A Peaceful Thanksgiving Day In Tisdale

FTLComm - Tisdale - Monday, October 8, 2001

The temperature edged its way upward this morning and the gentle breeze cleared the air of the smoke from some burning fields that seemed to poison things yesterday. The long fall morning shadows stretch out across the empty street downtown as a few tourists haul their boats to or from Northern fishing spots. Though some flight crews are just now getting home to their US bases after having left on missions yesterday morning over the desolate desert terrain of Afghanistan, here in Tisdale the only signs of a struggle was this king of the castle exchange over a mound of dirt. The obscenity of war, the scourge of terrorism that prompted this struggle all seem remote to us this Thanksgiving day in our cherish prairie town. Yet a month ago, we, like everyone else, were numbed by the horror's of suicide attackers killing airline passengers and folks on the ground going about their business. Few Canadians do not fully support some armed reaction , but most feel that we have let our defensive forces run into the ground and we are ashamed that we can not do more to assist our neighbours. The action of a society to go to war is a major step and it is this peace you see in these pictures that makes us realise how important and valuable our way of life is and how vital it is to see that it is defended. Were we in Montana or North Dakota, we could have taken pictures just like those on this page, just as peaceful and just about the same kind of people live in those places and we share their horror, their freedom and their outrage. But this day is set aside for us to reflect upon our very good fortune, poor weather, lower crop yields are minor complaints when we recognise our many blessings and just how fortunate we all are, may we be truly thankful. Timothy W. Shire