While for the generals Montcalm and Wolfe, "Québéc Citadel" might have connoted heavy artillery, my own scaling of the QC cliffs this past December involved strictly the shorter spelling of "Canon".
I hate everything touristy, so when I find myself for a few days, a tourist with a camera, I feel the need to justify my presence on another’s turf by bringing something to the table: starting a local conversation; transcending the jolly street buskers; creating something witty. Pretentious? Yes, of course… But consider, for a moment, what I have spied (with my little eye).
Contemporary iron serves the interests of economic growth, through construction of attractive railings, along walkways that lead to shops where money will be spent. Yes, I did buy an apple-cinnamon beavertail. And while it’s indeed jolly, to be entertained by these fine institutions of gemshops and minor basilicas, these guns and excavators remind me that cold weather isn’t half as bad as getting your head blown off.
It is in that light, that I am inspired by Isaiah:
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. – Isaiah 2:4
My question, for the new year, then is this: What, exactly needs to be beaten into what, these days?