Lonesome in Langlade?

A bit of France off the coast of Canada.  The islands of St. Pierre, Miquelon and Langlade are rich with anomalies, not the least being their status as France’s last foothold in North America.  A hermit of Langlade off the coast of Miquelon island rich with mysteries, not the least being his status as Langlade’s last human inhabitant of this soon to be uninhabited island of France’s last foothold in North America.  Not much is known of this individual, but with our application of creative non-fiction, let’s fill in the blanks.

 Where to begin?  The mouth hell, shall we?  The waters between Miquelon (Michael) and Langlade (a corruption of “l’île à l’Anglais” or Englishman’s Island) are called Gueule d’Enfer (Mouth of Hell).  More than 600 shipwrecks have been recorded in this point since 1800.  Half-wild horses, the survivors of earlier ship wrecks, graze on the grassy hillocks.  The accidental equine tourists or Langlade, are joined by the intentional residents – white-tailed deer, brought over from Canada in the 1950’s.  These fully-wild forest cattle have proliferated in the thick brush and stunted spruce forests.  I’ve described how the largest of the four-legged creature of Langlade arrived.  How the bi-pedals?  That’s where creative non-fiction comes in.

According to the 1999 census, Langlade Island was almost deserted.  Only one inhabitant.  Langlade’s sole year-round inhabitant being Charles Lafitte.  That’s it.  Census data is sparse and anecdotal info curt, but the imagination can inveigle what’s missing.  We know how the birds and the bees and horses and the deer got here.  How did Charles la light here?  And wh why does he stay?  Perhaps, he prefers the anonymity of the near permanent fog to the exposure to the madding crowd.  Or, more likely, a woman put him here (if he were to explain).

Assuming old Charles is no horse whisperer, who does he talk to when no one is listening?  Mr. Lafitte has dogs.  Those dogs surely accompany him in all kinds of weather, whether it be meteorological, psychological, or philosophical.  The gods didn’t burden canines with the curse of mood.  When a man locks his wife and his dog in the trunk of his car, when he lets them out, he always knows which one will be glad to see him.  What kind of dogs were they?

If it were me, because my own experience with dogs, they would be Turkish shepherds.  I love the hilarity of dachshunds, but the eventuality of back issues and totality of their uselessness would prohibit them from being companions at my hermitage.  The beauty and power of the German shepherd appeals greatly to my esthetic appetite, but in a starvation scenario I might appeal to those great big teeth she has.  No, give the soft mouth and hard bark of an Anatolian mix.  Enough Pyr (Great Pyrenees) in her takes the lion out of Anatolian.  Or Akbash (white face) mix, cousin to the Anatolian (Karabash = black face).  You can’t beat having two companions, one of which you always know will be there, the other you never know where she is.  But, the most curious thing about Charles Lafitte is not his chance to be a hermit or his choice of canine companions, but his nickname.

The hermit Charles Lafitte, at some point, acquired the moniker “de Gaulle”.  I doubt that this name stuck simply because he is French.  I would have thought Napoleon would have better suited for a superficial and derisive reference.  I guess having the first name Charles would be a good start towards the application of “de Gaulle”.  Seems too easy.  Maybe he had a big nose.  Well, come on, a Frenchman with big nose…doesn’t that go with the territory?  Possibly, it disparagingly likens Mr. Lafitte’s estrangement to man as a distant comparison to Charles de Gaulle’s government in exile as a resistance to the Nazi occupation of France in WWII.  If Charles’ isolation was known to be connected to some criminal connection, I imagine he would be known as “Jean” Lafitte, you know, like the 19th century pirate.  If a woman sent him to Langlade, I might call him Charles “Defeat”.  If he was simply a mad man, how about “Chucky”.

I could go on, but interest is probably waning for you the reader and the morning sun is waxing for me.

P.S. Charles Lafitte passed away in July of 2006…just before the road on the isthmus between Miquelon and Langlade opened to traffic.

P.P.S.  I researched Charles de Gaulle and was reminded that the french general led the government in EXILE against the Vichy Government.  This explains Charles LaFitte’s nickname.

Do Not Leave Children Unattended in Waiting Room – Episode #79

Last week, four blond, blue eyed, fare skinned people sat in the a medical clinic waiting room.  One would guess these people were related based on the physical characteristics.  I was one of them.  Heck, I thought, we could have been related except…  The other three, all children, took up all of the other chairs in the room.  The youngest, a boy, sat sideways with feet on a second chair and a ballcap on a third.  The oldest, a teen girl, sat on two chairs with a windbreaker on another and a purse on a fourth.  The middle child, a gangly boy, laid across three chairs, his boat like shoes snaked through the armrest of a fourth and his handheld video game extending under the armrest of a fifth.  It occurred to me, who raised these kids?

I heard the staff behind the window complaining loudly about these discourteous folks.  I agreed but ignored it.  Don’t meddle.  The voices I heard were clearly meant to alert the rude guests to straighten up and act properly in public.  Several times a clinician poked a head through the window and glared out.  To no avail.  I thought, they want someone to be embarrassed.

Eventually, the female of the group stood, grabbed her stuff and walked through the patient entrance.  The youngest boy hurriedly followed with his stuff and was whining about being left behind.  The gangly boy, who was left behind, sensed the absence of his family at some point and went to the window to ask where his sister and brother went.  I wondered, where are the parents?

The woman, confronted by the deserted boy, instead looked out the window at me, puzzled, and asked, “He’s not yours?”

Pub Theology Points Brown, Branches Pruned, Full Blown Contagion 3/20/2018

Ice Breaker

Brownie points.  When the modifier is capitalized, “Brownie”, it refers to merit points earned for advancement (origin: young Girl Scouts known as Brownies, merit Brownie points for advancement).  When the modifier is lower case, “brownie”, it refers to the credit one gets from their boss (manager, spouse, etc.) for sucking up (origin: brown nosing, ingratiation, flatterer).  Can one advance in any organization by accumulating only one kind of B(b)rownie points?  What is your experience with advancement with regard to merit and ingratiation?  Can ingratiation be a promoting factor in family and social hierarchies?

 Question of the Night

John 15.2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 15.6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
When does the spiritual pruning of the human soul bear fruit:
When you develop character from the hard lessons you learn?
When you acquire discipline which brings respect and the ability to earn?
When you accept deep flaws as fruitless branches, which you and your spirit then prune, pile and burn?

Other Questions:

Emotional Contagion (EC) is the tendency for humans to feel the emotions of people around them.  The ability to transfer moods between humans is innate.  This is a powerful fact and behind some the world’s religions, dictators, and the history of war.  When have you been affected by EC?  When have you subjected others to EC?  Do you always know when EC is active?

Pagan Kennedy ~ Want to know the secret to a longer life? Don’t ask these dead longevity researchers.  The greatest gains in longevity have occurred not because of longevity research but because of public sanitation, clean water and the control of infectious diseases.  However, Environmental activists are being jailed and government research is being curtailed.  For you, what environmental or social issues would you join in mass protest for or against?  Which government research would you contribute your money to?

Diesel therapy is a purported form of punishment in which prisoners are shackled and then transported for days or weeks. It has been described as “the cruelest aspect of being a federal inmate.” It has been alleged that some inmates are deliberately sent to incorrect destinations as an exercise of diesel therapy.  If this “therapy” only promotes cruelty and results often in insanity, why does this form of torture continue?

Lyric Notes: The Beatle’s lyrics for “Girl”:
Was she told when she was young; That pain would lead to pleasure?
Did she understand it when they said:
That a man must break his back; To earn his day of leisure? Will she still believe it when he’s dead?
John Lennon ~ “I was just talking about Christianity, in that – you have to be tortured to attain heaven… be tortured and then it’ll be alright…”
Wow, your comments, please!  Who tells young girls what to expect from a painful adult life?  Are pain, backbreaking work, and then death a proper instruction to the young for the intermission between childhood and heaven?

Imagine …you are a hermit/hermitess living on an island separated from humanity by a strait called the “Mouth of Hell”.  The last census counted the island population of 1.
What is the appeal of isolation and separation and being far from the madding crowd?
Mainlanders gave you a descriptive nickname.  What is it and what does it describe about you?
The sea currents slowly reconstruct the ancient isthmus to land.  Soon, a road will bring a throng of day trippers to your quiet paradise.  For you, is losing solitude and gaining companionship too often like trading your hermitage for hell?