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The Brussels Post, 1979-11-14, Page 2MUM LS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1979 ONTARIO Serving Brussels oxidate surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at. Brussels, Ontario By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langleis - Advertising BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1979 Member Canadian Community Newspaper. Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Year. Others $20.00 a Year. Single Copies 25 cents each. Sugar and spice By Bill. Smiley 4Brussels Post Participation for all That time of year when mothers dutifully drag out skates, hockey sticks and other equipment needed for participation in a hockey game has arrived. Participation is a wonderful thing for children. It gives them a feeling of value when they're accepted as one of the gang. Unfortunately, in hockey or any team sport for that matter, sometimes only those with a natural aptitude for the sport get picked to play. They become the star players and those who cannot compete at the same level are left behind. Often this results in a further lack of confidence for the youngster who can't play as well as his friends. And it could also upset his relationships with friends who now feel that he is inferior to them because he wasn't one of those picked to play. Ignoring the youngsters who aren't star players whether it be in hockey or. any other sport is a serious mistake. A child can't be expected to learn and improve at something if nobody is willing to give him a chance to encourage him. The more he gets left to his own devices, the less likely he will be to try his hand at other things. it's just not worth it, if nobody is going to help him out. Arenas are paid for by taxpayers' money and the money dished out for sports is usually provided by the parents who pay registration fees. Thus, every parent expects his or her child to get the same attention in a sport as a star player. " If enough parents feel strongly that their children aren't getting the coaching attention they deserve, then they should band together and bring it to the attention of the coach. And if the children aren't good enough to play in the regular hockey teams, they should be given the chance to play in a house league where they can learn the basics of the game and improve their skills. Unfortunately, in our society, too much attention is paid to winning. It's up to parents and coaches to examine their attitudes and make sure good clean fun instead of competitive war is the name of the game. To be or not to be? Retired, that is. This is the quesiton that many codgers of my age or near it grapple with in those lonely dark hours of the night when you've had too much coffee and can't get into the ravelled sleeve of care, as Shakespeare put it. Or get to bloody sleep, as some of his less flowery countrymen would put it, It's a question that has also stirred in a great deal of agitation among sociologists, medical reporters, and old guys who are healthy as trout and are about to be kicked out at the age of sixty-five with a speech, a copper watch, and a pension that will have them eating dog food by the time they are sixty-eight. It used to be a gold watch. Not no more, not with gold hovering around the $400-an-ounce mark. In fact, just the other day, I dug out my father's gold watch, which was given me on his death by my mother, because I was her favorite. I have never worn it, because I don't wear vests, and it's a big, heavy brute that must be slipped into a vest pocket. You can't wear it on your wrist, or put it in your hip pocket. It's as big as an alarm clock, I took a long look at it, and if it hadn't been Sunday, might have hustled down to my friendly gold buyer. But Roots, or Conscience, or Common Sense, took over, and I sadly put it away again, with such other memorabilia as my war medals, my hip waders and a fading picture of my first real girlfriend, in a box in the basement. Roots told me it was a precious symbol that should be passed on to my eldest son, of which I have only one. Conscience told me it was a rotten thing to do. And Common Sense told me that there was probably about one-eighth of an ounce of gold it it. I am, however, holding in reserve a broken tooth with a gold inlay. When I came back from overseas and was dis- charged, I was given a form to present to my own dentist, listing the dental work to be done, at government expense. He was a typical WASP. He looked at the list of work:which was quite extensive, after a term on short rations in prison camp, and laughed. "Ho, ho, Bill. You don't want all that gold cluttering up your mouth. This was signed by a French Canadian. They're great for gold in the teeth." If that dentist is alive today, I would be quite happy to strangle him. I went along with him, while noting his prejudice, and instead of having a mouthful of gold, I got one little inlay. "If he'd followed directions, and counting the teeth that have been pulled, or fallen out, or broken, my mouth would have been worth about $4,000 today, instead of maybe $6.00. Well, this hasn't much to do with retiring, which we started on away back there, but it does show what inflation can do to a man. What about retiring? I look around at colleagues who have chosen early retire- ment, or who have been forced to retire because of that magic, arbitrary number, 65. Some are happy as hummingbirds and swear they would not even put their noses back into the old shoe factory (high school). Others are miserable, plagued by illness and a feeling of being useless. The latter drive their wives out of their 'respective nuts, hanging around the house, getting in the way, edging into senility. -Thus I waver. I thought some years ago that I would soldier on until sixty. Surely forty years of work is enough. Then I am swayed by my father-in-law, who recently retired at eighty-six, and my wife, who can barely stand me _at home for a weekend. If we lived in a decent climate, I'd probably be retired and happy. There's nothing I would like better than to saunter down to the square, play a game of chess with some other old turkey, drink a little vino, and watch the girls go by, with cackling remarks. Try that in the local square, and they'd be carting you off to the last resting place, frozen solid in a sitting position. Why don't we all give up, we old gaffers? You know why? Because we are not old gaffers at all, In my chest beats the heart of a fifteen-year-old maiden (who has been smoking since she was two.) In the old days, we'd be retired, happily playing chess or shooting pool, because our sons would be looking after us, and" our wives would feed us well, and know their place, and our daughters-in-law would be producing hordes of grandchildren* to light us on our way. These days, we are still looking after our sons, and our wives are avaricious and spoiled, and our daughters-in-law are already separated from our sons and not keen on having more than one and a half children. Oh, I keep my staff on its toes. ,One day I announce firmly that I'm going to retire next June. Their, faces light up and they say, "Oh, chief, how can we get along without you?" Another day I say, "Well, haven't decided yet. What with inflation and all, y'know " And their faces drop into feet, and they say, "that's great, chief. How could we get along without you?" And I smile. To myself. I've finally figured out the solution. Retired men, unless they have some insane hobby, like making rose trellises, drive their wives crazy. If my wife will sign a written agreement, duly'witnessed, that she will go out and get ajob (she once was a waitress, shouldn't be any trouble) the moment I retire, I'll do it. I don't want her banging around the house, spoiling my retirement. Behind the scenes.. by Keith Roulston The ultimate in bad taste 1. was the ultimate in bad taste. While crises/ reigned in Iran an- American television station showed,what has become the stereotype of Arabs in North America; rich, threatening men, stupid and cruel, a sort of combination of the Keystone Cops and the Mafia wearing teatowels on their heads. In the television show a grateful shiekr gives the young doctor who mired him a present: his own daughter, dressed like a belly dancer. It was an insult to Arabs and to the intelligence of the North American audience, It did more to Win sympathy for the students in Iran than anything else could have. It's the kind of thing that has helped lead to the current tense situation. Westerners, Americans in particular, have been Care- less and unthinking in their treatment of Arabs. They've been portrayed first as stupid and later as greedy but never with sympathy. We were happy tia take their oil and give little in return for years but reacted with pain and anger when the oil producing' countries decided the time had come for them to share in the Wealth from their own resources and increased the price. All along the way the Arabs have been . the Vill7inS of the piece. We've seen therm as the bullies picking on tiny Israel and we cheered when they were beaten back. We see them as the unscrupulous murderers of the P.L.O. killing women and children in their underhanded fight against Israel. Is it a.ny wonder that Arabs from Iran or any other Middle Eastern country feel bitter toward the West? Is, it any wonder such people are ready to listen to someone who,urges them to retaliate? Iranians have the added stimulus of knowing that the United States actively supported the infamous Shah of Iran during .his most oppressive years in office. Indeed it was the American Central Intelligence Agency that helped put him back onthe Peacock Throne. Now they see the man in the U.S. and they feel angry. How would we have felt if an infamous Nati war criminal had been protected by some conntry after World War II? The Iranians were ripe for Ayatollah Khomeini, They Were ready to listen to a man who wanted a return to the old days, before the Americans had arrived to change their land,. They Were ready for a man who said that it was not only all right to hate but it was indeed a duty to Allah to tarn en- Westerners. The Americans imprisoned in the American Embassy in Iran are paying for the sins of America in the past. It isn't their fault. It isn't the fault of their government today. They are the victims of a passion that has been building over the years because of past injustices, a pa*ssion whipped to a fever pitch by a religious man. The trigger to the crisis was a sick man who went to hospital. The former Shah to us in North America is a pathetic figure now. He's a dying man, stripped of his power. Few people here have much sympathy for him yet few are ready to turn him over to Iran as demanded. There is no justice in Iran for enemies of the Ayatollah. Sending the Shah to Iran is an instant death sentence, and probably not a very pleasant death at that. The irony is that the Iranian students demanding the extradition of the former tyrant are acting oh behalf of a new tyrant. The Ayatollah's justice has been visited On a different portion of the population than the Shah's' but it has been no less Viciouis. His pretense of democracy has crumbled. With the fall of the civilian government there is no doubt that one man rules the country: the Ayatollah. ' Tyrants are tyrants whether they'represent therriselVes or a church. We think .of religion as something that promotes love and understanding, but when religious people feel they have their god on their side they feel justified to do the most horrible of acts. Laws of men mean little to them. They're acting on the behalf of god. Eventually the residents of Irari come to see that their new leader is as bad as their old one. Once their hatred has cooled they will see they've only ex- changed the kind of tyrany they're sub- jected to. If, that is, they have a chance to cool their hatred. Hatred breeds hatred. The hatred of the Iranian students toward the U.S. Which led to the hostage taking has led to a hatred on the part of the U.S. toward Itaniana. While the Iranian resent- ment was directed against the acts of the Americangovernment in the past it is the people of the U.S. who have been growing increasingly violent in recent days aS the crisis dragged on. That hate among the common people is harder to change than the actions of a goverturient. Who can tell What seeds are being sowed through the crisis that will later grow to greater hatred and violence. No one can Will ina situation like this. Wi ill lose,