Gravenhurst For Better or Worse

THE RETORT I COULD NOT WRITE -  GRAVENHURST  DESERVES BETTER FROM ITS REPRESENTATIVE WRITERS

BEING COMPASSIONATE IS THE BEST APPROACH TO MAKING A BETTER HOME TOWN

     I WOULD WRITE A COLUMN FOR THE GRAVENHURST BANNER FOR FREE. IF THE PUBLISHER DECIDED THEY WANTED TO RUN MY COLUMN IN THE BRACEBRIDGE EXAMINER, OR THE WEEKENDER, I WOULD SNAP TO ATTENTION, AND COMPOSE IN THE SAME STALWART MANNER, AS I HAVE BEEN WORD-SMITHING EDITORIAL COPY FOR THE PAST THIRTY-FIVE YEARS. THEY MIGHT WISH TO PAY ME, BUT I WOULD REFUSE, AS I HAVE SINCE 1989, WHEN I LEFT FULL TIME EMPLOYMENT WITH THE LOCAL PRESS, TO DO MY OWN THING. I DON'T TAKE MONEY FOR MY WRITING WORK, AND ENJOY BEING ABLE TO CONNECT, VIA THE PRESS, WITH HOMETOWNERS, AND A DISTRICT AUDIENCE. I LOVE MY HOMETOWN, AND ALL THE PLACES I ONCE CALLED "HOME TOWN," AND I ADORE THE DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA. I HOPE IT SHOWS.  SO IF ONE DAY THEY COME CALLING, AND REQUEST MY CONTRIBUTION TO THEIR FINE PAPERS, REST ASSURED, I WILL BE READY TO ROCK 'N ROLL.

     I HAVE BEEN MULLING OVER SOME PUBLISHED OPINIONS RECENTLY, ABOUT GRAVENHURST, THAT MADE ME MAD. SO MAD, IN FACT, THAT I DID WHAT I HAVE ALWAYS VOWED NOT TO…….AND SAT DOWN AT THIS KEYBOARD, AND POUNDED IT LIKE A PUMP ORGAN IN A GIANT CATHEDRAL. A HOLIER THAN THOU EDITORIAL, THAT ACTUALLY RAISED SMOKE FROM THE KEYBOARD BOUNCING, LIKE LINDA BLAIR IN THE EXORCIST,  WHEN HIT BY A SPRAY OF HOLY WATER. IF THE KEYS COULD TALK, THEY WOULD BE BEGGING ME, IN THEIR OWN "TICKY TACKY" WAY, OF SOFTENING THE ASSAULT. LETTING UP ON THE FIRE AND BRIMSTONE STUFF, AND TAKING OUT MY ANGER ON SOMETHING ELSE. HAMMERING NAILS OR CUTTING WOOD. JUST NOT WRITING BLOGS OUT OF ANGER. I WROTE ABOUT TEN PARAGRAPHS THIS MORNING, AT THE HEIGHT OF DISCONTENT, AND BY EARLY AFTERNOON, I WAS IN NEED OF AN EXORCISM MYSELF. SO I CANNED THE WHOLE THING, AND DECIDED IT WAS REDUNDANT, AND EVEN A CONTRADICTION OF MY OWN BELIEF IN "FREEDOM OF THE PRESS," AND THE RIGHT TO OFFER AN OPINION; REGARDLESS WHETHER WE FIND IT SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE OR NOT. I'M A HUGE ADVOCATE FOR FREE SPEECH, AND I FOUND THAT IN NINE PARAGRAPHS, I HAD CONTRADICTED MYSELF SO MANY TIMES, I GAVE UP TRYING TO RESTORE ANY SEMBLANCE OF RESPONSIBLE OPINION, AND REASONABLE ARGUMENT. IT WAS A HATEFUL PIECE, AND I AM NOT A HATEFUL PERSON.

     I MIGHT BE A MUCK-RAKER, FROM TIME TO TIME, AND SEEN BY GRAVENHURST COUNCILLORS AS A PAIN IN THE ASS, BUT I AM NOT MEAN, AND I WILL NEVER DRAG MY TOWN THROUGH THE MUD, TO BOLSTER MY READERSHIP. ESPECIALLY THE POKE IN THE EYE WE GOT, REGARDING OUR SINGLE MOTHERS, IN GRAVENHURST, AND HOW THEY ARE PROFILED BY IGNORANT, BEER SWILLING ONLINE CRITICS. I WON'T LIE ABOUT MY FEELINGS, OR OPINION, THAT MENTIONING THEM IN A COLUMN WAS ABOUT AS MEAN SPIRITED AS I'VE SEEN IN YEARS. BUT I'M SURE THE SINGLE MOMS KNOW ALL ABOUT JUDGEMENTS IMPOSED UPON THEM, BY ARMCHAIR CRITICS AND THE MORALISTS FROM THEIR GOD-GIVEN PEDESTALS. 

     SO I SCRAPPED THE MORNING'S WORK. I THOUGHT ABOUT ALL THE THINGS I APPRECIATE IN MY HOMETOWN, AND ABOUT THIS CRADLE OF NATURAL HEAVEN, WE FIND OURSELVES IMMERSED, AND NONE OF THE SLASHING AND STABBING OF ONE OPINION VERSUS ANOTHER, MADE A LICK OF SENSE. IT MAY HAVE SERVED MY VENTING, LIKE ROCKY BALBOA, SLAMMING HIS FISTS INTO SIDES OF BEEF, HANGING IN A FREEZER, TRAINING FOR HIS FIGHT WITH APOLLO CREED. IN NINE PARAGRAPHS I CLEANSED MYSELF OF BEING ANGRY, AND I THOUGHT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO I LIKE AND ADMIRE, AND THEIR PLEASANT DEMEANOR, REPRESENTING THIS TOWN; AND LIKE THE WICKED WITCH WITH A SPLASH OF WATER, IT ALL FIZZLED INTO A VAPOR TRAIL TO NOWHERE IN PARTICULAR. I WAS LEFT FEELING RELIEVED, THAT I COULDN'T FOLLOW THROUGH, ON A BLOG-ATORIAL THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MEAN SPIRITED TO THE SMOKING CORE. I WOULDN'T HAVE FELT RIGHT ABOUT THIS KIND OF NASTINESS BEING OFFERED TO MY FAITHFUL READERS, WHO DESERVE BETTER FROM AN OTHERWISE RESPONSIBLE WRITER.

     I have heard and read many nasty overviews of life in Gravenhurst. I heard them before we moved here in 1989. I remember someone on staff, at The Herald-Gazette, telling me we were nuts to move to this crappy little town, ripe with social problems. When I'd tell some of my hockey mates, in dressing room banter, that I had just moved to Gravenhurst, I never got one congratulations, or even the slightest approval, or even an "oh well, we all make mistakes." Even after moving here, and getting settled in, I couldn't get past this negative crap, just about everywhere I went……and whenever my choice of residence became a topic of discussion. I must admit, there were times when I wondered if Suzanne and I had made a dreadful mistake, leaving Bracebridge in the first place. We were both hearing stories about the high level of crime, large number of drug users, alcoholics and general society outcasts, making up the local population. Geez, here we were, with two children, having spent every dime we had to buy a new house, and folks were basically telling us, we were living in the midst of a penal colony. In fact, we held-off moving our kids from Bracebridge Public School, to Gravenhurst Public, and Suzanne from Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School, to Gravenhurst High School, until we could figure out if there was any merit to what we were hearing…..and in some cases reading. Here's what I found out, by doing a little sleuthing on my own. I was profoundly shocked where the rumors and negativity was coming from, without any reservation about the hurt it was causing an historic, benevolent, and kind community.

     In 1989 I was a news editor of The Gravenhurst Banner. While I didn't remain in that position very long, I was put in situations, such as with local council, and the business community, to provide investigative news reporting, feature news, business profiles when needed, and to compose human interest stories throughout the town. It was a good way to familiarize myself with my new hometown. And I was curious to know more about the town I was hearing about, and to find out for myself, if there was any justification for the attacks on its integrity. What I found out was disturbing. A huge amount of critical overviews, and baseless, nasty opinions, were being brewed right at home. In large part, the most brutal criticisms were coming from our residents……and it was being exacerbated in coffee-time discussions all over town. It was very much a case, that we had many mouth-pieces, opining to everyone they met, just how miserable it was to be trapped in Gravenhurst. In fact, I have always been attracted by these casual critics, whenever I overhear them in their boisterous critiques, and I'm not adverse to interrupting, to ask for additional information; as to why they feel Gravenhurst is a dead-end. Haven't you heard this one before. "I love Gravenhurst…….in my rear view mirror." I have taken many of these folks to task, over the years, and requested simple explanations, why they continue to live in a place they find so repulsive. Or why they continue to operate businesses, when nothing seems to please them? No amount of profit that makes them happy about their chosen location? I've actually refused to shop at businesses, where I have heard these insensitive, unfounded remarks, about our town's shortfalls.  Having assumed that Bracebridge and Huntsville folks were just bad-mouthing Gravenhurst, because it's a tradition dating back to those old sporting matches from the 1800's, what I discovered, sadly, was quite the opposite. Some of these people from other towns, who had heard the wicked reviews, could actually point out where the stories were coming from, and who was spreading the negativity. Gravenhurst citizens themselves, were pounding nails into our coffin……and the embellishments kept growing and growing, the more the stories were told and retold. I was shocked to find the source of this misinformation, and general disregard for what these reckless comments were doing to our town……and our reputation.

     This might shock readers that this was the case. I expect there will be readers outraged at my assertions in this regard. There will be others, who will concede, that this is exactly what has been happening, and in fact, is still going on with just as much insensitivity and disregard, as what I found in the 1990's onward. I read one such tome last week, and it was precisely what I found, during our first years of residency here in Gravenhurst. A willingness to pee into the wind, to see where it flies. It's what made me crumple up the newspaper, and think about what I could write in retaliation, that would save the fair name of our community. I approached the challenge with the venom of a cobra, and the will of a crusader of the Templar Knights. I felt it an obligation, to defend the honor of my community, and all the citizens who call this place their home sanctuary. With this in mind, I wrote an editorial I had to slay with the same sword, from which it was generated. I fell back on an old standard, some of us writers still abide, about the failings of writing as revenge. I could not endorse what the surging vein of anger, had deposited upon the logic of counterpoint. So I did what any responsible writer would, and deleted until the evil was drained away, and the screen was white and full of potential all over again.

     I have always found myself grateful for what our family has received in this town, by generous neighbors and colleagues, friends and customers. I am abundantly aware of the shortfalls, and inefficiencies we have in this town, and I am troubled at times, because of the social problems that cause so much grief and sorrow amongst our population. There are many burdens on our youngsters today, that are the result of a world-wide contamination of drugs, and those pushers who benefit from the proliferation on our streets. There are inequalities here that keep our food bank, and free dinners well attended, and the demand unceasing, and of this, the hundreds of volunteers from one end of the community to the other, commit themselves to assisting with kindness and sharing. There are those who would seize upon social circumstance, and publicly ridicule situations, to prove a point, that Gravenhurst has problems. Only a fool would deny we have a plethora of problems to address. It is commonplace in thousands upon thousands of communities around the globe. From reckless and insensitive opining, one might think Gravenhurst is the only burg to have wrestled with these issues. Possibly some critics find Gravenhurst to be a failing community, that can't help itself. And that it is a burdensome place to live, having so many social and economic barriers. Maybe, to please them, we should just have it exorcised, to rid all the resident evil.

      It just seems so unnecessary to highlight, how far away Gravenhurst is, from being a perfect, odor free community. How sad it is, that we need to belittle people, to stir an audience. I have never once found that my readership went up, because I wrote something so personally hurtful.

     I could never treat this community with such contempt. There's fair comment on the state of local government, and all politicians know and expect to be grilled by ratepayers, and those who feel unjustly treated. They know that public office has its precarious moments, and especially so, if you're the mayor of a city like Toronto. Even when I'm perturbed, it has nothing to do with councillors, or the mayor personally. As to the way they vote, and the decisions they make, which involves all of us, I won't offer any apology for venting a critique. I'm told I offered so many critiques, during the fight to Save The Bog, here in our neighborhood, that I almost gave councillors ulcers. Well, nothing personal, but that was the result of a dumb decision in the first place, to sell off the property. I usually complain when there's a good reason. Killing a wetland was a good reason. Getting past this, and some of the other situations I haven't appreciated, that were inspired by town council, I don't have any agenda to beat them with personal critiques. They are representatives of our town, for the four year term of office. So while it's okay to petition and question council about its actions, and choices, it's out of bounds to launch personal attacks……about how they choose to live their lives. If it doesn't hamper their ability to perform their duties, and it doesn't put them in a conflict of interest position, they don't owe us any explanation. I have heard many outrageous allegations over the years, especially at the height of the recreation centre police investigation, that were all proven without substance, and were for the most part, nothing more than the result of hearsay and embellishment. It's true, we took a terrible drubbing here in Muskoka, for the trouble we found ourselves in…….for seven months, until the matter was resolved. But the damage had been done to a lot of parties, and I think it will be a while before we can say, we've left it all behind.

     Gravenhurst isn't immune to social problems. It's not resilient to economic downturns. It is vulnerable to cheap shots, and unfair attacks, and has been knocked to the ground many times in its history. Yet for what its critics might assess, as its root problem, it is the same for other communities. But for some reason, it has become necessary, for local editorialists these days, to keep punching at the same old, same old, in the ridiculous and delusional opinion, their criticism will eventually save the day, and reclaim Utopia. When all they ever do, is inflict injury, and defeat what is left of community pride and spirit. Their Utopian paradise has never and will never exist, and they can take that to the bank. 

     We have raised a family in this town. Despite having some initial reservations, after we were told we had made a bad move, to South Muskoka, not once have we felt our re-location here, was in any way a mistake. We have found a charitable, caring, neighborly community, that has been a wonderful place to spend a life. None of us, have any regrets about the move we made, back in 1989. We know there are problems in our town, and we appreciate the disadvantages some folks have found, living in an area with high unemployment. We understand the toll of poverty and related social problems, but we also see the willingness of the citizens at large, to help out where they can, to assist neighbors in crisis…..in one way or another. It is, like the play "Our Town," a dynamic, ever-changing place, that has its share of tragedy, and abundant experiences of joy, and for all intents and purposes, lives and functions like all other places worth calling "home." From my work as an historian, and as a writer, always reviewing my surroundings, I have no compunction whatsoever, bragging to my contemporaries in the profession, that I live in a vibrant, accommodating, inspiring community, in the embrace of paradise. Now it's not Utopia. It doesn't exist, remember. 

     There are some critics of our town who might wish to revoke citizenship of perceived social outcasts, that according to the pomposity and bluster of the self righteous amongst us, are bringing us a malaise of misfortune. I have never known a solution or a dilemma that was successfully bridged, by setting fire to the bracing. All the while, the critic judges the inferno as inevitable under the circumstances. It's hard for this writer to appreciate how cruel references, made recently in the local press, about serious social issues in our town, will serve to do anything more, than pour salt on the wounds of circumstance.

     I have found over the years, living in Gravenhurst, that there are still pockets of town-haters, who relish the idea of any opportunity, to validate their assertions, we are a community of misfits. (Themselves never included of course). They entertain themselves, dissecting the hometown experience, just to see if they can find some little treasure of controversy to exploit. They only seem content, when they can climb upon someone else's misfortune, to claim, with unfettered hubris, "I told you so." It is more than a little frustrating, at this time, when our perceived social shortfalls become the shining star of argument, to prove something…..but we're not sure what.

     And by the way, our boys, Andrew and Robert, raised in this great little town, have just expanded their main street music shop, opening a new recording studio. Yup, they're a main street business success story. Business is way up, and many of their new customers are coming from all over the province, because they've heard that it's a remarkable little shop, with a lot to offer. Now, if you didn't read this information here, you certainly wouldn't read it anywhere else……because it would contradict an opinion…..that we're going to hell in a handcart. One day, maybe someone from the local newspaper, will decide to seek out the truth……. and visit those local businesses that by gumption and creativity, are doing well. It seems the preoccupation with negatives is far too important, to water down with stories about businesses that are doing well. If there's any change that can be made in this community, for the immediate improvement of all our circumstances, it's to create fertile ground to sow. And then stop pissing in it!