Looking beyond the blemishes on a pretty face
I’ve always had a penchant for that most argumentative of jobs. The devil’s advocate. Way more fun than simply playing lawyer. And in keeping with that, I have no problem with lending an ear when someone else gets into the game. Today, for example, when Rex Murphy headed up to “Fort Mac” and gave the town a chance to present its case.
I have no doubt that there are prettier places than the shore of a tailing pond. And any time you dig a pit, something is going to look “disturbed”. Go ahead, try it in your back yard. Makes mowing that lawn somewhat more challenging… After two hours of open line discussion, I now realize that there are people who are happy to be up there, and the minor detail of rents / mortgages that are off the scale is not affecting me. My kids, if they go off to find the fortune that eludes them here. Not me.
If you decide to do a literature review, try to pick publications that are “about” the subject. I can understand why the population of “Fort Mac” might have found an article on the local dance halls in GQ to be beside the track. And that pictorial in NatGeo could have spent less time looking at the blemishes on the pretty face.
Rex was sympathetic to the economic joy of the mayor and friends. Jobs are positive: if you haven’t been on the dole for a while, you might want to test the murky waters before declaring the swimming hole as filled with fish. I’m glad I listened in.
