Hanging out with Dad

Whenever I go back to Prince Rupert I like to make a point of visiting my Dad.
His spirit has remained part of me since September 12 1982. But I still like to visit the veterans section of the Prince Rupert Cemetery. I usually clean away the encroaching moss from the small rectangular granite grave stone that bears his name, military information and the quotation, A Proud Canadian.
This summer I decided to ask someone to join me. My cousin, Carroll, was always like another son to my Dad. It was Carroll who took on the unenviable task to call me when Dad died suddenly and unexpectedly. He and I have carried on that spiritual connection we seem to have even though our lives have often go in different directions.
Now Dad was a proud Canadian who served overseas for 5 years but there is an underlying significance to this tribute. There is a Canadian Whiskey called Royal Reserve and on the back of each 26 ounce bottle was a removeable sticker the read A Proud Canadian. There were a number of these stuck on various things and places around my parents house.
So when I asked Carroll if he would be interested in visiting Dads place where his earthly remains lie, I already had in hand a bottle of Royal Reserve and a couple of Cokes. So we drove up to the Cemetery one afternoon. We had a ‘snort’ as Dad would have called it straight from the bottle. Then dumped some of the Coke to make room for the other liquid. We stood with Dad and talked about the good times we remembered with him, his sense of humor, how we remembered his life, his never complain attitude even though the last 12 years were diminished somewhat from the effects of a heart attack that shortened his life to 63 years.
His was a simple and sometimes difficult life, yet surely not forgotten by many who knew him. Not perfect by any means. But a teeshirt given to Carroll by a close friend had these words, which I think fit my Dad as well: I’m not for everyone, but those who like me like me a lot.
It probably explains why Carroll and my Dad were so close.

We poured some of our drinks around the grave stone in a loving and sharing way that a lot of people might not understand. Mighty irreverent by some standards. But no true Christian is perfect and in that time Carroll and I spent with Dad that afternoon we discovered something pretty amazing ….that each of us in his own private way yet in a real and meaningful way know that we will be together again some day.
It’s the best news I could have ever prayed to have.

Ten Dollars a Month

Before I was 6 years old I had crossed Canada twice.
Not alone of course, so did my parents and brother and sister.
And when we resettled in the Allen family home in 1953, in Sable River, I was old enough to start school. Actually I was only 5 and a half.
School was a one room white building next door to Thelma Harlow’s grocery store.
Grades 1 to 3 went in the morning. Grades 4 to 6 went in the afternoon.
It was a mile walk from where we lived. I remember walking most of the time.
In Grade two my sister joined the trek and in Grade 3 there were three of us.
It’s funny what you remember.
I remember breaking off a dried fern stalk in the ditch and using a piece of it to imitate smoking a cigarette as I walked to school. The dried fern stalk was porous so you could suck air through it and on a frosty morning, inhale and exhale and make it appear as if smoke was being exhaled…it was what most adults did so it seemed natural to practice.

I don’t know what acts of maturity I demonstrated that made me a candidate for the work at the school that actually paid money. But in Grade 5 I received a letter which I think I still have in some papers my Mom gave me a number of years ago. The letter stated that I had been hired to build the fires ( in the stove in the middle of the school house floor), sweep the floors, and fill the water coolers. This work would be done in the morning before classes and I would be paid $10.00 per month.

My parents scrapped to raise their family which expanded by one more when I was 7. The job provided me with spending money. I bought my first new bike out of the catalogue. I would have to make up any other specific details on expenditures but I’m sure it helped out the overall situation although I was never asked to put any of what I earned into the family budget.

I remember feeling grown-up to be trusted with these responsibilities. I enjoyed being in the school when no other kids were present. Feeling the heat off the fire I built warm the classroom, smelling the pine smelling dust retardant that I spread around the floors before sweeping, taking the first drinks of water out of the cooler with a throw away cone shaped cup and leaving before anyone arrived some how made me feel special and I was always sure to do a good job so as not to get any negative comments from the teachers.

Friendly Mrs. Quinlan taught the morning Grades and the stern Mrs. Freeman (who taught my Dad) taught the afternoon Grades. In grade 7, I began taking the bus 12 miles to Lockeport so my early morning walks and bike rides between home and the school were soon shoved to the past.

Years later, I was shown a picture of the old school being moved down the highway through Sable. Someone had bought it and turned it into a home on a piece of land they’d bought.Sometimes, I wonder if there is still someone building fires in a wood heater and sweeping the hardwood floors of the building that provided me with my first steady paycheck. If my grades throughout the rest of my school years were as good as those I achieved at the Sable River West one room school I most certainly would have become famous for something.

Cliff and Edna

The first time they met she ran away.
But a plan was in place she could not change.
And it wasn’t the dreams she’d once dreamt
They exploded and died in a wartime event

The first time they met made his heart race
The young British beauty seemed out of place
Here in Canada in a Maritimes town
They shared war and its memories for loves common ground
At the Lord Nelson Hotel their marriage began
In his home village of Sable they settled down
A new life together but not fully planned
Sable Baptists were hard on a newcomers stand

It wasn’t long ‘tll she took three kids in hand
And followed their father to a British new land...

She stepped down from a train in Castlegar, B.C.
Mountains and bush as far as she could see
He’d gone ahead and a logger become
You do what it takes with a family to fund

It’s not what you do a as good Baptist son
And the cry if his parents for urgent return
Had him go back east dutifully drawn
Sick in the moment when he knew he was wrong

And they tried once more to make a go of it all
But in 7 more years headed west once more
This time Alberta was destined to be
Home with four kids in the family

Maybe they never had time to love
Maybe they didn’t seek help from the Lord above
But as children each of us knew
Our parents loved us and did all they could do
To give as their values to carry through life
To love our own children as they did us
And the commitment to this has proven so true
Passing it on is the least we could do

Father and Son in Scotland

SINCE OUR CONVERSATIONS IN OCTOBER ON THE TRAIN RIDE UP TO ST. ANDREWS AND SITTING IN THE PUB AT THE OLD COURSE , I HAVE OFTEN THOUGHT ABOUT OUR DIFFERING VIEWS ON THE WAR IN IRAQ AND THE AMERICAN PRESENCE THERE.
I AM WRITING TO TELL YOU THAT YOUR VIEWS AND KNOWLEDGE LEAD ME TO CHALLENGE MY OWN.
DIFFERENCES OF OPINIONS ARE COMMON EVERYDAY EVENTS. THE WAY YOU EXPRESSED YOURSELF MADE ME REALIZE THAT I WAS OVERLOOKING IMPORTANT INFORMATION OR MAYBE NEVER QUESTIONED MY AGING POINT OF VIEW.

READING “GODS POLITICS”, THE BOOK YOU GAVE ME FOR CHRISTMAS, I DISCOVERED THAT I HAD FALLEN IN TO A TRAP. THE TRAP IS: IF I BELIEVE IN GOD THEN GOD MUST BE ON THE SIDE OF WHAT I BELIEVE.

I'M PRETTY SURE THAT YOU SEE ALL OF THE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN THE WORLD THROUGH OUT HISTORY AND IT RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR YOU ABOUT THE NEED OR EVEN THE COMMON SENSE OF BELIEVING IN GOD IF THAT IS WHAT IT CAUSES PEOPLE TO DO.

MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS, JEWS AND MOSLEMS AROUND THE WORLD BELIEVE THERE IS ONE GOD…THE SAME GOD. HOWEVER THEY HAVE DIFFERING VIEWS OF WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO HERE ON EARTH.

NO HUMAN BEING IN THE PAST OR THE PRESENT KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS. UNFORTUNATELY SOME OF US THINK WE DO KNOW THE ANSWERS AND EVERY ONE THAT THINKS THEY KNOW THE ANSWERS FALLS INTO THE TRAP I MENTIONED. ‘IF I BELIEVE IN GOD THEN GOD MUST BE ON THE SIDE OF WHAT I BELIEVE.

FAITH IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL HUMAN FORCES. SO, WHEN A PERSON WHO BELIEVES IN GOD BELIEVES THAT GOD IS ON THE SIDE OF WHAT THEY BELIEVE, SOMETIMES RADICALLY WRONG THINGS HAPPEN.

THAT IS WHY GEORGE BUSH IS DOING WHAT HE IS DOING.
THAT IS WHY SUICIDE BOMBERS ARE DOING WHAT THEY ARE DOING.
THAT IS WHY ISRAELI LEADERS ARE THE WAY THEY ARE.

AND I KNOW THAT I’M NOT ALONE IN THE WORLD AS ONE OF THOSE BELIEVERS WHO HAS TAKEN THE SIDE OF MY RELIGION AND SUPPORTED IT.

IT GETS A LOT MORE COMPLICATED WHEN VERY BAD PEOPLE EXPLOIT PEOPLE WITH STRONG BELIEFS TO FURTHER THEIR OWN QUESTS FOR POWER, NO MATTER WHAT THE HUMAN COST.

I DON’T WANT THIS TO BECOME LONG WINDED. WITH ALL MY HEART I HOPE TO EXPRESS THE VALUABLE, INTELLIGENT INSIGHTS THAT I HAVE RECEIVED THROUGH THE DOORS THAT WERE OPENED BY YOUR VIEWPOINT.

WHEN I UNDERSTOOD THE TRAP I HAD FALLEN INTO I INSTANTLY RECOGNIZED HOW HORRIBLY WRONG SOME OF GEORGE BUSHES ACTIONS HAVE BEEN ALONG WITH ALL THE REST OF THE ‘LEADERS’ WHO ARE CAUSING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO DIE.

I’M NO EXPERT ON THE BIBLE BUT I DO KNOW THAT JESUS TALKS A LOT MORE ABOUT LOVING OTHER PEOPLE AND HELPING POOR AND DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE THAN HE DOES ABOUT IMPOSING VIOLENT SOLUTIONS TO THE WORLDS PROBLEMS.

THE BIBLE ALSO EMPHASIZES THAT THERE ARE NO PERFECT PEOPLE ON EARTH. THAT CERTAINLY MAKES SENSE TO ME BECAUSE THERE’S SO MUCH EVIDENCE TO BACK THAT UP.

I NOW BELIEVE A BETTER POINT OF VIEW IS MORE ALONG THE LINES OF YOUR WAY OF THINKING. JUST BEING A CHRISTIAN OR A JEW OR MOSLEM DOESN’T MAKE ME ‘RIGHT’ AND DOESN’T GIVE ME THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE MY ‘RIGHT’ ON THE REST OF THE WORLD.

THANKS FOR READING THIS KES.
I HOPE I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO WRITE IN A WAY THAT MAKES SOME SENSE.

Ellis Island Wall

There's a wall of names on Ellis Island in New York harbor.
The first soil in America that millions touched
After watching homelands fade on disappearing horizons
Running to where a dream might come to life.

In a new land their journey spread out where freedom
Reigned supreme and where new life could begin
They never asked for handouts or recognition
They just bent their backs to making wilderness their home

The families that were built in just a century or so
Now fulfill a hundred times over the wildest thoughts back then
It’s a land strong and free and its inhabitants
Can work and wish with no boundaries or limits

And these people barely know how they got to be this way
Unless a God who has a plan to change it
And that’s how Valerie Iris got her chance….
To say hello and thank you to the names on the wall on Ellis Island

She’d heard Daddy say to Mommy in a fun and kidding way
As 5 kids asked where they were going if they got away for an hour or two
“I’m taking your Mom to New York City for breakfast.”
And Valerie Iris did not even know where that was.

But it was one of those little events in life that stays with you in a prairie town
And Valerie Iris always yearned to see New York City
And when she finally went, it completed a circle of life
As she touched the names on the waving wall at Ellis Island