Once a catchphrase starts being circulated, it takes on a life of its own. And so the news media have been declaring, with unusual unanimity, that the solar eclipse scheduled for 10:23 this morning, Pacific Daylight Time, is “the only total eclipse of the sun in Canada in the last century.”
That is simply wrong.
I know, because I experienced a total eclipse of the sun on July 10, 1972, in Nova Scotia.
Perhaps there’s some excuse for the claim about this being the “only total eclipse in Canada in the last century.” Nova Scotia was the only populated part of Canada to witness the 1972 eclipse. Otherwise, the arc of totality swept across the high Arctic, over Nova Scotia, and out into the Atlantic. It missed Toronto totally, so the media ignored it.
I happened to be in Nova Scotia that week, teaching a writing course at the United Church’s training centre in Tatamagouche. Naturally, I assigned the eclipse as a topic to my students.
Margaret Mundy wrote factually: “The brilliant afternoon light faded. The leaves on the trees hung motionless. The birds twittered here and there, questioning each other with short chirping sounds, until, bewildered by this unusual turn of events, they sought the safety of their nests…”
Marion Robinson turned to haiku:
Mysterious hush
Day nods in darkening slumber
At rest, the heart sings.
Nova Scotia had actually had another eclipse just two years before, on March 7, 1970. Jean Hamilton, another of my students, capitalized on that coincidence with a satirical blast at the federal government in Ottawa.
She wrote, “For the second time since the Trudeau government assumed office, we have witnessed the incredible spectacle of the sun being extinguished. The utter incompetence of a government that allows such a thing to happen boggles the mind.
“The Prime Minister has said that the government was aware of no objections. This we know to be sheer fabrication. A delegation from the P.E.I. potato growers met with the Minister of the Environment as soon as plans for the eclipse became public.
“The delegation pointed out two things:
“First, that this eclipse had been planned with no prior consultation with the provinces.
“Second, that this is a clear case of blatant discrimination against the Maritimes, and especially P.E.I. Did the sun go out in Alberta with its oil-well millionaires? Did the sun go out in the Prime Minister’s home constituency of Mount Royal?
“It did not. It was only in the Maritimes that this was allowed to happen. The same government that filed a formal protest against the Amchitka bomb test on a distant Aleutian island stood by in complete silence while this other island, cut off from the rest of Canada by the lack of a causeway, was deprived of sunlight for seven minutes. It’s yet another example of the bureaucratic bungling so characteristic of this government that the actual technology was so hit-or-miss that no safeguards were built in.
“The spectacular was more important than the well-being of taxpayers.”
Of course, I wrote my own paean to the eclipse, trying to capture my own reactions to this extraordinary event.
I called it, “The day the sun died.” I felt that I should have been overcome with awe, with mystery, with “peering into the privacy of God.” Instead, I acted like a jaded victim of science, “bled of passion, embalmed in knowledge.” The poem went on,
The moon limpets onto the sun.
The light grows thinner – not dimmer, diluted –
Spread like the last scrapings of soft silver butter
All over the land. To the west
The sky frosts itself orange, a jaundiced sunset
Without the warmth that tucks the world into night.
The sun dies, a black bullet hole in the sky.
I wanted the mourning stars to come out,
But only the bugs did.
The “bugs” were an unexpected side effect of the eclipse. “My biggest surprise,” I noted in my journal that day, “was not the eclipse itself, but the way that the mosquitoes and blackflies came out so viciously for the few instants that the sun was obscured.”
Obviously, I can’t predict your reactions to today’s eclipse – assuming you’re able to see it. (And assuming you use appropriate safety glasses.) But I’m sure they too will be intensely personal. And that you’ll remember the event for a long time.
I may see the next total eclipse in 2024. But I don’t expect to be around for the 2044, 2045, 2079, and 2097 eclipses. This one had better be worth remembering.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
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YOUR TURN
Last week’s column about the prevalence of addiction(s) in our society generated some thoughtful letters.
Clare Neufeld thought I had been too kind to Alcoholics Anonymous: “This week's article raised a question in my mind. Perhaps it's because I have recently read much in the way of stats regarding AA.
“Your statement, ‘Alcoholics Anonymous has had great success in overcoming alcohol addiction. . . until you feel that, for your sanity and sobriety, you HAVE to attend your weekly meetings. AA itself becomes an addiction’ reminded me that some while ago I was ‘informed’ by some authority, (whose identity I have lost), that not only does AA create its own form of dependency, it is less than greatly successful.
“If I recall correctly, AA's stats regarding long term prevention of recidivism is something of the order of less than 10% of its clientele.”
Laurna Tallman traces many mental and emotional problems to faults in the ear/brain connection. Given that perspective, she wrote, “Just one comment on AA. Attendance at meetings isn't an addiction. For addicts whose damaged ears remain untreated, more or less constant repetition is required to maintain left-brain dominance over the right-brain impulses wired to the pleasures of inebriation. Meetings are a form of cognitive behavioural therapy that helps to maintain a rather fragile left-brain dominance. [My son] who does get a certain amount of ear-muscle stimulation from music, objected to aspects of AA and decided to beat his alcoholism alone. He developed a lot of self-control where alcohol is concerned because his ears got the support they needed while he was learning how to control his consumption of alcohol. Similarly, with other addictions he has overcome over the past eight years.”
George Brigham wrote from England: “While agreeing with the sentiment [in the column], I feel constrained to point out an error in Rob Brown’s ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ reference in his comment on your previous column. ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ was on a poster produced in 1939; about 2.5 million copies were printed. It would have appeared widely if Britain had been invaded, but we were not. In 2000 an original copy was found folded inside a book in a large second-hand bookshop (about 15 miles from here, as it happens). Copies were made and sold in the shop. The rest, as they say, is history.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net