"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Sunday 29 April 2012

This Is Interesting

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The McKenzie Rebellion":

Our Rebellion is still a bit raw, but you could run your idea by Council. It would be nice if they could agree on something colourful and not a crack at the treasury.

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As part of  Canada's Centennial project,  the town invited names for several  parks. Banner Editor and publisher, Bob Buchanan suggested  William Lyon Mackenzie

He said it slyly. As if he knew it wouldn't fly.

I didn't understand that. I thought Aurora would be proud of its historical association with the Rebellion.  Everything about it appealed to me.

Just because they didn't win, didn't make it less valid.Some York residents  paid with their lives for having the courage to fight for
what they believed..

They went up against  an army with little in the way of weaponry . They were fighting for better representation. Why wouldn't they? Times were difficult .

That was 1837. Twenty-five years after "our little crossroads" first appeared. Sixteen years before the Village of Machell's Corners
was established . Twenty six years before postmaster Charles Doane named the newly incorporated town Aurora. Twenty nine years before the nation, Canada was created.

It didn't happen easily. It didn't happen just with talk. The Rebellion was part of the  shaping  and as a newbie ,it seems time to me  should have given  it a different perspective.

But it hasn't. It hadn't  by 1967. And even now in 2012, it hasn't happened.

I find  that extremely interesting. I would like to understand. 

I do understand  that  memories of cruelty and injustice are handed down through generations.The pain goes away but  memory stays.

We are only a few generations removed from settlement  in Canada and even less from our  Rebellion of 1837.

I accept  "our Rebellion is still a bit raw" .But I would like to hear more about why.

It  always struck me that  written  history reflects  bias of the author.

The  Magna Carta did little to change the lives of ordinary people.
Yet it's stil cited i law.

I think blogs  and Google will   change that. Maybe they can still change what we understand of this young  nation's history. If  current generations of families who were here at the beginning were to share their  family's memories.  

 
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Furthermore, while they didn't win , things did change after  the Rebellion.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not too many people know that there was Canadian involvement in the early burning of the White House and few would know what a Fenian was. But, hey, we don't teach history anymore.

Anonymous said...

The Mackenzie House is now a Historical Museum - you know, like what we originally had, in Toronto. You can visit - quite neat. Reputed to be haunted and they had trouble getting caretakers to stay there. There was a spooky bald guy & it turned out Mackenzie had worn a wig for years. The printing press in the basement would rumble into action during the night. Cool stuff for kids!

Anonymous said...

Bolton claims the Rebels originated there & history books have them marching/riding down Yonge Street and meeting in taverns all over. Those boys did get around.

john1 said...

There is a part of our history which is a much darker past of our community.
That is the injustice of land being taken from our aboriginal people.
If we think they just up and moved we are sadly not talking the truth about our past.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the comment you received referred to the strictly local rebellion against the previous council?

Anonymous said...

john1
Which makes it tragic/comic when people with European backgrounds demand town funding for a trails system. Once there was a natural trails system throughout the entire area that followed the contours of the land taking into account the flow of water and sustainable hunting spots which could be revisited.
The same people who demand a wildlife park and throw a tantrum if they even hear of a resident coyote.

Anonymous said...

Children learn the ' romantic ' story of Grey Owl when they touch briefly on North American Indians in grade school. No one bothers to mention that he was an English fraud with blue eyes. Guess we didn't have any of our own that could be used.

Anonymous said...

To john1
That is not just the past. We still treat Native People badly. They get a raw deal in education, health and social services because we control the flow of money. When talk turns to ' visible ' minorities, it does not include aboriginal people to whom we are the visible majorities.

Anonymous said...

No one ever mentions poor Mrs.M who got dragged all
over the place,even out of the country, with her family following her husband's follies. Never heard of her being a ghost in the Mackenzie House. Maybe she was just glad to get out of there.

Anonymous said...

I remember the tales of haunting. One of the papers held a sceance to try to pull in the spirits. It was a bust, mostly because they tied it to Hallowe'en and there were screaming kids in the street. Also because those involved were goofs.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this week. It was fun.