Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.04.1996, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 26. apríl 1996 • 3
Convention Opens conra.
INL
after lunch speech.
In the morning, delegates
will enjoy presentations from
INL historian and genealo-
gist Nelson Gerrard and Uni-
versity of Manitoba professor
of Anthropology, John
Matthiasson. Nelson’s topic,
A Voyage into the Past, cen-
tres on genealogy, whereas
John’s topic, Iceland on the
Brain: Anthropologists
Discover Iceland, falls within
his strength and discipline.
On Saturday afternoon,
delegates will hear presenta-
tions from the German com-
munity of Winnipeg — Birgit
Knudsen, Leona Rew, and
Rupert Barensteiner —
focusing on the success of
CORRECTIONS
n the story View From
Outside in the April 19
issue Sigtryggur Jon-
asson was incorrectly iden-
tified as Johansson. Gimli
formerly had an air force
base which closed in 1991.
n the issue, Ethel
Thorlacius’ column
appeared with the
Einar’s Anecdotes logo.
their language program.
Connie Magnusson, presi-
dent of the Gimli Chapter,
will then discuss the annual
walk to Willow Point. Svava
Simundsson, of the Esjan
Chapter, will then illumi-
nate delegates on the shady
nature and habits of hul-
dufólk.
Just before 4 p.m., an
Open Forum permits brief
presentations from special
guests and organizations.
The Convention recon-
venes at the Holiday Inn
West for the evening ban-
quet: cocktails 6:30; dinner
7:30. Some tickets, costing
$25 each, may be available
at the door.
After the full course roast
beef dinner, Lorna Tergesen
will serve as the guest
keynote speaker. Lorna,
known to many for her fre-
quent leadership and many
good services in the com-
munity, will speak on the
recent Red Deer Con-
ference, which commemo-
rated Stephan Geir Steph-
ansson.
The Sóley Söngmenn of
Arborg will provide enter-
tainment with the capable
gift of their song. A joint
sing-song will close the fes-
tive evening.
The Annual General
Meeting occurs on Sunday
at the Holiday Inn West. A
reception by the ICF will
follow at the Nordic House,
where the lucky winners of
the INL lottery will be
drawn at noon.
Special thanks to Evelyn
K. Thorvaldson, the secret
engine behind the well run-
ning of these significant
events.
A Debt to lceland
veldulf, an aristocratic
mr Norwegian berserk,
v , fearing perhaps some-
thing in the warlike
nature of his handsome son
Thorolf warned, “Do not com-
pete with men who are greater
than you, but do not give in to
them either.”
Thorolf, who first met Harald
Fine-Hair in a wrestling match in
Oslo fjord, went on to become
the King’s principle retainer in
northern Norway. The wealth
and power Thorolf amassed
breached the confidence of the
King, and his easily exploited
jealousy led to a fatal confronta-
tion.
Sailing to freedom in Iceland
with his gloomy, ugly son Grim,
Kveldulf dispatches one of the
evil Swedish berserks who nur-
tured the deadly jealousy in
Harald Fine-Hair, lifting him on
his halberd and disposing the
hated corpse in the rough
Atlantic. The old man’s exertion,
coupled with his grief, kills him
before they reached liberty, but
from Grim Kveldulfsson arose
the greatest warrior poet
medieval Iceland would produce,
Egil Skallagrimsson.
Although contemporary schol-
arship places serious doubt in the
historical authenticity of the
Sagas, those stories and that
heroic ethos were transmitted to
me from childhood by my afi and
father. Insofar as culture informs
our world-picture, this literary
tradition still impinges upon
many of us a thousand years and
a thousand miles away. In a uni-
verse billions of years old and
millions of light-years broad, this
gulf in time and space seems
brief.
The quality of our lives may be
inestimably greater today due to
the advance of civilization, but
the mettle of character, ferocity
of egalitarianism and indepen-
dence, strength of mind, stub-
bornness of will, relentlessness of
courage, disposition to honour,
depth of emotion and insight,
and impatience with timidity and
foolishness for most have not
gone slipshod in this blinking of
time and space.
In our contemporary world,
sufficient cultural backwaters
and sewers, swarming with inau-
thentic and shallow people, exist
to call in question the anomaly of
our civility. This apparent scarci-
ty of nobility, to which in our
numbers we may not glibly con-
cede perfect immunity, has per-
plexed thinkers and writers
throughout the short span of
human literacy.
Our age may demand a Jewish
prophet to voice objection to the
many altars smeared with virtue’s
blood. The Greek approach,
understanding the intimacy of
morality, wisdom and happiness,
is to simply don an inward-
brooding smile in contemplation
of the philistines.
When in the sun of August, W.
D. Valgardson proposed that we
owe a debt to Iceland at íslend-
ingadagurinn, his proposal, I
trust, to most would not seem
extreme.
We look to our families, the
burden of our debt to lessen in
gratitude, but since their invest-
ment stemmed from love, whose
motive does not look for pay-
ment, our burden, now seen as
unnecessary, does not simply
By Kevin
Johnson
vanish, but dispels
itself in a multi-
tude of modest
good conse-
quences extending
from ourselves to _______________
those whom we
would help, our friends and chil-
dren. In such a favourable way,
the legacy of culture may extend.
The debt we owe to Iceland,
She will not accept, but if, from
Her cornerstone, we fashion
homes sustaining of progress,
and characters effective in the
contribution to civilization, per-
haps some day She may acknowl-
edge us with pride.
Since the quality of recogni-
tion motivates noble minds more
persuasively than a current,
quantity of recognition, and the
good qualities of Icelandic peo-
ple, known to us from our fami-
lies, and projected to us from
afar, offer such a good market for
the sale of our reputations, we
may understand why many early
pioneers wrote their greatest lit-
erature in Icelandic.
Our Englishness is tempered
with something from that past.