This morning I heard a young fellow on the radio lamenting this last ignominy... the Leafs being shut out of the playoffs--- again. His agony went like this, and I quote verbatim:
"We've been shut out again.
I want a Stanley Cup, my father wants a Stanley Cup, my grandfather wants a Stanley Cup.
I'M 27 YEARD OLD, I DON'T WANT TO BRING A CHILD INTO THIS WORLD WITHOUT A STANLEY CUP STORY TO TELL HIM"
The lad was near to tears. It was heart wrenching. I thought I heard a bit of a surpressed snicker from the interviewer.... but maybe not.
It reminded me of the Kenora red-kneck, lamenting the repeal of the gun law that allowed 12 year olds to carry guns in the bush when accompanied by a parent. His lament was, and, again, I quote "Now how am I going to take my daughter into the bush to learn about nature when she can't carry a gun".
It brings another on to mind as well. It was many years ago when Grampa flew us all into a small remote lake to spend a week in a log cabin all by ourselves.... no one else on the lake. As we taxied up to the dock, a man and sad faced young boy were waiting to be flown out. Grampa asked him how his week went. The father's only reply was a very unhappy "the fishing was lousy". I couldn't help thinking that he had totally missed the point of the whole thing. He had just spent a week alone with his son on a beautiful remote lake and uppermost in his mind was the poor fishing.
The the really sad thing is that we allow them to breed.
