To the editor,
In regards to last week's article "To have and hold on," in grade 7 I moved to a southern Ontario city and took so much crap for being from NS—from peers, parents and teachers—it scarred me for life. I used to wonder how much shit these people could get into if another ethnicity, Native or French perhaps, was so openly targeted by their constant little jokes (of course at one time they were; now most people keep that stuff to themselves for fear of being outed as bigots).
Later, as an adult, I was twice insulted while living in BC by those who proclaimed to me that Maritimers "steal Westerners' jobs," "are all on welfare" and "come out here and become junkies." How easily they all forget whose money and effort funded the building of our country. Regional pride aside, I'm happy to be living in Nova Scotia despite having half the opportunities and earning half the pay I would doing the same job in a "have" province, because as we native-born Nova Scotians and come-from-aways know, we have something they'll never have: Our fat, rich Maritime spirit and personality.
P.S. Why would anyone develop the natural, serene beauty of Point Pleasant Park for use by tourists (who probably never go there), while neglecting the needs of HRM citizens who've used it their whole lives? There's already one park, Citadel Hill, that rarely sees visits from locals.
By J. Rolly
