Waterloo

Billy called last night. He is Ron's youngest brother. Billy has, it seems, followed in Ron's footsteps. Laurier University, Pikes, academically exceptional, hard working, hard drinking--and popular with the 'ladies'. He has strived for 'up and out' since an early age. With a 14 year age difference, and the physical overlap of only 4 years of life in their father's home, it is hard to believe that Ron was the only driving force of influence in Billy's life. Ron Senior, their father, held his boys (and daughter) to a high (almost lofty) standard. My image of Ron Senior is that of a Willy Lomanesque character. A thoughtful man, bright and inquisitive, who, with the right influences and a stronger sense of self esteem would have had a larger positive impact on his world. He was the quintessential salesman--the definition of someone doing deals over the 'three martini' lunch. The wheeler and dealer with the little black book, the endless supply of dreams and schemes and when, after a lifetime of excess, he passed on at 54, he nevertheless, left a legacy. Some of it was good...some not so good.



This made me think about the argument of nature versus nurture and the Hutzul's in general.



The Hutzul family (Ron and Billy's father's family) are a clannish group. Looking at the pictures prolifically posted on Ancestry.com by Uncle Glen--the family historian, and hearing the many stories, the Hutzul/Novokowsky (I may have spelled that wrong) family are of exceptionally hardy farm stock (with a priest and a nun among their ranks--an insurance policy to heaven?)



Ron's great grandfather on the Hutzul side was a immigrant to Canada from the Ukraine. The Hutzul's (or Hutzel's) were a tribe of mountain people in the Carpathian mountains. They had Hutzul horses and Hutzul dances and Hutzul tales, and even had a nation of Hutzuls until the governments surrounding them figured it out and put the kibosh on their pretensions of autonomy.



The center of Ron's extended family was Nana (a Novokosky). She passed away when Ron was 13 and a year before Billy was born, yet she seems to be the guiding force for the younger generation of Hutzuls. 3 out of 5 granddaughters have the middle name Marie (as does Hannah, a great granddaughter) and the family speaks reverently of this short, comforting, 4 foot 10 woman who managed to raise 5 boys and a girl on her husbands limited income. We have the 'legendary' wooden spoon. Her equalizer, from what I understand. Blind in her later years, she seems to have indelibly marked the family with her wisdom, optimism and fierce family loyalty. All that are Hutzul have and spread these values.



So if you think in terms of 'nature' or the genetic predisposition towards certain attributes, are Billy and Ron the products of nature? Independent, competitive, fiercely loyal and always striving.



I think so.