The relentless social media tug of war continues. On one side you have the many citizens of St.John’s, and the province, blasting the council members, developers and anyone else who had a part in the recent destruction of an older home in the capital city. These citizens, enraged at what they describe as a blatant disregard for our cultural heritage, have screamed for the proverbial and sometimes literal lynching of all who they believe have been blinded by the bloodlust of development at the expense of our roots.

On the other side of the article sharing and status strikes are the citizens who see development as an inevitability of progress. Overwhelmed by the derogatory comments and boycotts of anyone involved in this progress they have refrained to their own form of minimization of the opposing sides beliefs and opinions. Calls of ‘tree huggers’ and ‘rubber booters’ have been echoing the discourse of our great province and have been used in unison with comments often following the logic of ‘if you didn’t buy it you didn’t care enough to have a say’. Meanwhile, in both positions it would seem the heart of the argument has been lost.

We are a people who pride ourselves on our heritage and our roots, a point rarely if ever disagreed upon by any members of the populace. We speak proudly in our often indecipherable dialect about the days of the past and the actions of our forefathers. We scoff the big city life even when we live it day to day. We share, as part of our self image, a desire to at least draw some of our identity from our shared cultural heritage. Unless that heritage blocks ‘development’.

Once the argument revolves around stopping a move into the future, even if that movement is a couple of residential homes, the sea of shared values quickly parts. Why? Because like any complex group of intertwined people a shared identity does not mean all attitudes or interpretation of events as they relate to our identity are shared. Progress, or the appearance of it, is as strongly held a belief in modern society. New everything is engrained into our psyches. If its not new its old and old is bad.

However, it would be unfair to characterize the desire for progress with such an oversimplification as has been done. We need to progress and we need to redevelop as a province. This very concept of maintaining the old while progressing into the new is the underlying theme of the very blog you are reading. How does a modern Newfoundlander maintain our cultural roots while staying flexible enough to transition into our role as a Newfoundlander of the future?

We start off, first and foremost, by consciously avoiding the polarization of opinions. We classify ourselves as fellow Newfoundlanders, a people who are friendly and helpful of our neighbours, until of course an article is shared about the tragedy of tearing down a somewhat historic house – then we turn into name callers. The self image of loving our neighbour degrades quickly into a free for all of overly dramatic opinion. For example, if we want to pride ourselves on shared heritage we need to understand that the heritage we proudly purport is created by the shared ‘who’,’what’, ‘why’ and yes the ‘where’ of our people. Don’t confuse progress with a couple of residential homes nor should we confuse it with new. These are not the same thing. Members of our great culture are not ‘tree huggers’ or ‘rubber booters’ because they want to protect a structure that epitomizes many of the ideals of the time and place we proudly hold true to our hearts. They are concerned citizens who want to protect the heritage we all love.

In that same vein we need to understand that an old house does not necessarily make it integral to our heritage. The age and architecture are very important, as well as the role it played in our history, but this must be weighed accordingly against the fact that an old city is constantly walking a line between our ancestors and our offspring – or more simply the past and the future. Old structures, both physical and intellectual, will often need to be tore down leaving only the question of which ones and why.

This brings us to the reality, not the opinion, of this and many other scenarios that are similar. Protecting any old structure over x number of years in age is not going to work and is not beneficial to our heritage. Nor is the concept of private ownership and ‘progress’ grounds for tearing them all down. Our heritage is painted in many shades of beautiful colors not the black and whites of sensationalized opinion. So as we, the great people of Newfoundland, progress from the past to the future lets remember we are neighbours. We are friends and companions on this journey of shaping our province and we need to have a reasonable discourse on the decisions we are making. We can be opposed in thought but never in purpose. The purpose being a better province and identity for everyone who represents it.

#IAMNEWFOUNDLAND: Defining The Self Image of the Modern Newfoundlander is a weekly blog, with a new article every Wednesday, that focuses on the modern Newfoundland experience and how we interpret it into the greater tapestry of our Self Image as a people and a culture. Visit our blog on our website (www.iamnewfoundland.com), Facebook or Twitter (@IAmNewfoundland)

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