Huronia, the Land of Canada’s and North America’s Oldest Christmas Carol

December 3, 2024

I had long forgotten a delightfully illustrated thin book that I used to read and sing to my children, many moons ago.  It told the story of the Gitchy Manitou. 

Ah, the cobweb tendrils of my life never cease to amaze me.  I’ve had Québec on my mind for the last couple of months, because it is such a most beautiful city, rich in history, and so near to where I live.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I sat in a cold church, and, in the middle of the service, I heard the organist begin a song.  The words and the melody tugged at my memory:  “‘Twas in the moon of wintertime, When all the birds had fled…”  I looked at the program and there it was, The Huron Carol.  

The lyrics of the first Christmas Carol of North America are short and tell a story.  For some it’s a meaningful story.  For others it’s just a tradition that had consequences, bad and good.

However, for me, it was fascinating to discover that the author of this ancient Carol was a French Jesuit priest who hailed from Normandy.  Jean de Brébeuf lived among the Hurons and is recognized as someone who produced so many ethnographic records on the Hurons that his efforts were pivotal in preserving the Huron (Wendat) language.  His accounts were included in a collection of documents referred to as The Jesuit Relations, which are considered an important historical resource. He actually wrote a dictionary, among other things.

Brébeuf paid a dear price for being a missionary.  All accounts (at least the ones I have read) point to his love for the Hurons.  The Hurons’ archenemies were the Iroquois, who destroyed Huronia.  Yet even the Iroquois were so impressed at his bravery in the face of excruciating torture that they ate his heart in a symbolic recognition of his fortitude.  Or so they say.  History is not pretty.  But I can’t help but admire someone who took the time to study and create something that has been acknowledged as a legacy.  

Brébeuf became one of the patron saints of Canada, and, as far as I know, he still remains one, despite modern-day criticisms of how he described some of his encounters with the Hurons.

In my love of etymology, lo and behold, I discovered that Jean de Brébeuf wrote about a game being played among the Hurons in 1636 and it was he who named the game “lacrosse”, because the stick reminded him of a bishop’s shepherd’s staff or crozier.  

The Huron Carol, or Jesous Ahatonhia, beautifully illustrated by Frances Tyrrell, was published in 1991, and sometime soon, after that year, my Mother gave it to my children for Christmas.  They loved the story and the drawings.  It was a gentle introduction to a far away land with familiar concepts.   

At the time, little did my Mother know how one day, 25+ years, a little protestant church in the Blue Hill peninsula of Maine would spark memories of little children, pretty songs, tender memories of Québec, dictionaries and saints. 

The below video was a joint production of the Aboriginal People’s Television Project and the CBC Radio Canada. It aired in 2002.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 28, 2024

“In the time of my confession…” I identify with these words, after all the Dostoevsky, Dante, Solzhenitsyn, Cervantes, Becquer and others I have dabbled in these last 6 months.

At the sunset of my life, I find a need to hurry and catch up with what I have missed because of all the excuses I have ever had in front of me: lack of time, busy at home and at work, demands of others, acedia, inertia, melancholy, whatever!

And in hurrying to catch up I discovered that “I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea; sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me…”

But serendipity is my companion, and I discover something new each day that gives me clarity of purpose, clarity of vision, clarity of understanding.

Like yesterday, when I was researching about Chorales and sacred music and trying to pin the correct biblical passages to the words. This is how my mind works.

And where did I land in this cacophony of beautiful music and lyrics? On a lamentation I had never heard of, sung by Bob Dylan, in that raspy voice that I have never quite liked! (I know, I know, unbelievable, right? Laugh. It’s true.) But today, I finally learnt to appreciate the poignancy of his voice.

Last night, I looked up to a black sky, peppered with stars, and one just fell down not too far from my horizon. It was a long and vivid wishing star, and I was thankful for:

– my living family,

– my long departed family,

– old loyal, trustworthy, real and compassionate friends,

– gentle and kind and empathetic new friends,

– a young car mechanic who spent time helping me just because, pro bono,

– a young professional who didn’t know me from Adam but reached out to guide me,

– an old man with tears in his eyes who gave me his shaking shoulder to lean on,

– a little boy who presented me with his dearest friend, Curly the Tarantula,

– a teenager who gave me her advice on affairs of the heart,

– my two loyal pups who have never ever failed me, Milly and Thibault,

– my “rock of Gibraltar” and best buddy who helps me decipher life’s labyrinths.

So much to be grateful for… Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. May you so be blessed as well.

Every Grain of Sand

The Circles of Life

November 17, 2024

My convoluted thinking…

I woke up today to the view of 2 circles: the rising sun and the lingering moon. I thought of that carousel of life, the circle game. So I pondered about a washing machine, that I watched -mesmerized- the other day.

Why? Because it kept spinning right about two circles, but kept twirling left about 3 times, and then turning right again another 2 circles. And on and on for half an hour.

My mind was spinning as well, as I was reading yet about another circle (Solzhenitsyn’s In The First Circle), and reflected about my own life that sometimes has spun forward once or twice, and then backwards three or four times! And on and on.

For some reason, when I went back to read, the pages had flipped back to the beginning, to the Russian author’s note. I was struck with what he said about his novel,

“ In order to give it even a feeble life, to dare show it, and to bring it to a publisher, I myself shortened and distorted it—or, rather, took it apart and put it together anew, and it was in that form that it became known. And even though it is too late now, and the past cannot be undone—here it is, the authentic one. By the by, while restoring the novel, there were parts that I refined: after all, I was forty then, but am fifty now.”

Well, we cannot change our past, but old age gives us a chance to refine it! Of course, with some caveats. I do believe in karma, so you can’t really go quite “tabula rasa”.

That washing machine day happened to be my Father-in-Law’s birthday. He would have been 102 years old. He died at 70, way too young nowadays. So, looking at today’s circles on a beautiful morning, I thought of him, and the other old dead relatives of mine, and how strange the whole cycle of life is. Nasty surprises always await around a corner.

I am reminded of my poor Father who at 77 years of age went to buy his New York Times early one morning, strolling down his favorite sidewalk in his little town, only to be hit by an out of control Mercedes Benz, and ended up seriously injured for almost half a year. His big thick head cracked the windshield, and the totaled car cracked his bones. Yet, he recovered and lasted another 10 years.

One never knows when we will get either clobbered and wiped out, or get the news that our days are numbered.

The other day I took my dogs for a walk, and they instinctively went chasing after a flock of little white birds, and made me fall and dragged me a few inches. I didn’t break anything, but it was quite a wake up call. As my younger brothers jokingly said, “well, this is how it all starts, right? A broken bone that doesn’t heal and then POOF, that’s it!”. Never fails to have younger brothers with a macabre sense of humor.

I have always been attuned to serendipity, and lo and behold, I am reading various articles this morning, after my encounter with the circles, and came across a Psalm I had never read, and one section stood out:

“Seventy is the sum of our years,

or eighty if we are strong,

and most of them are fruitless toil,

for they pass quickly and we drift away” (Ps 90:10)

Old age, the carousel of life, the circle game, the fruitless toils, the alpha and the omega, birth and death, the seasons in between, the sun and the moon on a glorious Maine Sunday morning. Life is beautiful!

The Scorpion

November 17, 2024

Ah, the scorpion as rendered by my talented sister Cynthia Dillon. Poor creature, it does not enjoy good fame. It has always been maligned, but, as the story goes, he can’t help himself. It stung the frog because it was his nature. The Smithsonian has a charming tango between 2 scorpions engaging in a mating ritual. Fun to watch.

However, some female scorpions will give the macho tango dancer a final coup de grâce, so to speak. Which brings to mind a few not-so-nice references to the arachnid:

Macbeth’s “O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife…” and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Falsehood is a scorpion that will sting itself to death.” 

THE SCORPION, by Hilaire Belloc

The Scorpion is as black as soot,
He dearly loves to bite;
He is a most unpleasant brute
To find in bed at night.
THE SCORPION, by Roald Dahl

...The scorpion's name is Stingaling,
A most repulsive ugly thing,
And I would never recommend
That you should treat him as a friend...

The Frog

November 17, 2024

Always marvel at nature, and how it can fool you! Because I used to think peepers were night time birds, I was the cause of a lot of mirth. When you are in unfamiliar territory, anything goes.

Which leads me to this blob below, that I thought was a marvelous stone/big pebble, that someone had placed on an outdoor table. I observed it, tried to pick it up, didn’t get close enough, it jumped and re-settled, and gave me enough of a shock but plenty of time to take the photo.

I woke up this morning to learn about psychological manipulations and how to re-wire brains, all in the context of computers, algorythms, robots, zombies, religion, the military, PTSD, survival, old age, trauma, chameleons, hospitals, internal organs, and disease.

This is too much fun for me, so I have to dig in and find the common link. And all because of a disguised rock that was, what, a “stone” frog? A “tree” frog?

Seeing The World in Manichean Terms? Not All Have The Gift of Gab

November 9, 2024

UNSOLICITED ADVICE to my grandchildren, when they are old enough:

Have you ever been told that you see the world in “Manichean terms”? I have, many a time, and with derision. Which sent me on an expeditionary travel down the proverbial rabbit hole to understand exactly what this meant, other than the simplistic dualistic way of seeing things good or evil.

Through a bit of research, historical and theological, I was reminded that it is a heresy: the Episcopal Church has a short description, and the Catholic Church delves deeper into history and philosophy. St. Augustine dappled with it and in it (and no, I don’t mean dabble!).

I realized that if someone tells you you see the world in “Manichean terms”, they are, in essence, sophists looking for an easy and superficial way to insult your intelligence and bring you down. Don’t be fooled and fall for it! Not all of us have the gift of gab, so it can be difficult to have a quick and clever retort. It is especially so for those of us who speak more than 1 language! Trust me on this.

In general, lawyers are always labeled as sophists, because they are seen as engaging in the whys and what-ifs and what-thens, and as the devil’s advocates. Again, it is a superficial rendering of a profession that, although flawed, provides an alternative to war!

However, I also concluded that the reality is that modern-day sophists (who have no clue of the Platonic/Socratic/Protagoras discourses) have no real knowledge: they are just clever users of arguments that are presented as true but are really false, in order to deceive others. (If you like simpler rabbit holes, check Britannica).

They are obfuscators, who know how to lie and confuse with great finesse, use clever words, ominous labels, or grandiose terminology because they know the average person may not necessarily understand the whole context.

In other words, they are what the Argentines used to call “chantapufis”. So there! There’s nothing new under the sun…

The Road Not Taken? I was Foolishly Duped and Took The Wrong Turn!

November 9, 2024

Reading recently about Robert Frost’s famous poem “The Road Not Taken”, I discovered why he wrote it. (Here is a wonderful description of Frost’s “joke” and an analysis of the poem itself).

I found the story amusing, because I have also spent half a century, like his poet friend, wondering which way to take. Now, at the sunset years of my life, I have come to yet another crossroad, but this time I have decided to take the liberty of amending Frost’s last stanza:

HIS OPUS:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

MY REFRAME:

I am now telling this with a sigh

As it has been ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I was foolishly duped and took the wrong turn,

And stumbled and fell and saw hell,

But now I found the one less traveled by,

And that has made and will make all the difference.

“Friends” and Disappointment

November 9, 2024

My little friends… Though missing here is the doe with her 2 bambis and one adopted fawn that I have seen early this September. I see the foursome early morning and they greet me by not running away. They just stare. Just like these guys. They don’t care. They feel safe.

Ah…my little friends… well… I am evaluating what the terms “friendship” and “friends” truly mean. I have had joys and disappointments with friends throughout my life, but it has only been recently, these last couple of years or so, when I have seriously pondered about what being a friend is all about.

And, like I have always said to my kids, ad nauseum, there’s nothing new under the sun and all clichés and stereotypes have a basis in truth. So, fairweather friends? Yes, I’ve known them all.

However, for the first time in my life I am faced with a conundrum: “friends” who chose betrayal rather than truth. And the perennial question is: Why? Why lie? Why betray? I will never know the truth. My biggest shock: “friends” I have known for half a century have been weak, feeble and ugly. “Acquaintances” of recent years have been solid, stolid and strong. Go figure! Another lesson to write about to my grandkids.

For some reason, my little friends remind me of guanacos!

Québec, I Remember, and How Memories Can Play Tricks

November 9, 2024

Today I discovered that Québec’s motto is Je Me Souviens, or, I Remember. Funny that I was remembering that beautiful city, which I’ve had the great fortune to visit twice, and the last time was exactly a year ago, to the day.

I remember its magnificent buildings, churches, monasteries, museums, history, food and friendly people. Time to plan another visit. It is closer to where I live than going to New York City!

Memories can play tricks on one’s mind. Some of the many sweet things I remember nowadays remain warm and pleasant and charming and fun or bittersweet, because time flies. But every now and then, there are sweet memories that pop up and are tainted by the realization that I might have been under a delusion. My conundrum: would I have been better off knowing that I was under a delusion? Or would it have been better to know the harsh realities right then and there? I don’t know.

I once returned to the Bahamas, to a place that had been idyllic and gorgeous in every sense of the words. But, between the memories and the reality of the return, the place had deteriorated to an ugly and disaster-ridden spot. It was totally depressing to accept that sometimes, you are better off not going back!

The same is true with memories of people. An old friend who had been a cherished friend, turned out to be deranged. Many years had gone by since we had last seen each other, but the reunion was special and it seemed we were continuing where we had left off. However, within a few days, the ugly truth became quite apparent, and the heartache and sadness were too much to bear.

Such is life, I guess. My parents would say, time to read Balzac’s The Human Comedy. Or go listen to Pavarotti and laugh!

Rule of Law Programs and the Monitoring & Evaluation Conundrum – a Snapshot

November 4, 2024

One of the things that has always bothered me about Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of international Rule of Law programs has been the innumerable risks involving incorrect data collection and input, and the ever present danger of conflicts of interest, not to mention lack of experience and expertise. Add to all this the challenges of violence, a hostile host government, war, and other calamities, and the writing on the wall is quite clear.

Oversight of a project does not mean that M&E is actually being carried through. A while ago, I gathered some of my thoughts. I wonder how current they are. My review of reports and audits makes me think that not much has changed.

Historically, some U.S. Government agencies were late in understanding the importance of M&E to determine the impact that foreign assistance programs were having.  In the last few years, I always kept hearing that we needed to answer then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s “so what?” question regarding how effective our international aid projects were.

Many multi-million dollar programs had no internal nor external M&E experts to provide guidance.  In Afghanistan, for example, the U.S. Embassy’s 2013 rule of law strategy failed to incorporate any performance measures.  (For an interesting report that reveals what the problems relating to M&E were at the time, I suggest you read the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) audit).

Through evaluation tools, M&E programs aim to demonstrate program impact.  This, in turn, provides feedback to guide program implementation staff to enhance future programming by identifying planned and unplanned results to allow donors, implementers and host country beneficiaries to understand what works and does not work, how to maximize efficiencies, and address any issues that might arise before they become a problem or a cataclysmic risk.

In government contracts, the Statement of Work (SOW) may provide the indicators to be used.  Sometimes, the implementer may develop a series of iterative evaluations as well, which might include a training evaluation and an audit, a trainee-satisfaction survey, a mentoring plan, and -depending on the program- a public outreach component.

Performance indicators may combine the Foreign Assistance Framework Indicators (F-Indicators), as well as customized indicators, with the goal to develop and utilize indicators that measure outputs and impact in the short, medium and long-term of the project.

Of course, the most perfect and all-encompassing M&E plan will not work unless both donors, implementers and beneficiaries take into account the critical risks inherent in, or coming from, the place of performance, and agree on some critical assumptions that, at the very least, encompass three contexts: political, security, and operational.

What I have learnt is that decision-makers and bureaucrats from both the government side and the corporate side make choices and issue “diktats” without having had the benefit of operating in the environment where the program is being carried out.  I never gave it much thought until I witnessed it first-hand.  Therefore, it is imperative that the “experts” who are hired to handle M&E issues understand that they may be dealing with people who have little or no knowledge of the hurdles the technical staff face day in and day out.

Sometimes, the mere fact that electricity is not available or the internet connection does not work, may mean that M&E data cannot be incorporated into a database.

While I applaud the importance of M&E in program management, I see some problem areas:

Who monitors and evaluates the authenticity and the accuracy of the M&E plan and its implementation in-house?  In other words, if I am the donor, would I fully trust the contractor or grantee to monitor and evaluate itself?

Through my own observations, I came to the conclusion that the Chief of Team of a project would have to have not only “Rule of Law” and international development experience, but a keen understanding of the host country – for example Afghanistan -, business development, human resources, management, accounting, psychology, history, security, culture, philosophy, and -most importantly- an understanding of how the State Department works. Who can meet all those requirements?

If the donor hires a third-party to do an indepent M&E of a program, how comfortable can the donor and implementer be that the third-party will do an unbiased and truly objective M&E assessment?  What are the chances that the M&E firm will have a former implementer employee evaluating the very same program that person put in place?

Rule of Law programs are not immune from a myriad of conflicts of interest.  Who pays attention to these things?