Famous Nobodies

I love the fact that I am surrounded by thousands of famous nobodies.  If we were to inspect even a handful of the people in this city, we would be astonished at the talent and treasures that we almost bump into each day.  I say almost because we never touch strangers, and if we happen to we apologize. 

(Did you know that in South Korea, people do not view strangers as a person?  It is like they don't see you at all, so they will just jostle past you, hitting and bumping you because you are of no value since you are not a person, until they are introduced.  Anyways, back to Canada.)

I am reading a history book on my city, which details out the stories behind the names of all the parks, named streets, bridges, and neighborhoods.  I love it.  I love discovering the saints and bureaucrats, entrepreneurs and tragedies that have formed my surroundings.  The thing is, I bet you anything that few or none of them even thought that their lives would turn out that way.  They weren't going to be famous - they were just an immigrant farmer who decided to help others from their home land get a hand up.  Or they were scared spitless as the first permanent missionary west of Winnipeg. 

A couple of examples:

"Rundle Heights, or Rundle Park.  Rev. Robert Rundle (1811-1896)  was the first Protestant missionary to serve at Fort Edmonton.  He was, in fact, the first permanent missionary of any church to settle west of Manitoba.  Rundle was born in England and was sent by the Methodist Missionary Society of England.  In 1840 he came to Rupert's Land - the vast territory held by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) - at the request of the HBC.  Later that year, he came to Fort Edmonton.  Rundle returned to England in 1848."

Now, can you imagine being him?  Vast prairie, winters without central heating, and the only one of your kind.  Courage.  Adventure.  Faith.  Painful loneliness.  Hope.  And I was just wondering why the pretty park by my house was Rundle.  I feel small in the midst of his honour, and sad that few know his story.

Another story - perhaps a more famous one, but a discovery for me.  Edmonton Grads Park.  I thought it was to honour all the grads from high school.  Oooo no, am I ever wrong. 

"Dr. James Naismith (1861-1939), the Canadian-born inventor of basketball, said of the Edmonton Commercial Graduates Basketball Club: 'The Grads have the greatest team that ever stepped out on a basketball floor.'  The players of the legendary Grads were all alumnae of McDougall Commercial High School.  In the 25-year career of the Grads, the team won an unparalleled 502 of 522 games.  These wins included 21 Western Canadian championships, and every Canadian championship from 1922 to 1940.  The Edmonton Grads disbanded in 1940, in part because the team's gymnasium had been taken over by the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan as part of the war effort.

On the international level, the team won so regularly that the international Underwood Trophy was given to them for permanent possession in 1940.  The Grads participated in four Olympic exhibition tournaments from 1924 to 1936, in Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angles, and Berlin.  The team won all 27 of its Olympic matches.  Remarkably, only 28 women played with the Grads throughout the team's illustrious 25-year history.  In addition to bringing Edmonton great fame and honour, the Grads help dispel the common belief that involvement in competitive sports was somehow dangerous or unhealthy for young women."

Thank you, ladies.  Thank you, Coach J. Percy Page, for showing the world what women could do on the court.  Thank you for your excellence, comraderie, hard work, and joy.  Your joy made it possible to see this happen.

Want more?  How about Farnell, the lady who signed up for a job in WWI and found out that she was hired as a secret agent and worked for the the head of western hemisphere operations, Sir William Stephenson - the man called Intrepid.   She later worked at the Rutherford library. I am struck by her obscurity and a Lord of the Rings type ending. Or Gordon Drynan, who used his position with the Canadian National Railways to help coordinate and provide transportation for thousands of physically handicapped children from Alberta and BC to Winnipeg.  Or Betty Cormack, who established the Alberta and Canadian Associations for Community Living, as well as the Winnifred Stewart and Robin Hood Schools for the Mentally Retarded.  Their youngest son was born with Down's syndrome.  What a blessing that turned out to be for them and for thousands of others.

The point of all this is that we never know what adventure awaits us.  If we really work at it, we can stay nobodies who care for nobody and do nothing except live to please ourselves.  But if we get bored enough with that, the curious power of love (aka caring for others), and of adventure just might transform the landscape of all around us and making lives generations from now a lot better.   Yes, you will be a nobody to those who will come.  But you will be joining a great cloud of Famous Nobodies who have gone before.  That is a club that my soul can be at home with.

Quotes taken from Naming Edmonton, published by the City of Edmonton.

Improbability At Its Finest

When something improbable happens to you, you can feel either absolutely horrid if it was bad, or absolutely elated if it was good.  Today, I am elated.

Feeling lonely and wanting to combat that by being around other adults and not just small children, I told my husband that we were going to do a children's program at the library then head to the pool tonight.  When we were at the library, there was another first-time couple there.  He was African, she was Canadian.  Then I heard her say to their son, "Ndio."  and "Asante".  That is Swahili for "yes" and "thank you". 

Many, many moons ago I was a missionary in Tanzania for a couple of summers.  I was in Dar es Salaam, but then travelled through the country to the north and to the south and saw a lot of places.  I learned Swahili and fell in love with the people and the culture.  I considered moving there, and had a Tanzanian "mama and papa", who took special interest in me, sending gifts home for my mom here in Canada.

I went over and introduced to myself.  He perked up when he learned that I had been to Tanzania.  Hardly anyone he has met has been there, and few could find it on a map.  I told him that I was a missionary at the University Dar es Salaam in 2002 & 2003.  He was stunned and told me that he was involved with the same organization and studying there at the same time.  He said he was from Mbeya from the south.  I had been there too, most likely driving through his village. 

We knew the same people and  travelled the same roads.  8,000 miles away.  Now we live only 3 blocks apart.

His wife was most likely serving at a BP's in Vernon the same time that my husband was stationed in Vernon with the army cadets and hanging out at BP's on a regular basis.

I love improbabilities like this.  He was utterly encouraged.  I was elated to relive the memories of that beautiful land.  I was battling loneliness, but not on the same scale that they were.  They just moved here from Vernon, so they really don't know Edmonton or anyone here. 

I love God things like this.  We are going swimming tomorrow, this time with some new friends.