Penguins Win the Cup

Day 572, 05:27 • Published in Canada Canada • by Rigour6

Cole Harbour's native son did us all proud Friday night. Although injury forced him to miss the second half of the game, his team prevailed and Sidney Crosby became (if Berry Bettman is to be believed, which I grant you is an open question) the youngest captain ever to hoist the Stanley Cup.

The victory of the underdog Penguins, against an always-impressive and often dominant Detroit red Wings, was all the showcase for our national sport the NHL could have hoped. And the general mood amongst all maritimers was to cheer the Penguins, regarding Crosby as the hometown boy (even if you lived 300 miles away) and to cheer him as such. In this the Penguins win is a source of pride for all maritimers. One of our own has shown he can succeed at the very highest levels.

Minor hockey is not an inexpensive undertaking, and it depends in no small part for its success on countless volunteers. Crosby's success is in part their success. It takes a village, etc.

Would Sidney Crosby have developed if he had not had opportunities in Coles Harbour? Probably not. And he probably wouldn't have been missed. His place would have been taken be some other, less talented player. But if we want to find the Sidney Crosby's of this world, we have to each out to them, to nurture and develop them in their own soil. In our soil.

Somewhere out there, there are other Sidney Crosby's waiting for us, future ecitizens who can contribute greatly to the success of the region, to ECanada as a whole, indeed to the eworld. But will we recruit them, nurture them, allow them to grow in their native soil? Or will we insist instead that their first act be to purchase a moving ticket to Ontario, and in so doing kill their nascent enthusiasm for development? How many ecitizens never invest that first slow fortnight because they don't understand or feel it's worth it?

The challenge of ecitizen development is one for all of us. It includes helping hands, encouraging words, and yes, improved health care for all of eCanada's have-not provinces.


Spem Reduxit vol 1, number 5
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