The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Síða 38

36
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING, 1981
“Eden and America, Ingibjorg min,” he
said, “they are the same. Did you know,
Inga min, that in America there are pas-
tures, green pastures, all through the year?
And they say there is both sunlight and
darkness to every day. And in the evening,
at the time of sunset, the fields, they turn to
gold. Gold, Inga min, gold. And the land, it
is so fertile, that we in this barren Iceland
cannot imagine a land that can produce so
much.
“And there is a river, Inga, a river so big
and so beautiful as the sea itself...”
Einar was falling asleep. His mother
steadied him on his feet long enough to slip
his clothes off of him; then she tucked him
into his bed, beneath the heavy quilt that
made him feel so snug. And the voice went
on, the voice of the winter’s night, and it
told of a new land far away. But the voice
was cloudy and dim. It grew very, very
distant.
‘ ‘The trees so tall . . . Forests filled with
wild animals, strange animals ... All that a
man needs to live ...”
And the visions of America, which was
Eden, kept appearing out of the darkness.
Someday . . . someday . . . someday . . .
Copyright, January, 1981, by LaDonna Breidfjord
Backmeyer.
First North American.
Serial Rights.
HALLDOR BJARNASON
ANOTHER TERRY FOX
by Gloria Meadows
This being the Year
of the Disabled, it is, in-
deed, appropriate and
timely that Halldor Bjar-
nason has been award-
ed the Special Self-
Achievement Award by
the Jon Sigurdsson Chap-
ter IODE.
Halldor is a fine young
man, bright, energetic, serious, but he is
handicapped due to cerebral palsy. Despite
this he workd hard to overcome the limita-
tions cerebral palsy places on him. If the
weather is fine, he uses a tricycle to get to
school. If the weather is poor he takes the
bus.
Halldor’s academic achievement and ac-
tivity participation at school “do him
proud.”
In Grade X he completed 9'/z credits (20
are needed for a complete Senior High
School Standing). Five more marks in any
of his 9'/z credits would have given him an
80% average. Also in Grade X he was a
member of the “Spiel” Company in Junior
Achievement; of the regular School Band
and the Stage Band; and Assistant Manager
to the school’s Football Team.
Other accomplishments outside of school
should also be noted. Halldor is a Queen’s
Scout; is a Free Press carrier, the year round;
swims weekly with the Handicapped Swim
Program where he has achieved his Red
Cross Intermediate Level; is a server for St.
Patrick’s - St. Jude’s Anglican Church; has
taken the Athletic Therapist’s Course spon-
sored at the University of Winnipeg during
the summer; does two weeks of Volunteer
Work with the Red Cross, also in the sum-
mer months; has an outstanding collection
of badges which were photographed and
publicized in a local newspaper two years
ago.
* * *
Editor’s Comment: An account of the
other Jon Bjarnason IODE awards will be
published in the summer issue of THE ICE-
LANDIC CANADIAN.