Depending on whether you see humanity as a pack of bumbling fools to be mocked or as a host of lonely sufferers each deserving of compassion, the title of this post is either a witty tribute or a callous joke. It’s about a man who lost four fingers in a tug-of-war.
Less than a month before the bizarre accident, 59-year-old Jim Thurber retired as Warden of his beloved Digby County in Nova Scotia. For the previous ten years in his position as the equivalent of mayor, Jim had given his all as a fighter for the people and for the prosperity of his jurisdiction, most notably in support of the ferry service to New Brunswick.
At the “Fall for Bear River” festival in Bear River, a gorgeous Nova Scotia village that literally straddles a river – the boundary between Jim’s Digby County and neighbouring Annapolis County – organizers called for participants in the traditional tug-of-war contest.
About 50 residents lined up on their respective sides of the county line, braced their feet on the road and looped their hands in the 300 foot rope in anticipation. The object of the contest is for one team to pull the other across the Bear River bridge into their own county.
As a perpetual supporter of community events, Jim Thurber was in attendance, ready to cheer on his side. As the contestants lined up, it became clear that the Digby County team was short a few members. Jim jumped in to lend a hand.
While there remains considerable confusion among witnesses about what happened next — and from intensive care at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Jim is in no condition to tell his story – it is clear that somehow the rope sliced four fingers off Jim’s left hand.
Patty Busby says in a Halifax Chronicle Herald story, “There were men, women, children, (and) people in period costume. They were pulling pretty hard and it was just looking like fun. People were cheering and then, all of a sudden, people at the far end started waving their hands and yelling ‘Stop, stop, stop.’”
An off-duty paramedic, an RCMP officer and other medical first responders hurried to scene, collected the severed fingers and put them on ice. They rushed Jim to a local hospital, then on to Halifax where a doctor prepared for his arrival and the long 25-hour surgery ahead.
In the meantime, a comments war broke out on a CBC News web site. Here are a few typical of those who saw the humour in the incident:
Well I guess he can count his blessings (all the way to number ten !!)
Tug-of-War must be outlawed! How many people must die before we realize this?! Just kidding, tug-of-war is awesome. Freak accident.
Now that is a team player, he gave it all he had.
It’s all fun & games until somebody loses a finger. LOLOL
I think that the government should now regulate all tug-of-war ropes.
They are obviously a danger to an unsuspecting public.
Maybe the Liberals can introduce legislation to prevent this kind of accident from happening again. We could create a national registry for tug-o-war ropes.
Even some of those wishing Jim well couldn’t help themselves:
Speedy recovery sir, good on you for helping out for the contest.
Hope the surgery went OK and the fingers are fine , in time.
I’ve heard of giving an arm & a leg for a cause , but fingers, never ?
Not being flippant here ….. well I guess I am … but to you of course, it isn’t all that funny.
I give the surgeons thumbs up on doing an outstanding job! Get well soon Mr. Thurber!
And then came this chastising reply apparently made in the belief that the universe is a place where poetic justice is meted out as revenge:
I can not believe some of these comments on here…heartless…you should be ashamed of yourselves for all those rude and arrogant comments!!
Do you know about RESPECT?????? Someday you guys will have something tragic happen to you and you will sit there and wonder “why is this happening to me??”…Would you like me to answer that question for you??? I am sure by all the jokes made on here you are not smart enough to understand anything about “what goes around comes around!!!”
Clearly, many of those commenting do not know Jim. Some have never heard of Bear River or Digby County or perhaps even Nova Scotia. They’d simply stumbled upon an account of a freak accident and couldn’t resist a cheap shot. Others used humour to ease the pain for their friend in his struggle to save his fingers. And others, like the person behind this last comment, saw humour and tragedy as mutually exclusive.
Humour is dependent upon perspective. In cases like this, humour in fact is context. A cartoon thought a witty barb in the west can bring on death threats from certain quarters of Islam because point of view assembles that collection of squiggles into either a joke or an unforgivable insult. The personal context removed, Jim Thurber’s fingers are nothing but four objects of ridicule pointed at human vanity. But for those who know Jim, his digits are a measure of the suffering all humans must endure… times four.
Several days after the surgery, Jim could feel a pulse in at least two of the reattached fingers, a sign that the nerves and veins were working again.
Upon his release from hospital, Jim made a comment to the media about the tug-of-war incident. “I thought it was one more opportunity to give the community a hand.” He paused and laughed, “I didn’t quite mean it that way.”
Photo Credits
“Historical photo of a tug of war in Bear River”
“Houses on Stilts at Bear River, Nova Scotia”
Darcy… Well done on the Tug-of War article. It always fascinates me how diverse opinions can be on any one topic…..from finding the humour to demanding amends for seeing any humour at all! We humans are a mixed lot.