Foundations

I came across two newspaper items recently that have made me ponder how interconnected and indebted I am to people, not just the ones in my social network today, but also to my ancestors.

The first article was about a court case involving a couple who refused to acknowledge the authority of the justice system and therefore did not want a lawyer, nor did they want to defend themselves. The article specified that the couple were “Freemen on the land”, an expression I had not encountered before. A quick search for this expression online shed some light on what it means:

"The freeman-on-the-land movement … is a loose group of individuals who believe that they are bound by statute laws only if they consent to those laws. They believe that they can therefore declare themselves independent of the government and the rule of law, holding that the only "true" law is their own interpretation of "common law"."

The second article was an old newspaper clipping of the obituary of my grandfather Alfred Côté. In just over 200 words, this article traced a picture of the networks of people he had been part of. It mentioned family members, the organizations he worked for, the associations he belonged to, and the churches where he had worshipped.

The obituary spoke to me not only of my grandfather, but of who I am. I could identify with some of the values that were his: he was a member of the Saint-Vincent the Paul. I can surmise that I have inherited part of my concern for the more fragile people around me from him. The mention of the churches where he worshipped and of the High Mass that was part of his funeral also remind me that “my” faith was also inherited from generations of believers. I realized from this article that at least four successive generations of Côtés had been printers - ink pulses through Côté veins! Could my love of the written word comes from there as well? The only mention of my dad was his name. But I can clearly picture him bent over the sculptures he carved, deeply immersed in what he was creating. I could not help but think that my love of crafting stories flows from the same source as his creativity did.

The contrast in perspectives underlying the two articles I read is striking. On the one hand, layers upon layers of relationships and dependencies are acknowledged and cherished. On the other, a claim of complete independence from others. The second of these perspectives is very strange to me. I cannot but feel that the people who hold such views have lost touch with their roots and thus cannot really know who they are. They are, literally, “shallow” people, individuals who are not aware of the many layers that are the foundations of their lives.