Critical Thinking Doesn't Have To Be Negative; History Needs To Be Challenged

3 Dimensional Art That Can't Help But Make You Feel Good

A Victorian Winter Scene That's Just Plain Happy

At Times This Seems Like A War Scene And At Other Times Just Another Urban Landscape

THE HONOR IS ALL OURS - OR IT SHOULD BE - THERE'S SOMETHING IN THIS PROVENANCE-THING WE SHOULD KNOW

THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE POET - AND THE IMPACT THEY NEVER MADE ON SOUTH MUSKOKA

     THE RUSSIAN INTRUSION IN THE CRIMEA REGION. OF THE UKRAINE, IS THE RESULT OF A GENEROUSLY WELCOMING INVITATION. THE RUSSIANS ARE IN THE UKRAINE TO PROTECT THE RUSSIAN POPULATION, APPARENTLY IN FEAR OF THEIR LIVES. THERE ARE NO MILITARY BOOTS ON THE GROUND. EVERY BODY IS HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY.
    TODAY'S BLOG ISN'T ABOUT THE RUSSIAN'S RIGHT TO SHAPE THEIR VERSION OF EVENTS. OR THE WAY THEY MIGHT CHOOSE, IN THE FUTURE, TO JUSTIFY THE YEAR THEY DECIDED TO RE-VISIT THE CRIMERA, FOR A LITTLE SOCIAL VISIT. THEY DON'T READ MY BLOG ANYWAY, SO THERE'S NOT MUCH POINT IN CHASTISING THEM. I'M A SPECK ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, AND THE ONLY WEAPON I HAVE, COMES IN THE FORM OF FIVE CATS SWORN TO PROTECT OUR HOUSE. THEY'RE HOUSE CATS, SO THERE'S NO DANGER OF THEM INVADING THE NEIGHBOR'S PROPERTY ON MY BEHALF.
     WHAT BOTHERS ME MOST, ABOUT PROPAGANDA, IS THAT IT REQUIRES EVERYONE WHO CONSUMES IT, TO BE COMPLETELY STUNNED. IT WORRIES ME HOW MANY PEOPLE DO ACCEPT IT AT FACE VALUE, WITHOUT FEELING ANY NECESSITY TO DOUBLE CHECK COUNTERPOINT. JUST BECAUSE THE RUSSIANS SAY THEY'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE CRIMEA, LIKE LONESOME COUSINS, DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE RIGHT. IT MIGHT SUGGEST SOMEONE IS DELUSIONAL, SOMEWHERE! BUT PROPAGANDA COMES IN ALL SHAPES, SIZES AND ADJECTIVES, AND SOMETIMES, FOR A PERIOD, IT FOOLS US. I'VE SPENT TOO MANY YEARS AS A REPORTER AND REGIONAL HISTORIAN, TO LET THIS RIDICULOUS MISINFORMATION FLY; BUT ALAS, THERE ARE THOSE WHO JUST CAN'T BE BOTHERED DOING ADDITIONAL RESEARCH, JUST TO VALIDATE A POINT OF VIEW.
     I WROTE THE PIECE BELOW, OVER SEVERAL DAYS, CERTAINLY HAVING BEEN INFLUENCED BY RECENT WORLD EVENTS. AND ON TOP OF THAT, TRYING TO DIGEST ALL THE SPIN FROM POLITICIANS AND THE EXPERT CLASS, ON HOW THINGS LIKE THIS ESCALATE. I JUST HAVE TO GO BACK ON MY OWN HISTORY STUDIES, TO RECKON WITH THE FACT IT DOES REPEAT....SOME TIMES, OVER AND OVER. THE PROBLEM COMES, WHEN ALL THE PROPAGANDA GETS TOSSED AT HISTORIANS, JUST AS THE BARE BONES FACTS OF AN EVENT. SO DOWN THE ROAD, AND LONG AFTER OUR GENERATION IS GONE, HISTORIANS OF THE FUTURE WILL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT PORTION IS FICTION, AND WHAT REMAINS AS FACT. THERE ARE FAR MORE TALKING HEADS OUT THERE, THROWING MISTRUTHS UPON THE MEDIA. SO THE TASK OF SORTING WHAT IS HISTORY, AND WHAT IS CREATIVE WRITING, IS GETTING TOUGHER ALL THE TIME. SO THIS WAS MY "STRIKING OUT AT" ATTEMPT, AGAINST THOSE WHO TELL FIBS AND GET AWAY WITH IT; AND MY OWN RELIANCE ON POSITIVE CRITIQUE, TO CLEAR THE OLD DRAINPIPE OF UNWANTED DEBRIS. MAYBE IT WILL MAKE SENSE, IF YOU'RE AS FRUSTRATED BY MISTRUTHS AS I AM; BUT THEN AGAIN, POSSIBLY YOU'LL THINK OF ME AS A RIPE NUTTER.....DROWNING IN HIS OWN STRANGE FICTION.
     "THERE IS NO PERSON WHOSE STATEMENT ON ANY POINT, CAN BE ABSOLUTELY ACCEPTED; AND ANY ONE WHO SUPPOSES THAT HE CAN WRITE A FINAL AND AUTHORITATIVE ACCOUNT OF ANY HISTORICAL EVENT, IS LIKELY TO FIND HIMSELF DISAPPOINTED." (WRITTEN BY AMERICAN HISTORIAN GEORGE FISHER)
     I FEEL SLIGHTLY LESS THAN A TOOL, HAVING READ THIS. AS A WORKING HISTORIAN, I WORRY ABOUT STUFF LIKE THIS. IT WAS A COMMENT SUPPORTED BY CANADIAN HISTORIAN, WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR, THE FELLOW WHO GAVE OUR COMMUNITY ITS NAME, BACK IN THE SUMMER OF 1862, WHEN WE WERE GRANTED OUR POST OFFICE. SINCE THE LATE 1990'S, WHILE WORKING ON THIS STORY, OF HOW GRAVENHURST, AND BRACEBRIDGE GOT THEIR NAMES, I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE RATHER STRANGE INTELLECTUAL LIFE, OF DR. LESUEUR, ONE OF CANADA'S EARLY SCHOLARS; WHO ALSO, AS HISTORY HAS IT, WAS A HIGH RANKING POSTAL AUTHORITY, SERVING THE STILL-YOUNG COUNTRY.
     "THE POOR STUPID BASTARD, SPENT HIS LIFE DEFENDING PHILOSOPHERS AND POETS, ALL THE WAY TO THE HEREAFTER. NOW MAY HE FINALLY GET SOME PEACE!" NO, THIS IS NOT WHAT'S INSCRIBED ON LESUEUR'S TOMBSTONE. IT'S WHAT I WANT SUZANNE AND THE BOYS TO INSCRIBE ON MINE.
     I WAS LAYING ON THE BED LAST NIGHT, SLEEPLESS IN CONTEMPLATION, WITH THE GLOW OF THE STREET LAMPLIGHT BATHING THE ROOM. I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP IN TOTAL DARKNESS. I GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC. GOES BACK TO CHILDHOOD. ON ALICE STREET, THERE WAS A STREET LIGHT THERE AS WELL, THAT GAVE ME ENOUGH BRIGHTNESS TO SEE SHAPES AND THE DOOR, BUT NOT BRIGHT ENOUGH TO INHIBIT SLUMBER. WHEN I LIVED IN THE WONDERFULLY HISTORIC MCGIBBON HOUSE, ON BRACEBRIDGE'S MANITOBA STREET, THE LIGHTS FROM MEMORIAL PARK, AND THE MARQUEE OF THE NORWOOD THEATRE, GAVE ME THE PERFECT MIX OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS, WHICH I NOW REALIZE IS PART OF MY BIOGRAPHY.
    EVEN WHEN I GO BACK TO SOME OF MY EARLIEST ATTEMPTS AT WRITING FICTION, "LIGHT AND SHADOW," WERE IMBEDDED FREQUENTLY, WITHOUT PURPOSEFUL INTENT. BUT IT IS A SORT OF BIOGRAPHICAL FOOTNOTE, THAT I HAVE A PROFOUND NEED FOR ILLUMINATION, TO TRIUMPH OVER DARKNESS; GOOD VERSUS EVIL, I SUPPOSE; I CALL IT THE "SHANE SYNDROME." THE IMPRESSION OF THE BRIGHT AND CHEERFUL CONNECTION TO LIGHT, BUT THE NAGGING SUSPICION, DARKNESS HAS AN OMINOUS POTENTIAL. COWBOYS WITH WHITE HATS AND BAD GUYS WITH BLACK. I SUSPECT I FEEL THE SAME THING ABOUT HISTORY, AND HOW I APPROACH IT CRITICALLY. MAYBE I'D REST MORE COMFORTABLY IN FULL LIGHT. SUZANNE REMINDS ME IT COSTS TOO MUCH TO LEAVE THE LIGHTS ON, AND THAT I MIGHT BE WEIRD, IF THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY I COULD SLEEP. SO IT'S THE WAY I DEAL WITH MY OBSESSIVE NEED TO REVISIT THE HISTORICAL RECORD I'M MOST SUSPICIOUS OF.....
   WHEN I LIVED AT SEVEN PERSON COTTAGE, ON LAKE JOSEPH, IN WEST MUSKOKA, THERE WERE SEVERAL LIGHTS SOURCES FROM THE WHARF AND MARINA, THAT GAVE ME THE LIGHTNESS I CRAVED. WHEN I LIVED WITH MY FAMILY ON ALPORT BAY, OF LAKE MUSKOKA, I INSISTED ON KEEPING THE PORCH LIGHT ON, BECAUSE IT GAVE ME SOME MINOR BUT ACCEPTABLE ILLUMINATION. I DID THE SAME WHEN WE LIVED, FOR A WHILE, AT THE FAMILY COTTAGE ON LAKE ROSSEAU, IN WINDERMERE, AND IT USED TO DRIVE SUZANNE NUTS. SHE'S A TOTAL DARKNESS-IS-BEST PERSON, WHICH HAS BEEN ONE OF OUR MOST SERIOUS MARITAL IMPEDIMENTS. SUZANNE HAS BEEN WILLING TO COMPROMISE BUT NOT MUCH. I'M GETTING BY WITH LESS LIGHT THESE DAYS, WHEN I RETIRE TO BEDLAM, BUT IT'S STILL ENOUGH TO EASE MY MIND WHEN WAKING SUDDENLY, KNOWING I'M NOT ENTOMBED IN A COFFIN; WITHOUT FIRST HAVING BECOME, UNFORTUNATELY "DECEASED." I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE HEAVENLY LIGHT, BUT I STRESS THE "LIGHT" PART. THE POINT I'M STRETCHING INTO A FINE FIBRE, IS THAT I NEED LIGHT IN OTHER WAYS AS WELL. NOT THE ACTUAL ILLUMINATION PART, BUT THE EMOTIONAL SENSATION OF LIGHT, IN THE FORM OF POSITIVE THINKING. I GRAVITATE CONSTANTLY, TO THOSE WRITERS, ARTISTS, MUSICIANS AND PHILOSOPHERS, WHO CAN FIND "THE POSITIVE" BURIED IN ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCE. I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE, OF WHERE THIS ATTITUDE MAY HAVE COME FROM.
     I WAS EXPOSED TO POSITIVISM FROM CHILDHOOD. SOME WAS A LITTLE MISGUIDED. I KNOW THAT NOW. BUT I GENERALLY APPRECIATED BEING CONNECTED IN THIS WAY, TO THE SO CALLED "SUNNY SIDE" OF LIFE. MY FATHER, HAVING SHOT DOWN GERMAN WAR PLANES, DURING HIS STINT AS A NAVAL GUNNER, IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, AND WHO HAD MANY SAILORS DIE WITHIN HIS REACH, AFTER BEING PULLED FROM THE FRIGID WATERS, WAS A FIRST CLASS EXAMPLE OF AN ALPHA MALE. OF IRISH DESCENT, HE GREW UP IN TORONTO'S CABBAGETOWN THE HARD WAY. HIS KNUCKLES HAD BEEN INJURED SO MANY TIMES, IN FISTICUFFS, IT ALMOST GOT HIM CLEAR OF WAR SERVICE, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD VOLUNTEERED. I NEVER THOUGHT OF MY FATHER AS A CUDDLY POPPA, OR AN EASY GOING OVERSEER. BUT HE WAS SCARED OF DOCTORS AND THE HOSPITAL. IT WAS SO SEVERE, YUP, IT EVENTUALLY KILLED HIM. HE HAD SUFFERED A STROKE, ALONE IN HIS APARTMENT, AND WHEN NEIGHBORS CAME, AFTER HEARING HIM FALL DOWN, HE DISMISSED THEM WITH HIS CLASSIC RETORT, "I'M OKAY. NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT HERE." HIS WAS THE ARTFUL LIKE. I'D HEARD THAT MY WHOLE LIFE. BY TIME WE ARRIVED, TWO DAYS LATER, ED, NOT ONLY HAD ONE FOOT ON A BANANA PEEL, BUT STILL REFUSED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL. AND YES, THE AMBULANCE ATTENDANTS HAD TO INSIST, AND HE REQUIRED STRAPPING BEING SEATBELTED INTO PLACE. THE SAME GUY WHO COULD SHOOT A PLANE DOWN, AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT THE HIT, COULDN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF GETTING MEDICAL TREATMENT; OR EVEN ADMITTING HE WAS SICK. APPARENTLY IT WAS UNMANLY IN HIS EYES TO SHOW SUCH WEAKNESS.
     DURING MY CHILDHOOD, ED TREATED EVERY ILLNESS I HAD, AND HE AND MERLE ENDURED, WITH A GOOD OLD, TRUSTWORTHY BOTTLE OF CANADA DRY GINGER ALE. NOW, I MUST FOOTNOTE HERE, THAT MY MOTHER ALWAYS CIRCUMVENTED MY DAD'S PROTOCOLS, WHEN HE WAS AT WORK, PHONING THE DOCTOR FOR APPOINTMENTS. I'M NOT SURE IF HE EVEN KNEW, MERLE WAS RUNNING ME OFF TO SEE DOCTOR PROCTOR, OR DOCTOR PRESTON, WHEN WE LIVED IN BURLINGTON. CRIPES, MY DAD WAS TRYING TO TREAT MY HERNIA, THE ONE I GOT JUMPING ON THE BED AND FALLING OFF, WITH GINGER ALE. THE BULGE JUST WOULDN'T GO AWAY, WITHOUT THE DOCTOR'S ASSISTANCE. POOR ED. BUT WHEN HE GOT A CHANCE TO PUT IN AN ORDER FOR MEDICAL SUPPLIES, FROM THE LOCAL DRUG STORE, THERE WAS ALWAYS A BOTTLE OF CANADA DRY DELIVERED TO OUR APARTMENT, WITH A FLASK OF COUGH SYRUP FOR GOOD MEASURE. I DON'T KNOW IF ANY OTHER BABY BOOMERS REMEMBER THE GINGER ALE THING, FROM THE DRUG STORE, OR THOSE HONKING BIG CONTAINERS OF VICS VAPO RUB (USED ON THE CHEST AND THROAT, WITH A WORK-SOCK TO FASTEN AROUND THE NECK). ED WASN'T DENYING US TREATMENT FOR WHAT AILED US, BUT RATHER PUTTING ENORMOUS FAITH IN THE REMEDIES HE HAD EXPERIENCED AS A CHILD HIMSELF. I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW MANY GALLONS OF GINGER ALE WERE USED MEDICINALLY IN OUR FAMILY, BUT IT WOULD BE BEST MEASURED IN TERMS OF BARRELS. HIS SECRET WEAPON, WAS THAT GINGER ALE MADE YOU FEEL BUBBLY GOOD, AND CHEERFUL. IF YOU WERE CHEERFUL, YOU WERE ALSO POSITIVE. POSITIVE TO HIM MEANT AN UNSPECIFIED LIGHTNESS. ED NEVER DWELLED IN HIS SHADOW, BUT HE DEFINITELY HAD ONE, AND IT WAS FULL OF TROUBLED MEMORIES.
     THE EXTREME PART OF THIS RELIANCE ON THE HEALING POWER OF GINGER, WAS WHEN MY MOTHER SUFFERED THE FIRST OF NUMEROUS STROKES, AND WHEN I ASKED ED, AT THEIR APARTMENT, IF HE HAD CALLED THE AMBULANCE YET, HE ANSWERED, "I'VE GIVEN HER TWO GLASSES OF GINGER ALE." WHICH EXPLAINED WHY HER BLOUSE WAS SOAKING WET AND GINGER SCENTED, ON ONE SIDE, AS HER FACE WAS PARALYZED; BUT MY DAD MUST HAVE FIGURED OUT THAT GINGER ALE COULD WORK EXTERNALLY AS WELL, TO HEAL WHAT WAS AILING HER. SO IT WASN'T SURPRISING, TO FIND OUT, THAT ED HAD ALSO SELF MEDICATED WITH GINGER ALE, AFTER HE SUFFERED HIS STROKE. HEY, WHO KNOWS. MAYBE IT WORKED TO KEEP HIM GOING FOR THE NEXT THREE DAYS THAT HE WAS ALONE.
     DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING? WE ALWAYS HAVE A BOTTLE OF CANADA DRY IN OUR FRIDGE. NOW IT'S MORE OF A FAMILY TRADITION THAN FOR DAILY CONSUMPTION. ANDREW USED TO DRINK GINGER ALE WHEN HE STAYED WITH HIS GRANDFATHER, DURING THE YEAR HE SPENT, TAKING A BUSINESS COURSE IN BRACEBRIDGE. NOW, FOR GOSH SAKES, WE STILL HALF-BELIEVE GINGER ALE IS THE GREAT ALL PURPOSE ALIXIR. AS ED HAD FELT THAT GINGER ALE ELIMINATED THE NEED FOR DOCTORS AND HOSPITALS, IT ALSO ILLUMINATED SOME OF HIS OTHER EMOTIONAL ISSUES. HE HAD A PHOBIA OF DOCTORS AND DENTISTS. I NEVER KNEW HOW SEVERE IT WAS, UNTIL HE BEGAN SELF-MEDICATING WHEN HE'D SUFFER A BOUT OF GOUT, AND BE IN TERRIBLE PAIN. GINGER ALE, VODKA AND ASPIRIN. IT MADE HIM FORGET THE PAIN IN HIS ANKLE, BUT WAS KILLING HIM IN MANY OTHER WAYS. ALL BECAUSE THIS OLD SALT, WHO HAD BEEN SO CLOSE TO DEATH AND WAR, KNOWING INTIMATELY, THAT U-BOATS WERE STALKING HIS SHIP ACROSS THE NORTH ATLANTIC (MEANING HIS VIOLENT DEATH COULD ARRIVE ANY MOMENT), SUFFERED FROM A CHILD-LIKE FEAR OF GETTING SICK. IT DIDN'T STOP HIM FROM GETTING SICK MIND YOU. BUT HE WAGED A MENTAL WAR AGAINST ILLNESS RIGHT UP TO THE END. FOR HIM, HIS LIGHTNESS IN LIFE, WAS THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING. HE WAS A STALWART BELIEVER, THAT YOU COULD "WILL" YOURSELF TO GOOD HEALTH. BUT HE WOULD NEVER HAVE CONSUMED A DROP OF GINGER ALE HIMSELF, IF HE HADN'T FELT THE NEED FOR ITS MEDICINAL ADVANTAGES. HE WOULD PUT IN A BOTTLE FOR OTHER PEOPLE, SUCH AS FOR HIS GRANDSONS, AND HIS WIFE....OR IF I WANTED A GLASS. BUT NOT FOR HIMSELF. IT WAS HIS MAGICAL SNAKE OIL. HIS GUARANTEE, HE ALWAYS HAD MEDICINE AVAILABLE, THAT WOULD CURE EVERYTHING. STRANGE THING THOUGH. A MAN WHO DRANK SUBSTANTIALLY FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, AND WHO ONCE SMOKED TWO PACKS OF CIGARETTES EVERY DAY, INCLUDING SUNDAY, SHOULD HAVE DIED IN HIS FORTIES. FRIENDS WHO HEARD HIM COUGH, THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO DIE SOON. WHILE HE QUIT SMOKING IN HIS EARLY FIFTIES, HIS LUNGS SHOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE BADLY WORN TENNIS SHOES. THE SON OF A GUN LIVED TO EIGHTY THREE YEARS OF AGE. HE OUT-LIVED MY MOTHER BY TWO YEARS. SO I'M LEFT WONDERING, IF HIS POSITIVE BELIEF, IN CURES LIKE GINGER ALE, AND AN OPTIMISTIC WAY OF LOOKING AT LIFE, STAVED OFF THE GRIM REAPER FOR SOME ADDITIONAL YEARS. AND YES, HE LIKED TO HAVE HIS ROOM SOFTLY ILLUMINATED BY OUTDOOR LIGHTS, AND MY MOTHER WANTED IT BLACK AS THE DEEPEST OF NIGHTFALL. THEY SLEPT APART FOR MOST OF THEIR MARRIED LIFE.
     I SHARE MANY OF MY FATHER'S TRAITS AND A FEW OF HIS BAD HABITS. I AM FIERCELY POSITIVE, AND AN UNYIELDING OPTIMIST. BUT IT'S NOT LIKE I CAN HELP IT. I HAVE MY BOUTS OF NEGATIVITY, LIKE WHEN THIS MORNING, I COULDN'T CLEAR THE SINK DRAIN OF AN OBSTRUCTION. SO I LET LOOSE A SOUL-LESS TIRADE OF CURSES, BEFORE I FELT BETTER. WE PARTED ON GOOD TERMS, WHEN I LEFT THE HOUSE, WISHING IT A GOOD DAY, AND TRUSTING THAT THE MANY LITRES OF VINEGAR, AND SPRINKLING OF BAKING SODA (BORROWED FROM PIONEER TIME SOLUTIONS), WOULD SUCCESSFULLY UNCLOG THE DRAIN PIPE BY TIME WE GOT HOME AFTER WORK. BUT I KNOW THE "POSITIVE" REALITIES I HAVE TO LIVE WITH, ARE DEEPLY IMBEDDED IN MY PSYCHE. I AM REPELLED, AND I MEAN THIS, BY THOSE WHO EXUDE NEGATIVITY; FROM THEIR MOUTHS OR THEIR PORES. I DON'T DISLIKE THEM, BUT I KNOW BETTER THAN TO GET INTO AN ARGUMENT; WHICH WOULD BE INSTANTANEOUS IF I STUCK AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO EXCHANGE PHILOSOPHIES, OR COMMENT ON WORLD AFFAIRS. I ALREADY GOT INTO A VERBAL DONNYBROOK THIS WEEK, WITH SOMEONE WHO ARGUED THAT IT WAS RUSSIA'S RIGHT TO INVADE THE UKRAINE. I IMMEDIATELY ASSUMED IT WAS THEIR PRIMARY INTEREST TO START A DEBATE, FOR ENTERTAINMENT. I DIDN'T TAKE THE BAIT. EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OPINION. SOME HAVE A LITTLE MORE TO DO WITH HISTORICAL FACT, THAN OTHERS.
    IT'S FOR THIS REASON OF "LIGHT" ABOVE "SHADOW," THAT I HAVE PAID PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS, TO SOMEWHAT VALIDATE MY OWN FEELINGS OF LIVING AN OPTIMISTIC WAY OF LIFE. I FEEL A LITTLE GUILTY, YOU SEE, BECAUSE I HAPPEN TO SHARE OPINIONS, THESE DAYS, LIKE THE RETROSPECTIVES OF WRITER WASHINGTON IRVING, WHO ONCE NOTED, DESPITE ALL THAT IS PORTRAYED NEGATIVELY ABOUT THE WORLD, THERE ARE STILL MANY SPLENDID JOYS TO BEHOLD. THERE ARE NEGATIVE POETS AND PHILOSOPHERS. BUT THERE IS STILL OPTIMISM IN PESSIMISM, AND TRUTHS IN NEGATIVITY.
     I SUBSCRIBE HEARTILY, AS AN HISTORIAN, TO THE PURSUIT OF "CRITICAL THOUGHT." IT'S KIND OF NECESSARY FOR ANY HISTORIAN, TO BE ABLE TO ASSESS ALL ACCOUNTS OF HISTORY, AND ALL PERTINENT FACTS; NOT JUST UPHOLDING ACCEPTED HISTORY AS ALL THE FACT NEEDED. I'VE RUN INTO THIS A LOT, ESPECIALLY IN MY HOME REGION, WHERE HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS ARE SELDOM CHALLENGED, EVEN WHEN NEW INFORMATION IS MADE AVAILABLE. I RAN INTO THIS, THE FIRST TIME, WHEN I HELPED PROVE, THAT THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST WAS NOT NAMED, AFTER THE TITLE OF A TOWN IN ENGLAND, AS REPORTEDLY NOTED IN THE BOOK, "BRACEBRIDGE HALL," WRITTEN BY WASHINGTON IRVING. UP UNTIL THE TURN OF THIS PRESENT CENTURY, IT WAS ASSUMED, THE NAME "GRAVENHURST" WAS INCLUDED IN THE TEXT OF THIS 1820'S BOOK. WITH THE HELP OF SOME IRVING SCHOLARS, IN THE UNITED STATES, AND READING THE BOOK COVER TO COVER MYSELF, IT WAS DISCOVERED, WITHOUT DOUBT, SOMEONE WAS TELLING A CENTURY OLD PORKY. TO THAT POINT IN HISTORY, THE YEAR 2000, NONE OF THE HISTORIANS HAD READ "BRACEBRIDGE HALL," TO DETERMINE, WITHOUT DOUBT, THAT THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORIAN, WHO WAS PERPETUATING THE FACTUAL ERROR, WAS BASING HISTORY ON A LONG-HELD RUMOR. I CAN TELL YOU ONE THING, WAS I EVER IN HOT WATER, FOR UNCOVERING THE TRUTH. TO CHALLENGE ACCEPTED THOUGHT AND RECORD WAS NEAR-BLASPHEMY. I FELT THIS WAY FOR A LONG TIME, BUT THAT'S THE GOOD THING ABOUT BEING A POSITIVE THINKER. YOU JUST KEEP MOVING ON TOWARD THE LIGHT.
     IN THE PROCESS OF EXECUTING THIS RESEARCH, I BECAME ATTACHED TO THREE OF THE WORLD'S POSITIVE THINKERS, AND PHIOLSOPHERS. FIRST OF ALL, HERE IN OUR BALLYWICK OF SOUTH MUSKOKA, WE HAVE A TOWN NAMED AFTER A TRULY MAGNIFICENT BOOK, BY WASHINGTON IRVING, AUTHOR OF "THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW," AS WELL AS "BRACEBRIDGE HALL." THAT'S PRETTY NEAT, DON'T YOU THINK. LIVING IN A TOWN THAT WAS NAMED AFTER THE BOOK WRITTEN BY SUCH A REVERED, INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR. WELL, I LIVE IN A TOWN THAT WAS NAMED AFTER THE WORK OF A HIGHLY SKILLED AND ACCOMPLISHED POET / PHILOSOPHER, NAMED WILLIAM HENRY SMITH. NO ONE IS VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS EXCEPT ME. I MAY HAVE AUTHORED THE BOOK OF MY MISFORTUNE AS A DIRECT RESULT. THE BOOK BY WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, WAS TITLED, "GRAVENHURST; OR THOUGHTS ON GOOD AND EVIL." THE PERPETRATOR OF THIS LITERARY CONNECTEDNESS? DR. WILLIAM DAWSON LESUEUR, POSTAL AUTHORITY BY DAY, HISTORIAN AND LITERARY CRITIC IN THE AFTER-HOURS. KNOWN AS A GREAT POSITIVE FORCE, AND CRITICAL THINKER, HE BESTOWED LITERARY HONORS UPON TWO UNSUSPECTING HAMLETS; GRAVENHURST, IN 1862, AND BRACEBRIDGE, IN 1864. HE JUST DIDN'T EXPLAIN THE REASON HE BESTOWED THIS LITERARY PROVENANCE. HE JUST THOUGHT WE'D FIGURE IT OUT. THAT TOOK UNTIL 2000, AND THEN, IT WAS A MILD IMPLOSION OF INTEREST. NO ONE REALLY CARED. IN THIS NEW-AGE, IT APPARENTLY WASN'T A BIG DEAL TO BE CONNECTED WITH EITHER WRITER, OR ONE OF CANADA'S MOST RESPECTED HISTORIANS. BUT IF IT DID ONE THING, FOR ONE PERSON, IN THIS WHOLE REGION, SUFFICE TO SAY, BY THE FACT I'M STILL WRITING ABOUT IT FOURTEEN YEARS LATER, I HAVE BEEN EVER-MORE SMITTEN BY THEIR POSITIVE PERSPECTIVES. CALL IT THE "SMITH, IRVING, LESUEUR CONDITION." LIKE A THE SLIVER THAT IS DEEP TO THE BONE, I FEEL THE IRRITATION CONSTANTLY, THAT THEY HAVE NOT BEEN SUFFICIENTLY REVERED BY THE SUBJECT TOWNS. YET IT'S A SLIVER OF INSPIRATION, I DON'T WANT CUT AND DUG OUT OF MY SOUL. IT'S TOO IMPORTANT FOR SUCH A TRIVIAL PURSUIT. HERE'S WHAT KIND OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, AND POSITIVISM, THEY BRING TO MY PERSPECTIVE OF THE TOWNS IN WHICH I HAVE MOST HISTORY.

IN THE SPIRIT OF MODERN CRITICISM - THAT WE CAN'T DO WITHOUT

    "Well, it is not going too far to say that there are many today who, to all intents and purposes, look upon the book as the first cause and primal source of history; and consistently therewith the teaching of history is understood as the unloading on the child's mind, of the information contained in prescribed texts. The truth of the matter is something very different, namely that we must make our history for ourselves almost as much as we must make our poetry. If our ambition chances to lie in that direction. The friend of my youth in those old Montreal High School days, thought that taking poetry was the same thing as making it; and today children are taught to take history from books just as they might take apples from a barrel - the history just as authentic and finished and integral a product as the apple. But only in so far as we have a personal conviction well or ill-grounded, but sincere, as to how things happened in the past, and as to the relation of one event to the another, have we entered into the realm, or breathed the air, or caught the spirit of history?"
   While I'd like to at times, spin this at our own town council, it would be lost by the fact, they have little if no interest in the work of philosophers. The reality, the man who wrote this, also named our community, would have no real impact to measure. Yet me thinks, of Dr. LeSueur's words as inspirational, and full of light, about the potential of the inquisitive mind. Ah, to challenge the shadows of complacency. I am a truly a dreamer in this regard.
     "How can school children, it may be asked, attain to such convictions? Can they investigate for themselves and boldly settle doubtful historical problems? Must they not receive some one version of history on authority? They should receive nothing on authority, I would reply. They should be distinctly told that in history there is no authority in the strict sense of the word; that there are simply authors, some better, some worse informed; some more, some less competent; some with clearer, some with obscurer vision; some more accurate in observation and statement, some less so; some with too little imagination, some with too much; some who theorize to excess, some whose facts have no theory to hold them together; some radical in their views and some conservative; some who have no fixed point of view, some swayed by national, some by theological prejudice; some whose judgements are warped by party passion or private interest; some flatterers of power, some of the populace; some mere rhetoricians, some special pleaders, some servile copyists, some simple prevaricators; finally that no one at his best is able to do more than approximate to the truth in his redaction or interpretation of facts."
     Dr. LeSueur wrote, "Criticism should be the voice of impartial and enlightened reason. Too often what passes for criticism is the voice of hireling adulation or hireling enmity. Illustrations of this will occur to everyone, but there is no use in blaming criticism, which, as had been said, is an intellectual necessity of the age. The foregoing remarks have been made in the hope that they may help clear away some prevalent misconceptions, by showing the organic connection, so to speak, that exists between criticism as a function, or as a model of intellectual activity, and the very simplest intellectual processes. Such a mode of regarding it should do away with the odium that in so many minds attaches to the idea of criticism. Let us all try to be critics according to the measure of our abilities and opportunities. Let us aim at seeing all we can, at gaining as many points of view as possible. Let us compare carefully and judge impartially; and we may depend upon it; we shall be the better for the very effort."
     I won't beat around the bush. I'm honored to live in a town, that was named by such an accomplished writer / philosopher; who named this charming lakeside settlement, as a literary memorial, to honor the work of a British author, who was greatly admired by LeSueur, also a well-respected literary critic. I know it isn't easy, by today's general disinterest in such provenance, to accept that our community, was named after a book written by a British poet. If it had been a British general's last name, or the title of a great battle, maybe the revelation would be of more acceptable heritage. Which is too bad, but there is no way to reverse history in this regard. But as long as I am able, as an underling regional historian, I will use this important source, of illumination, to present the work of both Mr. Smith, and Dr. LeSueur, in Gravenhurst, and Washington Irving, in Bracebridge.
     As a matter of general interest, it was LeSeur who argued with writer / historian, Stephen Leacock, about the imprudence of writing the popular history of Canada, to suite the status quo of the time; and who squared off against the soon to be Prime Minister of Canada, Mackenzie King, about the competence of his grandfather, William Lyon Mackenzie, the so called firebrand of the Rebellion in Upper Canada. So much annoyance and disrespectful prying, in fact, that King, kept the book the historian was writing, from being published, for more than forty years after LeSueur's death. Yet it has been proven since, that LeSueur had been right all along. His biography of Mackenzie is now considered one of the authority texts on the great Scot.
     The way I have come to look at history now, and its chronicle, up to and including the present, is as if Dr. LeSueur himself, had led me to the mouth of his blazed trail, that has never once led me astray. It is the light that I follow, and no matter how many times, I get frustrated by local politics and historical impasse, I never forget the words, "Let us all try to be critics according to the measure of our abilities and opportunities." We shall be better for the enquiry.
     Not just to be annoying a__holes! But to firmly place fact where fiction has long bricked-the-wall.
     Laying in that half-dark bedroom, staring out at the lamplight, I conducted this fading retrospective. Strange bedfellows, you might say, and I would agree. But lately, I have frequently found myself at that historian's impasse, wondering if there is any real point, beating this seemingly dead horse; trying to sell a concept, that we should, for a change, in this town, embrace criticism as a bold new method, for cutting loose the anchors, low and behold, we've been dragging behind us for years. That instead of fearing criticism, as the work of heretics, our town should open its doors to the kind of change, Dr. LeSueur was writing about - criticism instead, being "the voice of impartial and enlightened reason."
     Then I must have dozed off, as is usually the case, when I finally succumb to the commonplace of the hypothetical town, William Henry Smith wrote about, way back when. One day it will arrive, you see, when counterpoint won't be feared, as only the handiwork of dissidents.
    You can still access this scholarly book, "Gravenhurst; or Thoughts on Good and Evil," by William Henry Smith, by searching online, at "Googlebooks."