The Importance of Being Earnest

The Kiwanis Club of North Bay held their ‘Citizen of the Year’ dinner Tuesday night at the Clarion. The evening was a replete with bagpiper Elliot squeezing the sheep’s bladder (or whatever makes that squawking noise) as he led the procession into the ballroom, following loud exhortations by the Town Crier. Witty, good-humoured remarks followed the Citizen as he and his wife made their way through the appreciative crowd to their station at the head table.

Known for his flamboyant flair in selecting his wardrobe, the Citizen did not disappoint this evening: from his tasselled footgear and fuchsia socks, to a tie designed by some mentally unstable fashion mogul’s underling which matched a shirt, the likes of which are normally only seen worn by clothes-horse Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada, the Citizen exceeded the expectations of all who know him. Nonetheless, the Citizen seemed comfortable in his audacious attire as he acknowledged the greetings of his friends and peers.

After the usual introductions and a non-religious invocation that encouraged all to be thankful, the foods servers brought out delightful concoctions that had guests scrambling to pick up the correct fork from the dizzying array of flatware surrounding their place setting. A leek soup with a slight hint of brie was followed by a cucumber ribbon salad that must have taken hours of preparation. Chicken, hidden under sauces and crabmeat, accompanied by almost cooked green beans, followed a palate-freshening sorbet. A crème Brule and coffee had the audience buzzing in anticipation of the speeches that would in turn honour and skewer the Citizen.

It soon became clear why the Kiwanis Club had selected the honouree. Of course, those of us who know the Citizen from work, play, volunteering or selling him clothing understood their rationale. The list of his involvement in city, provincial and national recreational organizations was worthy of the compliments given or sent to the evening honouring the Citizen of the Year in North Bay. The attendance of past recipients spoke to the honour of the award. Of course, the Citizen is his own man. One of his finer traits is that he believes in committing to a project wholeheartedly. Despite his off-times garish appearance, he is an earnest fellow, ready to roll up his sleeves and do whatever is necessary to get the job done.

It is this earnestness that, at times, gets him in trouble with those people who hold the reins of power. His penchant for stepping outside the box and willingness to chart new territory can make lesser beings tremble, but the Citizen is not one to shy away from new ideas. Nor is he shy to promote his hometown or trumpet the accomplishments of our sports celebrities. He is a can-do and will-do sort of fellow. Despite this importance of being earnest about his work, he is a funny fellow. Or at least he appears to be to those who know him best. Words from his sons at the fete showed him to a family man, although it seems there were times when his wife and sons have had to deflate him and remind him that he was at home, not coaching on the field.

The Kiwanis Club does North Bay a great service by selecting a person for this honour. It is important that we recognize those people who go beyond where most of us venture in offering time and service to the community. Without the tireless efforts of those who strive to make life more enjoyable for us all, we would fragment into little groups that could not synergize our energies for advancement and well-being.

Oscar Wilde’s play, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, had characters that were forever running off to somewhere else for important reasons. Unlike our well-travelled Citizen, these trips were frivolous and only for selfish personal reasons. These fake emergencies became known as ‘BunBurying’, a term created for running off to Bunbury to escape social obligations that they did not want to attend. Notable by their absence from the evening honouring North Bay’s Citizen of the Year were about a dozen people who did a BunBury. It is unfortunate that they cannot see the forest for the trees in honouring a citizen who has and continues to contribute so much to the community.

Congratulations, Dave.