It is what it is….

By Marc Chayer

This week a few things came to my attention that I found to be a little disturbing.

1. Someone or a group of people decided it was “cool” to go to the toboggan hill and steal a couple of Canadian Flags that were placed there in observance of our fallen.

My question is, when did it become okay to deface, steal, or otherwise degrade any monument or observance particularly to our veterans or, in this case, those who have fallen in the service of this country?

I remember last year when I attended one of the ceremonies at a local school. During the service I watched some people in the audience act like jackasses to the point where I was ready to call them out on it.

Nobody in this country is asking you to serve. Rather, all that we ask is that you at least show the respect one would expect at any ceremony where we remember the sacrifice given in the name of this country.

The further we move away from conflict, the dimmer the memory. But, when we were faced with worldwide aggression and the wholesale slaughter of innocents, our service members stepped up and fought on the side of what was right as they saw it.

Today, we enjoy those freedoms and, as a society and as parents, it’s up to you to teach of the sacrifice given by families not unlike yours when they could least afford to do so.

To those who stole the flags, shame on you and I really hope you felt great doing it. If you had half the courage of those who died and knew why that flag was there, you would stand up and take responsibility for it but, of course, cowards always hide in the dark, eh?

2. We toured the new St. Joseph School. Items of interest that were pointed out were all that natural light, energy efficiency, etc. As the year goes on, I hear from my child that finding a place to eat lunch is somewhat of a task.

Now, one would think that with a new design, acre upon acre of open land, and the knowledge that this building is to serve this community for the next 20 to 30 years, we would have put into place a “lunchroom.”

But, alas, in almost a daily report, I hear of the challenges of simply finding a place to eat with friends and, to be honest, as I recall the tour I can’t seem to remember exactly where I saw an area large enough for the kids to eat lunch.

Maybe the answer is in the portables they dragged over from the old school to the new school. Perhaps we can make that somewhere for them to eat!

Another issue is the proximity of the body of water to the school. Now, perhaps I am just getting old, but I just can’t see how having a hazard such as this, as close as it is to the school, makes any sense. Kids are kids and anyone who has one knows that this is a magnet for a child. I am fearful that it will be one with serious consequences.

There is more to say but we were designing from scratch, and there are issues that certainly could have been avoided here.

3. Election signs/bad behaviour. I attended a luncheon this week and, as luck would have it, I was at a table with two of our candidates, each running in a different election (town and county). During normal conversation, I learned that one of the candidates was having an issue with someone taking down his signs in what appeared to be in a systematic way.

Now, folks, I am not here to point fingers at anyone, but I will say that if you are running for elected office and you think it makes sense to attack your opponent by taking down his or her signs you will, hopefully, not get elected.

Honestly, as you have read here before, this election is too important, and the issues too great to have even one immature person on council whose best idea in an election campaign is to take down the other guy’s signs.

To the candidate or his or her people who have removed another person’s signs understand this: it is getting around, it is illegal, it is immoral, and it probably just cost you the election and, rightfully, so.

We need adults up in those chairs, not some playground bully who can’t play nice.

It is what it is…