John Ralston Saul

All sorts of impressions, threads of ideas and frustrations are having a field day in my mind. I'm tempted to simply walk around with a sign on my head stating "so much history, so little time." It just might help the rest of the world understand that I want to take the time to work these ideas and musings into a statement, a complete thought. Some of the threads come from last week's events. I've been reflecting on John Ralston Saul's lecture at Althouse. His contention that the aboriginal roots of the Canadian character has been ignored by our ruling elites. We stumbled into our comfort with complexity, and have yet to develop a conscious and original language about ourselves. I think I've always known this, just didn't find the words. So I've been stealing time to read A Fair Country. My quote for the moment is "how a people understands its history has an effect on how their country can act." Certainly a solid quote for Public History. Next, I attended the Canadian Climate Workshop. Time well spent trying to understand the relationships between history and science, specifically science dedicated to climate change. Brian Fagan's lecture was sobering and excellent. How to pull the information from all these resources together? The collaboration of various disciplines is confusing and complex, but so worthwhile.

Finally, Passchendaele. I had read the critiques. I've heard and read about WWI battles for as long as I can remember, but I was thinking about the public as I watched the movie. What were they seeing? I left wondering if they saw the ideas portrayed; the isolation of communities, the social pressure to sign up, the idealization of war. I often think about the world before WWI, especially in some remote little town or village that has seen better days. Often, that timeframe was "better days." The men and women who left those communities knew very little of the world beyond their homes. Images from Jane Urquhart's The Stone Carvers came to mind. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't the good old days. How well did Passchendaele "market" history to the public? Paul Gross covered a lot of essential points, and he told a story that will stay in the public's memory. Will it inspire Canadians to learn more about their history? It was an ambitious undertaking, a very personal story for Gross, full of heart and sincerity. I think the real importance is that the movie was made.