Respect

Anyone that keeps their ear to the ground in the community or keeps their eyes on the media knows that there has been some contention lately surrounding Martindale Pond. More accurately it surrounds the frequently used access to the pond from Henley Island as described in a St.Catharines Standard article found here and an update found here.

Some would think that this is all much to do about nothing, and in some circles they would be right. But in the right circles they would be wrong. There is much buzz about who owns the island, where leases extend to and on and on. The thing is this, the recreational paddling community has been using this waterway since long before the days of the rowing club and all their competitions. Yes, they are a part of the community and yes they are valued. The vast majority of the recreational paddlers have tremendous respect for the rowers, corporation and the regattas, I know I do. And I'm sure that there is a very large part of the rowing community that reciprocate the sentiment for the recreational users.

To me what it boils down to is that we all have the same right to use this waterway, and respect. What we are lacking is respect towards each other. Now that is not to say there is total disrespect and that every recreational user disrespects every rower and vice versa. What it means is that all it takes is one bad apple. If one, or two in this case, kayakers cross the course during a regatta (whether there is a race on or not) then it is seen as all recreational users having total disrespect for the rowers and they get their backs up. The same goes for the paddling community, one coach with a megaphone screeching about a kayak in the water and the recreational community is up in arms. Should we disregard either of these scenarios? Absolutely not. Should we see them as the barometer by which we gauge an entire community? I don't think so.

At this point I think it would be wise to take the high road and this is where I am going to start just talking about the recreational community. We should still be using the pond and we should still be accessing where we always have, and for some that may be areas other than the island. But no matter where you access from, be respectful. Don't leave your garbage and go a step further, if you see some, pick it up. Use caution and be respectful of any events going on in the water. I've never rowed, but I could imagine that at high speeds it is not that easy for the rowers to make evasive manoeuvres, so give them space. Let's even go a step further and say lets yield to the rowers. Beyond that if you are out in the water and see other recreational users being disrespectful to anyone, any group, any property owner, stop and have a conversation with them and pass along the word about respect.

Where ever this whole business about access goes I do know that it will not go in the recreational users favour if we are disrespectful. Let's pay it forward with respect for everyone on the water and by being good environmental stewards by cleaning up after ourselves.

Now, what about the rocks? There are some intelligent people working on that, so lets just let them. You know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen. Whether the rocks get moved or not this has all started a new era for Martindale pond and moving forward we need to forge out our part of all this as recreational users. By no means should we be stepped on and taken for granted, but two wrongs don't make a right either. They say that integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking, and that is just what I propose we do. We should always be doing the right thing whether someone is looking or not.