Enemy of the State - Who Me!!!!! #5

"Every father should remember that one day his son will follow his example instead of his advice"


If you think I’m a subversive, you have to understand from where I come.

I am a product of the political system.

I may be in ways as far from a farmer as you can get and at the same time as close as one can get without getting dirty. It’s never confused me. I know where I stand and what I stand for. It does confuse others that don‘t understand.

My father was a relatively affluent businessman and as such I was raised in a very wealthy area, went to the best schools (although I didn’t apply myself) and wanted for little. Looking back I had it all and I was still greedy. I was privileged and I knew it and so did my father.

Every vacation when my friends were going to the beach or the mountains, I was sent to my aunt and uncles. They had 6 children lived in a 4 room house with no power, no bathroom or running water. We not only had power and TV at home we had hot and cold running water and a bath tub. I was not only living in the sticks. I was living with farmers. At the time it seemed a great hardship but looking back over time my father was a very wise man. The extent of his understanding, I didn’t realize until I was well into my thirties.

Life on the farm was hard. More so 50 years ago than now, but it's still back breaking work.  Up at dawn and out from exhaustion in the early evening. The food was short at times. My father gave them a stipend to help offset the added cost of the City Kid. One thing they did was talk and share their experiences every day; there wasn’t much else to do. They were close, very close, and I was welcomed into their family unit. My aunt and uncle are long gone but I still see and talk to all my cousins on a regular basis. They all managed to drag themselves out of the clutches of poverty and all have good educations, jobs and a wonderful outlook on life.

This part of my life chiseled the person I am now. When I wasn’t at the farm I was often sitting on the floor of our house listening to my father and his friends who were all very politically active. My father even served a term in the House, some of his friends doing the same. Politics was life in our house and my father was involved until the day he died at 88. But alas, as most young people I was idealistic wanted change now and didn’t embrace my father’s politics. I also didn’t understand them for a long time. His national politics were short lived by his choosing. My father was much more comfortable with provincial and local issues, he could see the fruit of his efforts. He never again went into the spotlight but spent his time in the shadows. One thing I learned was that everything happened in the shadows, everything. The guy in the spotlight is just there to mouth the words of the shadow people. Always.

While my father was very comfortable talking to large groups, I am not. If I was I most likely would have entered politics via the front door. I’m much more comfortable just talking to people, one on one, getting my point across. It’s surprising how much can be accomplished if you just put your ideas forward and let the other party chew on it for a bit. Often they eventually come up with something similar to what you had in mind in the first place. I’m proud to be one of the shadow people and if that makes me a subversive, so be it.

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit.” Bertrand Russell