The Power of Prayer

This blog has come out of the kidnapping of a toddler in Sparwood. 

Sparwood has been a troubled area as far back as I can remember.

The whole Crows Nest area was developed because of the coal.. black coal.. high grade.. but dirty, black coal..

..and the area has had it’s share of tragedy.

Mining accidents were certainly plentiful in years past.  Underground mining is not safe:  even today with all our regulations and technology.  People still die on the job.

And off the job.

When I was in grade school I remember a mine disaster near Sparwood.  My father worked for the company but that is not why I remember – I remember because a man came to our class and took out one of the students. I had classmates move away afterward.. children who’s fathers or uncles had been inside and died, or outside and decided the price was too high.

Before that though, maybe 50 years before, there was the Frank Slide … an interpretive center has been created explaining, or trying to explain, that one.  No one knows exactly why it happened: maybe a fault in the geology, but many believe it had to have been related to underground mining. 

I remember looking at the record book in dad’s office, CNI, in Fernie.  It contained hand written records of births and deaths in the area since the turn of the 20^th C.

There were a whole lot more births than deaths. People dyed from being born, all sorts of diseases.. and all of them were younger than I am today.  Many passed on because of lung disease.

I was sixteen when I saw that book.. I have since tried to find it but no one seems to know where it is kept. I would like to see it again as I don’t remember the details.. but I do know how shocked I was.  “Oh the humanity!”

People were initially drawn to the Sparwood area from all over the globe, to work: that is why dad came.. that is why my friend John ‘Boat’ came from Italy.  He immigrated to work in the coal mines: “Hey John.. How’d you get to Fernie?” “Boat” he said.. pointing to the sky.  The name stuck.

John is still there, and he speaks English.  Fernie is now a very touristy town.. but Sparwood is still mainly about the mines. .. but there is also the life style. 

People who love the outdoors love the area.  The water is clean and plentiful: beautiful lakes and rivers.  It is a wonderland for hunters and fishermen.  The mountains are the Rockies.. beautiful, majestic: dangerous.  Sparwood has lost more than a few of it’s best citizens to avalanches. 

You can go rock climbing, river rafting, hiking, prospecting, fossil hunting, sight seeing, camping – but these too come with risks, and people are killed every year in outdoor accidents. 

But life is full of risk isn’t it.  Someone said (I think it was in one of those chain-like-emails) “You think adventure is dangerous, try routine!  That’ll kill ya!”

You can still make good money at the mines.  They have good pension plans (when they don’t fold) and hire both men and women, skilled and unskilled workers.  But it can be a rocky road for many.

The ‘big’ money in natural resource communities is always boom or bust.  Life is tied to the stock market: high roads and crashes.   – and you never know what will come next.  It is hard to plan. 

Sparwood’s neighboring communities, Natal and Michele, were torn down when I was in grade six.  One day these two towns were simply .. gone. 

In such an unstable environment, people are often overwhelmed and turn to drinking and drugs.

Whereas Fernie and Elkford focus on life style.. Sparwood is still a mining town.  Crime can be high as the economic health of the area is chained to the economy and health of the mines.

Even in the good times people struggle: like people winning the lottery they aren’t quite sure how to handle the windfall.  Domestic violence is higher in Sparwood than many other places, and the kids are often the ones to suffer.  They can be neglected, spoiled, mistreated.

While the area has it’s share of strong, creative, individuals, it’s one of the few frontier areas left in the world.  It is the sort of area where ‘odd’ is not unusual.. the sort of area in which a troubled, dangerous person blends in as eccentric.. creepy, but..

A toddler has gone missing in Sparwood.  Facebook is full of the anger and outrage people feel right now, directed at a fellow they believe has taken him. 

But I think it is important that we focus our energy on a positive outcome for the little guy, not on the creep we ‘think’ has taken him.  

There has always been evil in the world, but right now this little boy needs positivity:  good begets good I think. 

Say a prayer.. think good thoughts.. believe the little guy is going to make it home: unharmed.  

Build it and they will come.