How’s the Girls?
Last Sunday evening I attended a Legion tribute for Comrade Helen Horne, a member of the Trenton Branch. She died last Wednesday following a massive stroke. Considering she had beat four bouts of cancer, there is almost an irony that it was a stroke who took her away from us.
Comrade Helen was the much beloved wife of our Chaplain at the Zone, District & Provincial levels, Padre Sid Horne, a retired Anglican cleric, had served in the military amongst his various ministry posts. Sid & Helen were a study in contrasts — he as tall as she was short; he every bit the extrovert, her very much an introvert; he enjoyed the limelight, she enjoyed the shadows. What the two of them shared were hearts as big as any could imagine, faith as strong as God himself and compassion which encompassed all who came within their loving embrace.
One never had to wonder what the two thought of each other, their love and mutual devotion was clear to anyone who chose to look. I don’t believe in all the time I had the privilege of being around them I ever heard a cross word pass between them. They would readily share the stories of the other’s exploits and foibles but always with a perspective of the humour.
I remember some years back when Sid was still the incumbent at the Royal Chapel on the Tyendinaga Reserve near Belleville. They parish had redone their memorial plaque honouring those of the reserve who had fallen in service to Canada. Sid had announced the date of the service at our District convention with an open invitation for all Legionnaires to attend. Helen told me after the event that when they were setting up and Sid had been asked how many Legion people to expect. He had replied “we’ll be lucky to see 50, it is a church service after all”.
The day arrived and 200 or more arrived to parade from the park to the Chapel for the service. It was one of those rare occasions I ever saw Sid at a bit of a loss for words. The chapel was packed to standing room only and many others had to stand outside for the service. Sid found his voice at the offertory though, and I noticed the broad smile from Helen as the first round of “Onward Christian Soldiers” finished and Sid thundered, “Sing it again, those guys outside aren’t getting out of giving their share”. She knew her husband wouldn’t be at a loss for words for long.
Helen loved her cats. In recent years she had up to four of them at home at a time. Sid had a dog, a small to medium size one of course, couldn’t have it intimidating the cats. I also love my cats and Helen made a point of learning about them as they came into the house, either personally or through pictures.
When we would meet, usually at Legion events or conventions, she would greet me with a very enthusiastic “How are the girls?” raising more than one set of eyebrows from people who knew me as a single person with no children. She’d then follow that with “oh yes, and how are you?”. We’d laugh and chat back and forth about what our respective animals were up to. It never really mattered that ‘my girls’ was actually two queens and a tom and those raised eyebrows would eventually figure it out.
As the long line of Legionnaires formed up in columns of three for the file past, moving slowly through the funeral home and through the receiving room to where Helen’s coffin sat complete with a line of stuffed cats perched on top of it I wondered what memories of Helen each of those comrades were thinking about. I could be pretty certain they were warm and caring, just like Helen was.
The girls are doing just fine Helen. I’ll miss you my friend.
If you like this post, please tweet it. Follow me on Tweeter here
Hope for Non-Video Marketing Fans
I’m not a fan of video products. They can have their value if they are really well done and used to illustrate confusing concepts in a simple, easily understood manner. Videos for the sake of video instead of writing really well presented content is just an irritation.
In the last few years many of the biggest online marketers have trumpeted video as the one true way to effectively market to your customers. Those who weren’t into producing videos and video products were allegedly doomed to fail. I seriously doubted that assertion but occasionally wavered and wondered if I was being a bit too stubborn.
Today I came across this:
What might surprise you is that in our experience, most people simply prefer text and images over video content.
A few weeks ago we sent out a survey to about 36,000 people. We asked a bunch of questions, including whether or not they would prefer their content in text or video format.
The surprising result was that nearly 3 times as many people said they preferred text and screenshots over video. In the “other thoughts” group, most people made the comment that it depended upon the subject matter. They said that video should be used where appropriate only.
This was in an article, If You Don’t Do Video, Will You Fail?, by Jay Stockwell at Associate Programs. The Associate Programs is a well established and respected site. I’m glad to see someone speaking up that video is not the be all and end all of online marketing.
visit the Patti Network News to see where else I’m writing.
Hope for Non-Video Marketing Fans
Will the Church Never Learn?
I’ve let this article sit in my browser for a few days now while I have pondered if my initial reaction stands up to my attempts to rationalise the actions of those involved. I can’t find it in my heart to justify them.
The article is about an Anglican church in Tsawwassen, British Columbia continuing to pay a reduced salary to their youth pastor who has been convicted of molesting a young Mexican boy in Mexico in 2004. At this point the parish is paying Brad Firth at least until his appeals are exhausted. Their reasoning seems to be since he has faced the courts in Mexico and they are different than ours, then his conviction doesn’t carry the same weight.
I was almost able to sway my thinking to some level of compassion and understanding that maybe, just maybe the conviction was bogus and good for the parish for standing by him. Then I found the part of the article that tells me once Firth does return to Canada, the police will be waiting for him. They have outstanding charges of possessing and accessing child pornography.
This man serves in a ministry which provides access to young vulnerable children. The fact he has been convicted anywhere in the world and faces additional charges here at home is more than enough reason for the parish to terminate any financial payments to him immediately.
If there are other victims of this man amongst the young people he has ministered to, does the congregation not realize the powerful message they are sending them through their continued financial support to Firth? It’s fine to suggest that IF there are further victims they would motivate the parish to stop their financial support by coming forward.
The fact is when a person in authority abuses a young person, that person doesn’t just have their body violated, the very core of their being is shaken, if not fractured. The parish choosing to continue financial support even though Firth has been convicted sends the message to any still silent victim to stay silent, that the pastor is going to be believed and not the victim.
I hope there are no other victims of this man. While the parish is busy rallying around this convicted pedophile, they may have already walked all over the walking wounded in their midst. I know what a struggle it is to keep a church going. That money being paid out to Firth could be put to a lot of good ministry in that church in Tsawwassen or any other church.
Will the church never learn?
Related posts
- No related posts.
