If you're Ana Santos, being born into a Spanish family of bullfighting fanatics breaks even the mould of a bad joke. I never learned to laugh about it. Instead, I grew up shrugging away cries and claims that tradition and culture had any part to play in that bloody game and, at age 10, I wrote my first letter to the newspaper, condemning both bullfighters and spectators.
Seeing it published, I felt a mixture of elation and fear. At dinner-time, I sat at the table, suffocating with trepidation. Order at the all-sacred Spanish meal times was belt-imposed; feeling terrified was well justified. I don't know how I managed to gather the courage to bring the letter out and read it aloud.
As I finished, neatly folding the paper, I looked up just in time to catch my father's querying glance, hoping my mum could answer his question, "Did he really have anything to do with my conception?" But neither my father's doubts about his role in my creation nor the countless hours I spent with him watching the "spectacle" quenched my desire to put an end to such agonizing deaths.
By the time I reached my 20s, mine was among dozens of other naked bodies covered in red paint lying on the street, at the entrance to the local bullfighting ring. Unimpressed, one could say my family sent me away, but that wasn't before the City of Bilbao learned to distinguish between tradition and torture, imposed a ban on bullfighting, and turned the beautiful arena over to musicians and performers.
Twenty years later, I get to stare tradition in the face once again - this time, it's Squamish's "free dump days." The Whistler Question's Christopher Poon suggests that everybody has a dirty little secret. Well, ours is out in the open - each Squamish resident puts out an annual average of 730 kilograms of garbage!
But when Mr. Poon writes about "clutter" back in April, two of his assumptions don't apply to us Squamptons: 1) in Squamish, we don't keep it in the back of our closets, and anybody who visits the landfill during free dump days can see that, and; 2) in Squamish, we have no problem talking about it, and anybody who visits the landfill during free dump days can see that too (by the way, thank you for sharing your thoughts as you came through the gate to dispose of your waste.)
No point denying it; you know I hate "free" dumping. What can I tell you that you don't know? Expanding the landfill is costly for all; of the 30 million tonnes of waste our country generates each year, Canadians send 24 of those straight into the hole; landfill sites account for 38 per cent of Canada's total methane emissions; they are health hazards for all that surrounds us.
Well, 20 years later, my tactics have changed and I will not stand naked at the entrance to the municipal dump, but given the circumstances, neither can I afford to stand cross-armed. We can work hard on the landfill alternatives but, mostly, we need to learn to think again, first before we hit the store, then before we kick stuff out the door - paying for the waste we create will help the much-needed behaviour change. When I acquire something, I take full responsibility for it; this responsibility needs to extend to disposing of it; the District of Squamish cannot be expected to pay for my new nor my old TV. As for illegal dumping concerns come on, you know it's always been that way. Those lacking the necessary respect don't care one jot about free dump days.
I wonder if "tradition" is a term we invented so we could apply it to anything that we are unwilling to change. Well, on our new planet, tradition has no role to play, and change is the only thing that should remain forever constant, always the same.
Ana Santos is the co-ordinator of Squamish CAN. Ana's column does not necessarily reflect Squamish CAN's views or principles. You can contact her at [email protected] and read previous Moving Planets stories at www.movingplanets.net
