GRAINS OF SAND

A4

BY MIKE LUSHINGTON

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I have written on this topic before, but I do feel that it is important enough to bear repeating.

Back on New Brunswick Day, The Telegraph Journal published a special and very attractive edition. The overriding theme was that New Brunswick is a special place in which to live. The front page was devoted to an essay by David Adams Richards in which he extolled the virtues of this place we call home, and the inner pages echoed his sentiments. In all, it was very well done and a timely reminder of the many things for which we must be thankful.

Many of the feature articles, though echoed a sentiment that continues to worry me. It might be summarized thus: We live in a small, rural province of great natural beauty. Even our largest communities are peaceful and generally law abiding. People walk the streets at night, leave car and house doors unlocked, and think little of allowing children to play unattended, secure in the knowledge that, by and large, these are safe things to do.

However, we also live in a province where many communities, especially in the north, are suffering from economic hardship. Many people see industrial and social development as the answer to our woes and feel that our government is not doing enough to promote our assets in order to encourage the influx of people needed to stimulate an economic revival. If only more people, so the prevailing argument runs, could be aware of our quiet, rural, peaceful, law abiding way of life, they would be encouraged to move here to share in it, and, at the same time, to contribute to a renaissance.

The problem is that not everyone sees or understands the inherent contradiction in such an argument. However, the fact is simple: one cannot have both. Quiet, rural, and tranquil are the antitheses of growth and development. For the sake of this essay at least, I am not arguing for either side. But I believe very strongly that, before we jump onto the development at all costs bandwagon, we need to enter into a very serious discussion about just what sort of community we want for ourselves and our descendents in the future.

When the closures hit Dalhousie and Restigouche County, committees sprung up to try to respond to the crisis. Throughout the winter many people spent many hours deliberating on the future of the area. It was earnest, dedicated effort on their parts, but now, some seven or eight months later on, I don't think that we yet have a coherent view of where we want to go, or to be, say, in ten years. I know that there are many issues that need to be considered and that ten years is far too long for many people who have to consider their immediate futures. However, unless we incorporate such a vision into our planning, we may well end up with something very unlike what we have now — and I am not at all convinced that that will be to the good.

"Wisely and slow; he stumbles that runs fast."