From the Editor
Farewell to Nova Scotia
By Judi McLeod
Saturday, October 15, 2005
When the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (CBC) television show, Singalong Jubilee popularized the lyrics of the old song Farewell to Nova Scotia, they didn't think someday
people might begin to take them literally.
"Farewell to Nova Scotia,
You sea-bound coast,
Let your mountains dark and dreary be,
For when I am far away on the briny ocean tossed,
Will you ever heave a sign and a wish for me?"
That's the chorus of the haunting melody, recorded by
Canadian singing angel Catherine McKinnon (Something Old, Something New, Arc 256).
Some call Farewell to Nova Scotia "the Nova Scotia Song". Others declare the song was a sailor's lament put to music,
originating with the Acadians,
"It was derived from the Soldier's Adieu, attributed to the
Scottish weaver-poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810)," contends the Encyclopedia
of Music in Canada.
As the leaves were falling this October, Nova Scotia became
"the Maharishi Island of World Peace", at a site tourists the world over flock
to see, the Canso Causeway.
The Global Parliament of World Peace raised its flag at the
scene of Skye Lodge, in the postcard perfect town of Port Hastings, Cape
Breton, a 2-1/2 hour drive from Halifax, the Nova Scotian capital and a world
renowned port.
Nova Scotians, such as "bluenoser" Yours Truly call N.S.
"down home" and "God's country", preferring those terms of endearment to its
Latin name, "New Scotland".
Maharishi Maresh Yogi and company call it "the land of the
rising sun for North America".
Why would Maharishi followers want to practice their
quirky hop-jump flying yogic and transcendental meditation in pastoral,
fisherperson-broke Nova Scotia?
It's in the same question genre of why the United States of
America would allow the world's largest bureaucracy tenure on prime real estate
in Manhattan.
But the followers of the Maharishi--who was once spiritual
adviser to the Beatles--will be doing a lot more than hop-skip flying over
farmer's fields in Nova
Scotia.
They will, among other things, be training politicians from
all over the world.
"The Global Country of World Peace was founded to provide a
global home for peace-loving citizens of more than 100 nations," says a media
release explaining why they landed on the Canadian coast. "The purpose of the Global Parliament
of World Peace is to present the Constitution of the Universe to the world and
provide training programs for the politicians and administrators of every
country in this absolute system of administration, so that suffering and
problems belong to no one and peace, harmony, happiness and fulfillment
dominate the daily life of the people everywhere."
Don't anybody tell Senator Ted Kennedy that it sounds just
like Camelot to me.
Just to think as radio meister Rush Limbaugh was
contemplating that the United Nations even had its own school under the
chairmanship of Kyoto architect Maurice Strong, the University of World Peace
was beginning to take root in Nova Scotia, eons away from its one-time
headquarters in eternally sunny Costa Rica,
Meanwhile, more than a sailor's lament is putting Nova
Scotia on the map and the words Farewell to Nova Scotia are taking on an entire new meaning.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
Most recent by Judi McLeod
Previous articles by Judi McLeod
| 
