The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Qupperneq 42

184
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 66 #4
attention to an elderly farmer who wrote
poems in Icelandic.
In 1919, there was a move by the
Icelandic community in Winnipeg to raise
funds to build a monument to their fallen
soldiers. Stephan voted against that. He
grieved for the soldiers but he said they
were victims of a cruel war and they had
demeaned themselves by taking part in it.
People were shocked and angry.
The war was over but all was not well.
Stephan seemed to see into the future.
Wars fought with machines would cause
“blind destruction.” The manufacture of
arms would create competition for markets.
Nuclear power had not yet been developed
but Stephan worried. Would the human
race destroy itself? He said
Mer eg kxeri minnst um hvab
Mer og mtiid semur
En eiga vildi eg ordastad
Idldinni sem kemur
(He cared little if people disagreed
with him at the time. His hope was that
his words would be heeded in the future.)
Stephan did not return to the church
of his fathers but many of his later poems
have Biblical themes. He told us to have
hope.
En alltaf getur goda men
Oggudspjoll eru skrifud enn.
(We find good men among us and new
“gospels” are written.)
What he saw as the most difficult
problems to overcome were the
deterioration of the social order and the
lack of importance placed on ethics.
Stephan travelled to Winnipeg in 1926
to seek medical attention. An evening was
planned in his honor and several of his
former opponents attended. He thanked
his critics who, he said, had “urged him
forward in his thinking.”
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