Lunacy, Serious and Non-serious, essay posted 30 November, 2004

Lunacy, Serious and Non-serious

originally written 30 November, 2004
At the time, my two kids were 10 (Silvie) and 5 (Tomaso)


I must be getting quite a reputation in this town and not as the author of the "Open Secret." It is hard to miss us coming. Each time I walk down the street with the kids lately they insist upon playing this stupid "ghost" hiding game; it was amusing for a while but now they play so frequently that it has become an annoyance. They will trail behind me hiding behind my back and every time I turn around to find them, they rush to keep behind my back, unseen. I pretend to be perplexed.

"I have lost them, where are they? Hmm," I say as if to myself, "what became of those kids? I can hear their laughter but every time I turn around to find out who it is, all I see is a blur. What is going on here?"

Strangers looking on cannot help but smile. Sometimes, when I reach around my back quickly enough and grab at the air, I catch hold of one of their coats. That became the biggest thrill of all, since they love to shed the coat and disappear behind my back, leaving me wondering how I got a hold of a ghost kid's coat. After practising so long both Silvie and Thomas have become adept at rushing out of view but since their tactic is to walk in a row with little Thomas the third in line, the five year old ends up doing the hardest running to keep out of view. I have to watch myself as it can turn into a game of crack the whip; I especially have to be careful as I come near walls, poles and parking meters, lest one of my ghostly companions is done an injury.



Let us go on to more serious lunacy. Rufus T. Firefly rose to the presidency of Fredonia through the pressure of a wealthy female admirer. Unless they installed him as president she refused to tender a loan to keep its bankrupt treasury afloat. Once inaugurated, Firefly immediately declared war on a neighbouring country because of an imagined slight from its ambassador who also happened to be his rival for that woman's affections. So it was that Firefly led his nation into war for a personal whim. Not so far fetched, considering that Kaiser Wilhelm II's childish inferiority complex prompted the naval arms race that brought on the First World War and Hitler pushed his war to get it over with while he was still young and vigorous.

The only unbelievable aspect of this story is that in the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup, President Rufus T. Firefly of Fredonia fought actual battles in the front lines. Real politicians and members of the elite never get their hands dirty like that, they stand back and let the ignorant Hoi Polloi fight and die. But otherwise, this farce is an accurate appraisal of how war comes about even today. Towards the end of the Master's stay in California, someone asked Him about war (we do not have the specific question, only the answer) and this is what He said,

"A great war and commotion shall inevitably take place in the world. Things will come to such a pass that the generality of mankind will rise against the statesmen of the world and say, `You sit in your palaces in perfect comfort; you eat and drink sumptuously; you sleep blissfully; you eat delicious food and relax in gardens with beautiful views. But for the sake of your name and worldly fame, you throw us, your subjects, into war, shed our blood and tear our bodies to pieces. But no thorn ever pricks your hands and not for a moment do you leave your rest and comfort.'" (Mahmud, 344)

We cannot allow a few cheats to take away our democratic rights. The general strike in Kiev over the past week reflects the increasing desire on the part of the masses to be free of petty tyrants and their arbitrary measures. Observers have noticed that the majority in these demonstrations are youth, many of whom were not yet born when the Berlin Wall fell.

How long will it be before we can be sure that justice will come before privilege? How can we be certain of true security? What system will assure that dependable leaders will rise to the top, rather than the Lucas T. Fireflies of the world? One thing I believe ever more firmly as I get older is that there can never be an adequate answer to the old Roman question, "Who will guard the guardians?" As long as individuals rule over law, as long as anyone is allowed to take a position of absolute power, nobody can act in time to check the abuse, corruption and loss of trust. Rule of law may seem slow and clumsy but demonstrations and protest movements are even slower and clumsier. We must ever bear in mind that progress comes from agreement, not strife and conflict.

In this vein, one of the most hopeful signs of progress in the political realm occurred during the last election in the United States. In the face of the bitter contention and disunity of that election, the Philosopher's Cafe movement held an "anti-demonstration," a mass walk in the streets of New York during the Republican Party's Convention, led by philosophers rather than politicos. This was not a demonstration because instead of taking a stand for or against anything or anyone the order of the day was to ask this simple question: "What makes a good politician?" As they walked, participants tried to answer that question in an atmosphere of civility and sincere enquiry.

And indeed, what better question could you ask before a vote? If you haven't asked yourself that, what good is your vote in the first place? If those who are elected have not asked that question sincerely, why are they serving? What are they serving? How, for gosh sakes, are they going to do their job? To me, `Abdu'l-Baha anticipated the Philosopher Cafe March's question, "What makes a good politician?" when He was visiting Pleasanton, California. On this occasion He made the following comments upon the presidential election current at the time.

"The president must be a man who does not insistently seek the presidency. He should be a person free from all thoughts of name and rank; rather, he should say, `I am unworthy and incapable of this position and cannot bear this great burden.' Such persons deserve the presidency. If the object is to promote the public good, then the president must be a well-wisher of all and not a self-seeking person. If the object, however, is to promote personal interests, then such a position will be injurious to humanity and not beneficial to the public." (Mahmud, 327)

The Master describes here a surprised person with an unwanted, unwonted duty thrust upon her, not one who has spent years on the campaign trail to qualify for the job. Whatever tests and trials distinguished this leader from others have still not prepared her to slip smoothly into her commission. Indeed the very inner condition or spiritual state that qualifies her seems also at the same time to make her emotionally unprepared for it. It is like seeing your own eyeball, or trying to find someone hiding behind your back.

Such an elected leader must have a deep humility rather like that of the Master Himself, Who always attributed His success and confirmations to the power of Baha'u'llah and His Covenant, and to nothing else. Perhaps more difficult, the electorate must have an almost impossibly high level of discernment in order to elevate only those with the right stuff, stuff that the elected themselves cannot observe in themselves. The only way that such great powers of perception on the part of so many people could come about would be if backbiting were completely eliminated, if the waves of gossip were stilled.

I do not suppose that complete elimination of cruel tongues and personal interplay would be impossible. If you want to see a film about the evils of gossip, especially among young girls, go and see "Bad Girls," in a video store near you. This film is just as if someone had given a Baha'i an assignment in film making school to write a story with backbiting as the real enemy of humanity, not violence, not the usual suspects, just gossip. It is not a superhero story at all, but having seen it I wonder how a superhero would fight the gossip and backbiting so clearly seen in this film.

A superhero would be helpless to stop it because backbiting, like my kids' "ghost" game, goes on between individuals, in private and behind your back, by definition. But one thing you may notice as you watch the movie is this: the enemy is never named. Non-Baha'is are like the Inuit in the ever warmer Arctic, forced to deal with species that could never exist there before; they do not even have a name for it. At least we Baha'is have a set of names for the enemy: gossip, backbiting, calumny.

What election could allow such an attitude and sense of self to come to the attention of the electorate? One possibility might be for each of us to think about it for a while, then try to hold forth on question, "What makes a good leader?" "What kind of person do we need to represent us?" Having expressed my own answer, I then might see among those others trying to answer that question someone worthy of consideration. But the problem is that words are not sufficient; words are cheap. This is a quality that comes in the sum of his or her whole life. This is a huge challenge. An entirely different set of rituals, or indeed an absence of rituals, might be needed in order for the electorate to ask and answer such questions before an election.

A recent Reader's Digest recorded an interview with Donald Trump. Judging by what he says, this is clearly an intelligent man with integrity and great competence as a super-landlord and developer. His argument defending why he worked out his reputation as "The Trump," as the consummate self-aggrandiser, touches upon the very question that voters have to deal with before an election. Trump's unapologetic apology is this: in the present business climate you have no choice but to toot your own horn; if you want to succeed there is no choice, you have to be self confident to the point of arrogance. Only the most egotistical bombast can carry across the noisy void and if you are competent you have to tell everybody that you are the best because nobody is going to come over and uphold your cause for you. It has to be you, and you first, in promoting your cause. Trump's problem is hardly unique to this age. This is the human condition. It was a feverish concern twenty centuries ago. It will be a vexed issue twenty centuries from now.

Ours is a philosophical failure that results from neglecting to ask the right questions, from imagining ourselves too "busy" to think about what most matters in life, who we really are and Who God is. Plato makes this point in the Sophist,

Stranger: "When a person supposes that he knows, and does not know, this appears to be the great source of all errors of the intellect."

Theaetetus: "True."

Stranger: "And this, if I am not mistaken, is the kind of ignorance which specially earns the title of stupidity."

Theaetetus: "True."

Stranger: "What name, then, shall be given to the sort of instruction which gets rid of this?"

Theaetetus: "The instruction which you mean, Stranger, is, I should imagine, not the teaching of handicraft arts, but what, thanks to us, has been termed education in this part of the world." 

(Plato, Collected Dialogues, p. 972)


Not having asked the right questions we allow ourselves to think we know, which leads to unworthy, stupid, lunatic attitudes. Only when we more secure in asking the deeper questions, when we are used to trying and failing to answer them will we be ready to find good questioners to put in the most perplexing positions of all, those that must ask on our behalf: "What are we to do next?"

Is the Baha'i Commonwealth a form of Responsible Government, or vice versa?

As I write, Americans are sweating blood as Donald Trump introduces his cabinet appointees to the world. Who is this fellow he chose? Could be anybody. 

When de Tocqueville analysed the American system, he noted that the presidency was in effect an elected king, but whose all but unlimited powers were weak and counter-balanced by meagre, decentralised executive means. It was true, too, at the time. Since then his means and power has greatly increased.

Canadians developed our greatest political invention during the 19th Century, responsible government (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsible_government). William Lyon MacKenzie (a one time rebel leader who relented and became a founding father of Canada, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mackenzie-william-lyon/) and others worked out responsible government in close contact with the flaws of the American system, whose many other virtues they also knew intimately. Responsible government became the core of the Westminster parliamentary system, adopted by England, Australia, and others.

One feature of RG is that the leader is chosen by a party, like the U.S. President, but both PM and party are wholly responsible to parliament, which in turn responds to the will of the people, to the monarch, and ultimately to God. A motion of non-confidence brings it all down, and the PM must reform or call a new election. The Prime Minister's cabinet consists only of elected members of parliament from the same party. As a result, after an election we feel curious, not fearful or surprised, to find out which ministers the PM chose out of other elected parliamentarians.

Baha'i Administration removes parties, but in effect the secretary or chair of the spiritual assembly is close in role to the Prime Minister under responsible government. No power outside the institution, but a surprising amount of executive discretion. At times, in public relations, the secretary of the NSA is even referred to as the "secretary general" of the Baha'is of that nation. The UHJ has a rotating chair, whose function is kept purely internal and confidential -- like the rotating presidency of Switzerland. At the local level, the chair is the one whose job is similar to the Prime Minister. He or she is a public figurehead kept in check and responsible to the Assembly as an institution. The role of the chair is crucial and much more demanding than most beginners in the study of the Administrative Order usually realise. 

Unlike responsible government, though, the Baha'i institutions are responsible to God, first and foremost. But it is still, I think, a form of responsible government, as described above. If I am right, this would be suitable to our collective coming of age, the era that the Guardian called the "age of responsibility."

Pauline Johnson, a Poetess Between Two Worlds

Pauline Johnson, a Poetess Between Two Worlds

article by John Taylor for the Dunnville Free Press


On October 26th, the Dunnville and District Heritage Association held its monthly meeting on Pauline Johnson, "a poetess between two worlds." The speaker was Kari Hill, a history scholar at McMaster University and volunteer summer tour guide at Chiefswood Museum in Ohsweken. This museum is a restoration of the family home of Pauline Johnson as it looked in the 1880's. Ms. Hill, as a native speaker of the Cayuga language, gave a unique perspective on the origins of this groundbreaking poet, celebrity and performer. Ms Hill emphasised the positive aspects of Pauline Johnson's life and contributions, as well as her culture and place in Canadian and Native history.  

Pauline Johnson's "two worlds" came from the union of her parents. Her tie to the Six Nations Confederacy came through her father, George H.M. Johnson (1816-1884), a chief and polyglot speaker of six languages who worked as a translator among the several native languages spoken at the time by the Six Nations. Pauline Johnson's mother was Emily Howell (1824-1898) of Bristol, England, a member of the Quaker Faith and long time anti-slavery activist. They fell in love at first sight and married after a five year engagement, despite opposition from their families. George built their house as an architectural symbol of the union between the native and the English cultures. Its two entrances were intended to say that both cultural worlds are compatible and harmonious.  

Pauline grew up with her canoe named "Wildcat", which she took out on excursions alone in nature for as long as three days. The poems of Pauline Johnson are thus inspired by the same river that runs through Dunnville, the Grand. Johnson became a columnist for newspapers, and later travelled the world with her one woman show, travelling alone in a time when an unescorted woman tourist, much less a performer, was an oddity. Pauline's show may have taken advantage of stereotypes about Indians, Hill explained, but she put her own twist on them and used the chance to bridge cultural gaps. 

Johnson's performances inspired a recent play and one woman show about Pauline Johnson, featuring Mohawk/Irish actor Sherie Maracle, which, appropriately, was performed at Chiefswood this past summer. For more information, go to http://www.paddlesong.org/ 

Kari Hill

Kari Hill with chart explaining the nature of the Six Nations political union

April Cormaci, President of the DDHA, speaks with Kari Hill before the talk.

Denise Miller and Kari Hill, guides at Chiefswood National Historic Site, pose outside the museum. Photo Credit: Natalie Paddon, Brant News

  

DREAM Kicks Off A Season of Activism

On October 14th at the Minga Restaurant, the DREAM youth group started its raising awareness series with the Michael Moore film, “Where to Invade Next,” followed by discussion led by a member of the DREAM team, in this case, Sarah Taylor (age 17). Sarah spoke of the DREAM goal of setting an example of social concern for other youth, and of an idea in the film that all it takes to tear down a wall is an idea – Moore's wall was the Berlin Wall, whose fall he and a friend witnessed. In the movie, Moore describes how he travelled Europe, searching for good ideas and policies to bring back home to the United States. This was because he has been criticized in his filmography for loudly crying about problems and ignoring their solutions. I asked Silvie Taylor (age 22) what she thought of the film. She said,

"In the movie, I liked that the kids (in Finland) got a better education through less homework, less school and more creative time. There was also an interview with the world's first female president (Iceland, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, who was elected in August of 1980), which set the bar for more female presidents. And it was sad to see how cruel the U.S. prison guards were to Black prisoners, especially compared to the Norwegian prison system that focused on rehabilitation, not revenge."

The movie also showed Moore's visit to Portugal, where drug use has been legalized. Instead of chaos, this policy, combined with treatment and reintegrating of addicts into society, has had great success. For more information on this non-isolationist approach to eliminating drug abuse, see the book, "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, by Johann Hari, at http://chasingthescream.com/

Moore also interviews police officers in Portugal, who ask him for a chance to send a message to law enforcement officers in America about the death penalty: "Killing people in the name of the law is an affront to human dignity," they declare. 

After the movie, DREAM organizer Reza Kazemi spoke about the advantages of watching a documentary like this together. The magic of collective awareness shared together is different from what it would be if we watched the same film at home. Like Moore's film, the present emphasis of DREAM is positive. They wrote: "This year’s DREAM raising Awareness series looks at solutions and possibilities for creating positive change. Rather than only looking at a problem, the focus is to look at the solutions community can offer."

The next in the series will take place on on November 18th, in support of the Dunnville Farmers’ Market. The movie will be Michael Pollan's documentary, “In Defense of Food,” meant to debunk the daily media barrage of conflicting claims about nutrition. DREAM is also sponsoring an application of the lessons of eating food, rather than factory produced junk food, on Feb. 24th, with a “A Culinary Night that Heals”.  Grade 8 students of Dunnville will cook up gourmet food that is healing, both for our bodies and the planet.

By John Taylor

Sarah Taylor, Laurence, Caleb Noon in discussion period after the film.

Reza Kazemi

D.D. Diner and Motel, Restaurant Review

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? I was reminded of that problem when I visited D.D. Diner and Motel. Is it that people who are very good at what they do also create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere? Or do happy, friendly people create a workplace where they are not afraid to experiment and try new things, and that scientific approach helps them improve? Whatever the reason, I am talking about my visit to that restaurant you see your left as you drive out of town towards Welland, on Highway #3.   

The new owners, Francine and Gus Doslea seem to be on to such a good thing. After they purchased the establishment last September, they followed the tried and true rule for success in business, hire talented people, stand back and let them work. In this case, they hired weekend cook Reg Szikora and weekday cook Wendy Gloyd. Francine is also a cook, and her husband Gus is a server.  

I asked what they like about working there. Francine likes being able to work at home while taking care of her little great-niece Brynn. The cook Reg has broad experience, having worked many years for the Canadian military, in greenhouses, a pizza restaurant and, for the last twenty years, this very restaurant, through its succession of owners. "I can tell you this," he announces, "Of all the places I've ever worked, this is the best, under the present owners."  

I talked with Francine about the "hotel" part of D.D. Diner and Hotel. As a trained furniture designer, she has great plans for the décor in the rooms. Renovations are ongoing, refurnishing each room, and the plan is to include a kitchenette in each room. Outside, by the parking lot, she will create a rest area, picnic tables surrounded by a green, park-like setting. When everything is complete they plan to stage a grand opening, but that will not be for a while.  

For now, the big story is that we have a new restaurant in town. Last year, as Internet restaurant reviews attest, the truck stop was frankly becoming run down and neglected. When they took over, Francine set out to move the style of the eatery from a truck stop to more of a fine dining experience – although, she hastens to add, "We pay close attention to good value, keeping prices down as much as possible. For example, when we found a better price for coffee last year, we passed the savings on to the customer.  

As much as possible the cooks buy fresh, often with locally sourced produce from the Dunnville Farmer's Market, including LauRay Farms. Every weekend, Reg makes up a batch of fresh soup, with fresh noodles made from scratch. 

Every soup is unique, and he does not repeat himself. Needless to say, that soup surprise has become one of the most popular dishes on the D.D. Diner menu. Also popular is their all-day breakfast. When I asked what is the most frequently ordered dish, Francine said that would probably be the toasted Western sandwich, or the clubhouse sandwich. 

Myself, I ordered a fish and chips take-out, and I can say first hand, and my family agrees with me, that it was very fresh and tasty. I can hardly wait to find out what soup they will be cooking up next weekend.

Reg Szikora, Brynn and Francine Doslea
at the counter of D.D. Diner

Brynn peeks out the front window of D.D. Diner

The Year Dunnville Caught Fire

Historical Society Presentation: "1902, A Hot Year in Dunnville"


The nature of citizenship has changed radically over the past two centuries in Ontario. Now, we are expected to pay our taxes, vote every few years, and not complain too loudly about how onerous our civic duty is. Before though, every homeowner was expected to slog it out on work crews building and repairing local roads, and, in the event of a fire anywhere and at any time in the whole area, to join the bucket brigade and risk life and limb dousing fires.

On the 28th of September, the Dunnville District Heritage Association's researcher Judy gave an illustrated lecture called "Fire! 1902: A Hot Year in Dunnville," discussing the development of a professional firefighting force in Dunnville around the turn of the 20th Century, focusing particularly on 1902, a year when the town was struck by no fewer than seventeen major fires. Although the results were devastating in terms of property loss, they did accelerate the transition to the professionally trained (though still largely volunteer), high tech fire department that we enjoy today. Dunnville firefighters were untrained conscripts, every male citizen, until well past the turn of the Twentieth Century, although from the beginning their equipment was purchased and owned by the town; even in the 19th Century Dunnville was well ahead of other towns in the region, such as Welland and Hagersville, in adopting the latest firefighting technology.

Still, until 1892, fires were mostly fought using the ancient measure of the bucket brigade. Every able-bodied man in town was expected to be on call 24 hours a day to help put out conflagrations. It was BYOB, bring your own bucket, too. Houses that were too far away from the river were out of luck, unless a horse drawn tanker wagon was available to be summoned quickly enough. The presenter showed vintage photographs of Dunnville, pointing out a characteristic construction of the time, a tall tower in which fire fighters hung their fire hoses to dry. Hoses at the time had to be carefully dried out, or the water would destroy the materials out of which they were made.

In 1892 underground water pipes were installed in order to extend the area where houses were protected from fire. Firefighters were now able to shoot a stream of water 120 feet into the air, affording protection even to three storey buildings. But there were still problems. Water hydrants frequently froze in winter, leaving entire neighbourhoods vulnerable to destruction by fire. Someone on the town council suggested that they be covered in manure, but the firefighters balked. In turn, they requested that town councillors be the ones to connect hoses to the hydrant in the event of a fire during winter. This proved persuasive. Instead, boxes of straw were built to insulate the new hydrants; this made connecting hoses in winter a more pleasant prospect.

Dunnville had to rebuild its train station in 1903 and in 1938. In 1978 a combined fire hall, courthouse and police station burned down. Mills were particularly vulnerable to fires around this time. Flour dust filled the air, making a highly flammable mix. Often, vagrants would break into the mills built next to the river in order to find a place to sleep. A cigarette or cooking fire would then set the whole place ablaze. Often, the first sign that a mill was going to ignite was the sight of large packs of panicky rats rushing in a frenzied swim into the Grand River.

The DDHS gave this talk at an appropriate time for me. Early this summer the house across the street from us burned down, and the hulk that remained was only just demolished. I pointed the ruined site out to a visitor from Holland. She wondered why we keep building houses out of wood here in North America. Why not build them out of stone, as they do in the old country? The DDHS speaker brought this point up, mentioning that for one thing, wood is comparatively cheap here. After hearing the story of our year of fires, I wonder if it might not be a good idea to consider the entire life of a building before we decide whether to make it out of flammable materials.
 

Upcoming DDHS meetings this fall will be Pauline Johnson: A Poetess Between Two Worlds, on Wednesday, October 26, 2016, and World War 1: The Boys Come Home, on Wednesday, November 23, 2016. For more details, go to their website at: http://www.dunnvilleheritage.org/services Held at 7 PM in the auditorium of Grandview Lodge, 657 Lock Street West, Dunnville, ON.

April Cormaci and other volunteers at the DDHA booth

Brown's Flour Mill, Dunnville Ontario, was destroyed in a spectacular fire on April 28th, 1902

The Live Oak Hose Co. and pumper engine 1901 at the Pan American Exhibition, Buffalo

Dunnville Fire Chief John Harvey Smith (1855-1931) who served from 1874-1924 and as Honorary Fire Chief until his death in 1931.