The New Prisoner

The Prisoner
Though Unfortunate, divorces are a mainstay in today’s society and very difficult to live through. There is a division of assets and the fears of starting a new life that will hopefully be happier than the one being lived before.

With the new start in life comes uncertainty. The standard of living will not be there as previously with two incomes, which will take care of the children for when the now single parent was to work and let us not even talk about the new dating world out there. These are just a few of the things that are thought about when making this new step in life.

Now we have to remember that this step does not come lightly and there are many factors for it. They are different in each home but the one common item is that two people are not happy with each other. However, when one person does pull the trigger on moving on, it is typical for the other to not want to go. The indecency that comes after is a horrid spectacle to see. Ego takes over and nothing is the same ever again. Once given the option of divorce, the party involved that all the sudden finds themselves happy will become one of the most vengeful human beings on the face of the earth. Everything becomes threatened. They will threaten monies, children and almost to the point of physical abuse. We all know that emotional abuse has already happened. Why do they act this way? Ego and fear. They cannot accept that maybe something in their life did not work out as panned and have no idea what to expect when the new door opens. Well married or not, none of us know what tomorrow brings.

So to prove they live the person who asked to leave, they involve the kids and threaten to take them away, threaten to make the other person life a living hell financially and outright threaten them. This has been seen so many times before and after separation and is cowardly.

The question in front of them is simple though. Doesn’t this just go to solidify why the other person wants out?

From the Headlines
Last week, NDP Leader, Jack Layton sent in a motion requiring the prime minister to seek the consent of the House of Commons to shut down Parliament for longer than seven days was passed in the House last Wednesday.
The motion does not include the Prime Minister, because only a constitutional amendment could rein in the prime minister's prorogation power.
Now this is on the heels of the controversial decision to prorogue Parliament this past winter for over the hundredth time in Canadian history.
Personally, this motion will not accomplish anything because in the end the Prime Minister will still have the power to do this. However, we should all take solace in the fact that this is the only issue facing our country in 2010 as it has been beat like a dead horse and has never really been a topic before. I say we eliminate it, not hunger, homelessness or monitor our healthcare or crime!!! Sorry, I have more important things to worry about than this.

From the New Brunswick political headlines, we are still debating the upcoming sale of NB Power to Hydro Quebec. Now we are debating this without any facts of the deal because it has not been released so anything anyone has said is based on hearsay or in the real world, gossip.
There is a mandated election this year and a lot of New Brunswickers have been calling for the Premier’s head on this deal and a lot of opinions are being given that the Liberal Government will not survive the next election. In a typical situation they would not but in a year where all parties involved have known the election date, the NDP Party or Progressive Conservative have not really shown that they can lead either. In all honesty the names of their party leaders escape me. So if they want to lead, they really need to step up. Especially when this is not a snap election and there has been plenty of time to get organized.

CD Review
Collective Soul – Home
Every so often a band will release a live CD with a symphony. The ones that stand out in my mind that have gotten it right are Tom Cochrane and Red Rider with the Edmonton Symphony and KISS with the Australian Symphony. You can add another to the bill that got it right with this one. Collective Soul shares their talents with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.
There are reworking of such classics as “Gel”, “December” and “Shine”. Collective Soul let the symphony shine on their slower songs such as “How Do You Love”, “Youth”, “Compliment” and one of the best songs ever written, “The World I Know” as well as lending a very strong hand to the heavier tracks, “Counting the Days”, Better Now” and Heavy”.
The one element about this CD where others have failed is that all the musicians are having fun and that comes out in the music. Another is that the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra is not considered background music, you can actually here them and they are spotlighted many times. This is where Collective Soul got it right.

Africville

On February 24, 2010, Mayor Peter Kelly of Halifax took the time to send an overdue apology to former residents of a small community that was once located in Halifax called Africville. He acknowledged that the incident that lead to the destruction of this community in the late sixties that had taken away their homes, churches and more importantly their history in this great community. The Mayor of Halifax also promised millions of dollars to build a church and a replica centre.
Let us take a look at this community and what lead to this apology very recently.
Africville was settled in Northern Halifax after the War of 1812, when former US slaves came to settle when a promise of free land and equal rights were given to them. This never did happen.
This community started with around 50 people in the 19th century. In the latter part of that century, they were given an unfunded school, making it useless to any community.
As this century changed and with the increase of population, industries and facilities started during World War I, Africville became a place of poor and neglect with a population hovering around 400. During this time also, the Canadian National Railway had constructed railways that went through this community, causing trains to run through the heart of this poor community.
To add insult to injury, the City of Halifax built a dump right beside this community in the 1950’s. Expropriation proceedings were started in the sixties with the last resident being moved out in 1970. Being moved to a whole new world only added to the torment that these residents had as the majority of them were under educated and near unemployable due to the education that the province was not giving to them. The elders were hit hardest of them all. The City and Province took everything they knew away. It should be mentioned that while moving residents out, they were moved in dump trucks. A sight and symbol never forgotten.
So this community that settled here after being slaves were treated as such once again. Just discarded.
This is a community that held itself together since they day they came here by the church they knew and the family they shared. This overcame the disrespect they received from the government, the land that could not be used to grow food, the lack of proper roads, health services, water, streetlamps or even electricity. This was not a community that should have been kicked out because it was an eyesore to Halifax and torn apart. This was a community that should have been celebrated and learned from for their perseverance. The apology would not have been necessary if we had just used our minds of right and wrong at the time.
I first heard of Africville a few years ago by a resident of Halifax who is a friend of mine and I researched it back then. Out of this research came this writing

Africville

I remember when I left here just five years ago
My father somehow wanted me to go to school so I could see places to go
To him books were worth more than anything
Money just never made him sing
Somehow he was able to get them though he had nothing
Hard work and pride was all he could bring

He loved this land so
Built by our ancestors that had no other place to go
Warriors coming for a place for a bed after a war
To lie down their worn spirits that was frail and sore
A place where they could lay their own fill
In this place they all named Africville

They loved this little piece of land
This is something I could never understand
Soil was not even good enough to farm
Anything from it brought harm
Suitable for just pigs to roam
But, somehow to my father and many before him, it was home

Saturday was family night
Memories of that bring delight
Small card games amongst family
In this private, little society
My forefathers always said that it was the most important of all
Good foundation so none of us would fall

We learned and built with our own hands and minds
Trying to keep pace and grow with mankind
Taxes were paid with nothing in return
So taking care of each other was all that was to learn
Outsiders built around us with a dump and a slaughter house
Human spirit was something they could never douse

Years before they even tried to divide our spiritual table
By putting a railway line right down the middle
That did not even make a divide sing a long
It just made everyone just a bit more strong
There was nothing that could tear them
Not even the city’s worst flam

I came back in the 1960’s
Educated by the books of the big cities
Africville was being wiped away by a large cloud
But under it all I just wanted everyone proud
All I saw was their confusion
As they were moved away with expropriation
I saw them all look at me with shame in their eyes
They saw people take away everything they had with lies
As I passed them cheques, saying their worth away from their homes was better
When he was forced out, I could not look in the eyes of my father

June 4, 2009