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Ecowrappin'
PRESENT DAY PARANOIA AND MIS-GUIDED VALUES
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
As I get older and can compare current days to older times with greater distinction, I cannot help but marvel at the changes in values; and the sometimes accompanying paranoia that have set into the society of today. Much of this has to do with a previously more rural society becoming so much of an urban society. I think it also has to do, in no small way, to being so isolated from rural values and traditions and, dare I say it, the multi-cultural makeup of our modern urban folk. Current ideas and attitudes around child safety, guns, drinking and driving, and the focus of our police forces are examples that come to mind. May I elaborate:Each day, morning and afternoon, in the City of Barrie where I live, there are long lines of cars up and down the streets in the vicinity of the public schools as parents escort, or more commonly drive and pick up, their children to and from school. Many of these youngsters live a five or ten-minute walk from the school Surprisingly, they are not all five, six or seven year olds; a lot of older, bigger kids are similarly marshalled each day.
In 1957 my Dad drove me up to the front door of the two-room school (four grades in each room!) and told me to go into the room on the right. He thought that it was the junior room. From that day on I walked nearly a mile to and from school until I got a bicycle---I think I was in Grade 3 or 4 by then.
As an exercise in orientation, I walked my oldest son to the public school and back a couple of times before his first day in Grade One. I walked him to school on his first morning in 1985. He walked home himself after school and to and from the school every day from then on. When his brother, and later his sister, headed off to Grade One they went back and forth a couple of times with their older brother and thereafter traversed the quarter mile distance independently, or with their newfound friends.
I see a growing phobia about a bogeyman behind every hydro pole and light standard, or around every corner. This has been imported from the big city as more and more people choose to live in the rapidly growing Barrie and area and commute to work in the big smoke. I wonder, when do some of these people actually work, given their twice-daily child delivery and pickup routine from Monday to Friday? I also wonder how long will they be able to keep up a long daily commute to work with gasoline prices the way they are? They leave a large community for a supposedly safer and better lifestyle in a smaller community, but they bring their attitudes and paranoia with them. So the small place rapidly becomes the same as the big place.
Up to the 1960/early 1970 era it was of no consequence to walk up and down Township and County Roads or in and out of town while openly carrying a gun. In the winter of 1971 I walked through the streets of northeast Barrie out into the countryside and back carrying a brand new auto-loading shotgun. No one took notice or made comment.
In those days it was not uncommon to bring a gun to high school, leave it in your locker for the day and go hunting right from school. The only notice taken was by those that were curious about what you might be hunting for and where you might be going. This was a matter of course, culture and tradition in many small town and rural settings of the day. In fact, there were actually shooting clubs, even in-door shooting ranges, in many high schools, especially bigger city high schools! Why? Shooting activities and clubs were actually encouraged and promoted during the late forties, throughout the fifties and into the sixties. Consider the reputation Canada made, or perhaps more accurately, that made Canada in the eyes of the world during two World Wars. I suggest that the abilities and successes of our fighting men and women can in no small way be attributed to an instilled appreciation for, and familiarity with, firearms and the resulting shooting skills that many of them had attained. This was not lost on the politicians and the armed forces leadership after World War II.
Guns used to be a familiar sporting, recreational or pest control tool. Now that TV, video games and movies are so rife with murderous violence and killing sprees they are denounced by those who are unfamiliar or have a very negative viewpoint based on self-imposed tunnel vision. Fear, paranoia and over-reaction to guns run rampant today, largely in urban centres. This comes from not knowing or not wanting to know. It comes from looking for easy scapegoats and misguided solutions without really looking into the root causes of a problem. I suppose there are some that would even equate the old western movies and TV shows like Bonanza with the violence of today but I cannot make a legitimate connection. A couple of related, yet interesting, happenings come to mind:
A year or so ago an individual was accosted and strip-searched in front of his southern Simcoe County home with his family and neighbours looking on. His crime? He was shooting groundhogs on private, rural property, with the permission of the landowner. The property just happened to be adjacent to a school. When some sports teams showed up that evening to use the school playground this individual thoughtfully and respectively ceased his activity, got into his vehicle and headed home. But someone, probably with one of the sports teams, saw him leaving with his gun, hence the reception and actions of the "goon squad" upon his arrival at his residence. I am pleased to report that the judge took a very dim view of the antics of that particular police force.
In a similar vein, I was told by a crony in the conservation business about a small group that were hunting geese in a rural area outside of London, Ontario several years ago. This happened to be a common activity in that time and place; it likely still is. But someone reported people with guns and the local SWAT team went into action. They began to stalk, around the field perimeter, the hunters who were innocently sitting in their fence line blind near their decoys. I can only wonder what would have happened if some geese had come sailing in and the hunters had begun shooting. Would the police force have brought their ample firepower to bear on those who were following a legal and time honoured pursuit?
Drinking and driving has really become a major taboo of late. Certainly there is no place for excessive or even moderate drinking and driving given the speed and volume of today's traffic. But there are a host of people out there that can have two or three drinks and drive a vehicle perfectly well; they have been doing it for decades! Yet according to the folks (I refuse to call them fanatics like a couple of former law enforcement cronies) at MADD, everyone is incapacitated after just one drink. There is little mention of drugs, prescription or otherwise, or punching in numbers and talking on a cell phone while driving.
I spend anywhere from one hour to up to 12 or more hours a day in a vehicle, whether driving or as a passenger going to and from work; or whether I'm moving vehicles around as a part time job. Almost everyday I see bonehead moves on the streets and highways by people that are far more dangerous behind the wheel while completely sober than are the vast majority of people who can drive quite sensibly and safely after having had a couple drinks. No, I am not condoning drunkenness or drinking to excess and driving. I just see nothing wrong with stopping at the bar or visiting a buddy after a long day at work and having a couple drinks. A COUPLE, NOT FIVE OR SIX! I guess the law cannot differentiate between good, capable drivers who have had a couple of drinks---or who are maybe just tired---and those who are chronically poor drivers whether chemically or mechanically challenged or not.
I found the recent announcements on the new direction being given to our provincial police forces rather interesting. There is to be a new and enlarged focus on the Highway Traffic Act. With a more monumental policing effort on our highways, then by default break and enter, vandalism, theft and similar criminal activities should get less attention.
Traffic violations pay – big time – and with little in the way of thought or effort! It is a real cash flow for the government! Dealing with many other criminal actions and crimes costs – big time – in both investigative time and effort. It is a real money loser for the government!
I did hear a radio news report the other day about the $164,000 in marijuana plants recovered in a relatively local grow operation. This was after many months of undercover work. I wonder what the ratio was between the worth of the marijuana and the cost of the undercover operation? Trapping drivers with radar guns and writing tickets are easy, potentially high volume endeavours. Busting up drug operations, no matter what the time and cost compared to the returns, is oh! so politically correct and socially acceptable. But if your house, cottage or car is broken into and vandalized; and a lot of your valuable possessions go missing in the process, just see how much satisfaction that you will (n)ever get! It is easy to write these off to insurance, right? WRONG! Just try and get the value of your loss and damages back and see how much your insurance premium jumps. Two or more claims and you may find it difficult to find insurance coverage with any carrier at any price. You become not only a victim of the criminal, but by association, or more accurately lack of it, of the police and the insurance company.
Check you insurance policy with respect to bicycles. There probably is a $500 limit on any claim you might make. And have you priced bicycles lately? High end models commonly sell for $2000 or more; models costing $5000 are out there! Years ago my boys mountain bikes were stolen out of our garage. They each cost around $350 new. I put in a claim to my insurance. They covered the cost of one bike and hiked my insurance enough to get their payment back in about three years!
I was born on the Bruce Peninsula on July 20, 1951 and raised on a farm just south of the village of Lionís Head, which is located about halfway up the peninsula on the Georgian Bay shoreline. I graduated from Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Barrie in 1973 as a Resources Engineering Technologist. I was hired by Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) in April of 1975 as the first DUC employee in Ontario. Throughout almost 29 years I was involved with the implementation of more than 500 wetland projects and project complexes in southwestern and south central Ontario. Some of these habitat projects included important waterfowl and migratory bird habitat along the eastern shoreline of Lake St. Clair. Just three weeks short of completing 29 years with DUC, I accepted an early retirement opportunity effective March 31, 2004.
