Lydia Schoch

Forgotten Heroes is a series of posts about extraordinary men and women who are (probably) not remembered by the average person.  Previous heroes include Josephine Butler. 

If you know of a forgotten hero who should be included in this series let me know about him or her in the comment section or via my contact form. 

Time: 1873.

Place: Toronto, Ontario.

John Howard had a plan.

He and his wife, Jemima, had been living on a 160-acre property they called High Park for about 35 years. It was located in the County of York, west of Toronto. In 1873 they decided to deed their land to the city of Toronto with a few stipulations: the Howards could continue to live at Colborne House for the rest of their lives, alcohol could never be sold on the property, the name High Park would be retained, and the property would remain free for public use.

Toronto’s city council agreed. After John and Jemima’s deaths their house was eventually turned into a small museum.

138 years later High Park is the largest park within the boundaries of Toronto. A third of the land remains in its natural state. Without this undisturbed land, air and water many species would probably die out in this area of Ontario.

High Park is also a heavily used recreation area for the millions of people who live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). An individual or group could spend all day experiencing the free dog park, playgrounds, zoo, pond, ornamental gardens, hiking and bicycling trails, tobogganing hill, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, picnic areas, and occasional guided walking tours.

If they were interested and had a little extra cash they could also visit the Colborne house museum, a small restaurant, food stands, a day camp for children, ice rink, outdoor swimming pool, and annual summer performances of Shakespearian plays.

An act of generosity performed generations ago has improved the lives of millions of people. Since 1873 the city has grown around High Park. Had the land not been set aside it would probably look like any other area of Toronto – a mixture of condos, apartment buildings, businesses, houses for wealthier families, and the occasional small strip of grass or flowers.

This isn’t only John’s story, though. If you live in a country that has parks there are reasons why that land was set aside. At some point a man or woman deeded that land to your community or fought for the funding to keep it maintained.

Respond

Sometimes there are plaques or small monuments honouring these individuals. The next time you’re at a national or local park keep an eye out them and then come back here and tell us what they had to say.

Final reminder – tomorrow is the last day to take the survey on this blog I talked about earlier this week. 

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, poetry, videos, photos and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

No. Sometimes all it takes is one person to stand up and say, “No.” What happens next isn’t as important as letting those around you know that not everyone agrees with what is happening.

Horn of Africa: On the Brink of a Humanitarian Crisis. I wish this photo essay could have included examples of what life was like in this area of the world before the drought. There are powerful photographs in this collection but it’s odd that those of us in the west almost never see examples of happy people in Africa. Stories about this continent are virtually always about war, civil unrest or starvation. It’s still worth checking out, though. Sensitive readers take note: a few pictures are of dead children.

Updating High School English. Now this is a thought-provoking debate: should the books assigned to high school students be updated to include more modern selections? While there is definitely merit to exposing adolescents to stories that have stood the test of time even this avid, lifelong reader knows what it’s like to slog through a dreary book. (*cough* The Great Gatsby *cough*).

Flashed Faces Distortion Effects. One of the best optical illusions I’ve ever seen is in the video embedded in this link.

My Beliefs. I love this.

Finally, the most beautifully mouldy peach I’ve ever seen (Photo credit Luigi Chiesa):

This week I inhaled Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis. I hadn’t heard of the Athapascan Indians before but this was a fantastic legend about two elderly women who are abandoned by their tribe during a long winter of starvation. It’s so rare for any story to portray older women as heroes instead of as people who need to be saved!

What have you been reading?

One year ago yesterday this blog was born.

Happy blogiversary to On the Other Hand! I can’t believe how fast the last twelve months have passed.

There are millions of other blogs out there. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this one. I still get a thrill when I open up my mailbox and read the comments you’ve left on recent (or not so recent!) posts.

Here are the top ten posts of the past year according to how often they’ve been viewed:

10. Has the Internet Destroyed Our Social Skills?

9. How (Not) to Solicit Charitable Donations.

8. Life After Faith: Now What?

7. Non-Theistic Morality.

6. A Cure for Nostalgia?

5. Does Privilege Corrupt Us?

4. Why is Violence More Acceptable Than Sex?

3. 5 Reasons Why You Should Stop Reading the News.

2. 6 Reasons Why I Don’t Wear Makeup.

1. What the Quiet People Are Thinking.

My all-time favourite post, though, is still It’s Never Just Gossip.

Survey

Would you take a short survey about this blog? Your answers will help me to improve On the Other Hand as we sail into the second year. If you’re interested in participating keep in mind it is only open through Sunday evening (August 7).

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, videos, charts and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Aiming for Flow. If only finding your flow was as easy as creating a chart about it!

From The Importance of Manners:

You have the right to expect polite behavior from my child.  On that same note you have the right to expect polite behavior from me, and my husband, and your next door neighbor, and the guy with the weird emo haircut at the grocery store.  And we all have the right to expect the same from you.

Why Failure is Not Fatal. A long but excellent article on why and how failure can be a good thing. It includes multiple TED talks on the subject so feel free to only watch the ones you’re really interested in.

Wake-Up Call: Write Your Own Obituary. When I first began reading this I found the idea morbid. Writing your own obituary seemed bizarre- who are we to decide how those we wil one day leave behind remember us? There is something to be said for periodically looking at the big picture and figuring out if what we do is still in harmony with what we value and believe.

Our Therapy Dog. This made me smile.

What have you been reading?

I’m starting a new series of posts here at On the Other Hand about extraordinary men and women who are (probably) not remembered by the average person. Yes, the drawing on the left is of a young Josephine Butler!

History buffs, if you know of a forgotten hero who should be included in this series let me know about him or her via the contact form. 

Time: The mid 1860s- early 1900s.

Place: Liverpool, England.

What might your life have been like if you were born poor and female 150 years ago in England?

The jobs available to women of your station in this period were limited and paid pitifully. There was no welfare, no unemployment, no medicaid or medicare for people too old or ill to care for themselves. There were workhouses and other charitable organizations for the indigent but the conditions in them were, in many cases, horrific. Many people avoided these forms of assistance unless they had no other option.

You’re a pregnant 15 year old scullery maid whose middle-aged employer has been interfering with you for six months. When you begin to show you’re cast out of his home. No other home will hire you without a letter of recommendation so you begin to work as a prostitute to avoid starvation.

You’re a 12 year old girl who was snatched off the street while walking home from an errand and subjected to a humiliating, painful gynaecological exam to prove that you don’t have a venereal disease. Thanks to Contagious Diseases Act this was perfectly legal and could be done to any woman suspected of being a prostitute.

You’re a twenty-four year old woman who has just been raped. It is, of course, your fault. The man who attacked you would never have been provoked had you been a decent woman.

An embryonic feminism has just begun to address the deep social, legal, financial, religious and other inequities between men and women but so far the vast majority of early feminists were focused on the lives of women from wealthy families. A few have recently begun to work with poor, fallen women but it always with the sense that you somehow deserved or wanted what happened to you.

And then you hear about a woman named Josephine Butler who invites former prostitutes to live with her, her husband and their three teenage sons, an unthinkable act at a time where women from Josephine’s station weren’t even suppose to know about the types of human misery she encountered in her work every day.

Sick women who succumb to their illnesses are buried in alongside Josephine’s niece in a private cemetery. Women who recover or who were never physically ill are taught a new trade.

Josephine doesn’t stop there. In 1886 her decades-long effort to repeal the Contagious Diseases Act was finally brought to fruition. The year before she successfully lobbied to raise the age of consent from 13 to 16 to help protect young girls who were being forced into prostitution.

Simply put, Josephine Butler was instrumental in the earliest struggles against the institutionalized discrimination of women and the poor despite a lifetime of poor health, multiple family tragedies and a prevailing culture that was anything but understanding of her values.  I wish I had been born a hundred years earlier so I could have met this incredible human being in person.

Interested in reading more about her? Click here.

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, comic strips, poems, short stories and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Peanuts on Theology. Other titles Snoopy should write: What if I Am Wrong?, How to Discuss Theology Without Irritating People Who Don’t Share Your Beliefs.

Untitled. I’ve posted similar charts on unproductive worrying on Suggestion Saturday in the past but this message bears repeating.

Your Limbs Will Be Torn Off in a Farm Accident. Despite the unsettling title this is the best poem about adapting to (and even thriving in) new circumstances that I’ve ever read. Thank you to my friend Liz for sharing it!

Unto the Third and Fourth Generations. Before you read this imagine the worst and best case scenarios for how we will live in 2031. Now go see what this author thinks it could be like!

First World Problems. An amusing rap song about the myriad of problems facing people in first world countries.

This week I thoroughly enjoyed Ursula K. LeGuin’s The Lathe of Heaven. It tells the story of a man whose dreams change reality. When he awakens the change may be as subtle as a different style of painting hanging in a room or as formidable as the disappearance of billions of humans.

What have you been reading?