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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-01-30, Page 2A PRETTY WINTER SCENE — The Maitland River makes a pretty picture scene anytime, but capped with winter snow, it looks lovelier than ever. (Brussels Post Photo) Editorial page DRUM LS WEDNESDAY; JANUARY 30, 1980 ONTAR 10 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario By McLean Bros. Publishers Limited Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langlois - Advertising 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. BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1979 gBrussels Post Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston A false alarm? Oh for the present. We're in a time of crisis again with tensions high around the world. Politicians are speaking in tones that make it sound like war is just around the corner. That old familiar feeling of imminent danger that dominated us all during the 1950's cold war period is coming back. It was ironic in the midst of the furor, over the Soviet. Union's invasion of Afghanistan that a local television station the other night showed a movie about the U-2 spy plane incident that caused one of the cold-war crisis. Remember it? Probably a good many people who lived through it vaguely remember it. And of course there is a whole generation of people who were ,; too young to remember the tension the incident brotight. It was 1960 and after nearly a decade and a half of hate and distrust the hope of relief was on the way for people of the world. A summit conference was scheduled to bring the leaders of the most powerful countries gift of hindsight about the together. But in the Soviet Union a new missile base was being built and the American Central Intelligence Agency wanted to know what was going before the summit took place. So the CIA went to President Dwight Eisenhower for per- mission to have a camera-equipped spy' plane fly over the missile base and photograph it. Nothing could go wrong. He was assured. The U2 would be flying so high other jets couldn't get high enough to intercept and ground anti-aircraft couldn't reach it. With that assurance the President agreed. But the impossible happened. A rocket intercepted the plane and brought it and its pilot Francis Gary Yowers down to earth. He couldn't hit the button to destroy the aircraft before it crashed and the Soviets were able to piece the plane back together. The U.S. first tried to deny the incident altogether, saying the plane was just a weather reconnaisance aircraft that had strayed off course from its base in Turkey (Continued on Page 3) Does Archie Bunker live here? Archie Bunker lives. No, not in the United States where that television character has become increasingly more tolerant of his neighbours of other races, creeds and religions. Although many of his misconceptions still exist, Archie has become more understanding of just what makes his neighbours tick, and has learned to treat them as people, instead of judging them by their circumstances. Here in Canada, it seems as though some people have taken old Archie Bunker axioms and brought them to life, especially in the case of the Southeast Asian refugee situation. Arguments for not bringing the refugees in, range from opinions that they will take away jobs from Canadians to why should we support them with food, clothing, housing when none of these things were provided for our ancestors. Some recent comments from people on the street, after the Melville Presbyterian Church decided to sponsor some refugees has us, wondering at the small-minded, bigotry that 'continues to exist, even today. Some of the remarks were decidedly racist. Some people were upset that one of the men at the meeting had commented in a sense, everybody's ancestors were refugees at one time. People said their ancestors weren't refugees, that they lOoked for their own homes and worked hard to support themselvet and their families when they got here. Considering that, perhaps the ancestors of the people of this country weren't refugees. At least, they had more of a choice. They weren't kicked out of their country by a Communist regime. They could stay in their home country or leave. The choice was theirs. Not so, with the Asian refugees who faced possible drowning in the ocean and were reduced to the hope that some friendly country might take them in and give them a chance 'to start over. People criticizing the churches for agreeing to take refugees in, might con8idei. that the world missions eis one of the functions of the churches, that they are fulfilling their duty. HoW ironic it IS, that people say why should we Support the refUgees, and at the same time complain that they might take jobs away from Canadians. They don't want 'to' support them, and they don't Want them to support themselves. Most of the refugees once held high positions in their own country, but now are willing to take the menial positions that most Canadians wouldn't • touch with 'a 10 foot pole: Just because Providence provided some Canadians with the opportunity of being born here, a white skin and a free country to live in,, is no reason to blindly look away at the hardships others have suffered, because if things Were turned around, we just might have been refugees looking for a home in Asia.