Dear Editor,
This is a reply to the “Linden Tree” letter, The Reminder, Nov. 15.
Hello the camp, Dr. Peter Kucparic,
It is the time when the snow lays deep – to the joy of vole and mouse and grouse – and the cold winds of winter come to visit.
It is good to respect one’s privacy, and I will respect yours. Ah, but then perchanced the story of the Linden Tree...
Only yesterday did I hear of a letter you wrote to The Reminder, a Farewell Letter to the community, whence I tracked down a copy from the Flin Flon Reminder’s office.
I can battle many things, Mr. Kucparic, but I cannot battle Beauty. I thought what you wrote was very, very beautiful.
I am glad that I wrote you a letter, some seven months ago, to thank you for the many, many years you stayed in the community of Flin Flon; and I do so now publicly.
You see, I have no stories of five-minute doctor interviews, for each time I had to come in for a mandatory pilot’s medical – every two years – you were very generous with time and meaningful words.
Ah, but on our last visit I saw that something was troubling your body, and so I merely wrote a letter to thank you, for I could not have asked for better.
I was not the only one in the community to wonder about you and your whereabouts – but it is good to respect one’s privacy. And so the mornings would come, and every so often, as the mist danced slowly against the rising sun, while Loon called out with haunting Beauty, I would play a song for you on my flute. And then perchanced the Linden Tree.
Was it not Fyodor Dostoyevsky whom penned, and was reinforced by Alexander Solzhenitsyn; “Beauty will save the world.”
And again, I see these words reinforced by the story of the Linden Tree. Ah, what you have done, Dr. Peter Kucparic, was bold and beautiful.
Words wield great power, and perhaps it is not so appropriate to wish you and your household a “Merry” Christmas at this time. And so, I will only wish to you and your household something more appropriate; a Beautiful Christmas.
And may your beautiful words prod me, and others, to seek “the intoxicating fragrance of the blossoming linden tree” in its time and place. I thank you.
Walk Well...
