Yes, as far as the polarity of magnets, that’s true, but in other situations they repel. Let me tell you why I hold that opinion.
Ever since the days of Cain’s murder of Abel (Genesis 4:8), the Jews and the Gentiles, Protestants vs. Catholics, born-agains vs. agnostics, there has been division in worship of God.
Then came the Axis powers vs. the Allies, followed by the Warsaw pact being confronted by the NATO alliance. North Korea’s dominance of the north has not been resolved with a peace agreement, but just an uneasy truce. Communist China is still lusting after the Nationalist China (Republic Of China), staring at it across the Straits of Taiwan.
Looking at the Americas, Argentina’s attempt to regain The Falkland Islands was thwarted by the Iron Lady’s intervention.
When Britain settled things on the Plains of Abrahaham, New France was partitioned into Upper and Lower Canada, now Ontario and Quebec, a troubled marriage to this day. I heard a report of an airplane crashing in Newfoundland and Labrador. How’s that possible? Was the Cessna 150 that enormous? Did pieces of the wreckage ricochet from St. Anthony to Goose Bay, all the way across the Strait of Belle Isle?
I don’t know what North Dakota has against South Dakota. There’s a North Carolina and a South Carolina, so why is there a West Virginia but no East Virginia? We all know there’s the ‘news’ states: Jersey, Mexico and York, but I never hear of the ‘olds’ of those three states.
Let’s set aside politics and religion, two topics I long ago eschewed (since my first column, August, 1994). Let’s talk about the severe divisions regarding foods. When Everest teams are decided, a marmite eater is never tented with a peanut butter. Both find the opposite’s fare appalling. When deciding dinner fare, don’t sit a devout vegetarian beside a carnivore adherent. They’re as likely to mix as oil and water.
Watch out for attractions and repulsions when making travel plans for a cross-Canada adventure. One may say, “I can great a great deal on tents, sleeping bags and mosquito netting.” The other utters, “Here’s a list of Hiltons from St. John’s to Victoria.”
To the tenter, road maps are regarded as an invaluable tool. To the ‘Hiltoner’, road maps are but a puzzling bunch of squiggly lines and mysterious colours. The Hiltoner’s only roads to be travelled in Ontario are the 400 series, or the USA’s Interstate series. Mnemonic: even-numbered east-wests and odd-numbered north-souths. Route 66: east to west, Chicago to Santa Monica.
So where shall those travel twains meet? A train for the twains might work. They should book on VIA Rail’s Transcontinental.
