Waverley
United Church
Decoration Day Service
August
19, 2001
Speaker:
Orland
French
Continued
When the term global village was coined, the Internet
had not yet been invented. The global village of the
day referred to the apparent shrinking of the world
by rapid communications through radio, telephone and
television. Even those rapid forms of communication
pale when compared to the instant access to the world
available to a lone individual working at home on
a personal computer.
One of the downsides of the Internet is that we have
millions of people beavering away on their computers,
in touch with thousands of people around the world
but having no idea who lives next door to them. Or,
in extreme cases, who lives in their own house.
Just because we have instant communication doesn’t
mean we have personal communication. The other day
I watched two boys, about 11 or 12 years old, walking
down the street. It was an extremely hot day and they
were wearing nothing but bathing suits. Except one
was carrying a CD-player and wearing earphones. Apparently
his friend was so boring he would rather listen to
his CDs.
You’ve seen other examples. A young couple strolling
hand in hand down the beach, she looking lovingly
into his eyes, he speaking earnestly ... into a cell
phone.
While
communications allow us to call anywhere on the planet,
other opportunities have scattered us across the country
and around the world, ending the tradition of the
family burial ground.
My Dad had the foresight to buy a family plot with
eight spaces. He thought the whole family could use
it. However, an interesting pattern has developed
in our lifetime. No longer is each succeeding generation
buried in the same graveyard.
You can go into the cemetery and find your parents
graves, and their parents, and their parents’
parents. But for many of us who are returning home
today, that could be the end of the line. We’ve
moved away and we are part of other communities.
Where will we be laid to rest?
We were scattered by the age of education and mobility.
Many of us moved away in search of jobs and careers
and now we live in other communities across Canada
and around the world. My own immediate family has
members in Ottawa, Calgary, Caledon, Craighurst, Portland,
Oregon and Stafford, England. And, of course, Belleville,
Ontario.
We keep in touch by telephone and e-mail and the occasional
visit. We rarely write letters, except maybe postcards
on holiday to brag a bit. Today is one of the occasions
when some of us get together and meet our friends
and our relatives and try to knit a few bonds with
our community.
I hope you all have a good day here, reinforcing your
bonds with this church and this community. Our parents
and our grandparents worked hard for this church and
its congregation; with continued support and God’s
will this church will be a strong presence in this
village for decades to come.
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