Luckily, love over-ruled and several of my very best friends are proof that neither language nor religion should divide a community.
Every time that people allowed their government to create division within a community, province, or country their people were held back for generations and sometimes it resulted in bloodshed and even the breakup of a country.
Let’s not allow our politicians to do this to us but enjoy our diverse and rich cultures and (forever friends.)
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
gladcrest@gmail.com
