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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1972-09-20, Page 2WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER :244 1972 .Serving Brussels and the surrounding, community published each Wednesday afternoon at Pra.sgels, Ontari9 by McLean. Bros. PubliOer.41 Evelyn .Kennedy Editor Tom Haley Advertising,, Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and ontarip Weekly. Newspaper Association., Subscriptions fin advance) Canada $4.00 a year, .0thern• $5.00 a. year,. Single copies 10 cents each. • Second class mail Registration. No. 0562, Telephone 887-6641.. The dam at Bluevale Sugar and. Spice by Bill Smiley JUSTICE' OF THE PEACE Education costs, also pays Has the educational system pro- duced a monster? During the fifties and sixties, money was lavished on schools on a scale of generosity never before dreamed of. The theory was that if students were given attractive surroundings, the best generation yet would result. The kids were given airy rooms, colorful decor, better trained teachers, large reference libraries, projectors, tape-recorders, TV sets and the best lab equipment. Students were allowed to work on their own; student councils got a voice in running some schools; students even started setting up their own schools and courses. But then reaction started to set in. Taxpayers groaned under the financial burden. They wondered if schools were realistic with the de- emphasis on competition and marks. The worst blow of all was the students. They grew long-haired and became vocal. Universities suffered student strikes and riots, high schools had student protest over courses and freedom of assem- blies. Kids took drugs. This was the generation which forced the U.S.A. to reconsider its attitudes towards the blacks and the Viet Nam war. It challenged adults on the quality of life in North America, it howled so loudly about pollution that politicians were forced to listen. Whatever their elders may think - - this• generation thinks for itself and searches for its own answers. A waste of money? Perhaps not, if they save the world from itself (Contributed) "'Just the marriage ceremony, Wilber, It's not' necessary to advise the groom of his constitutional rights." I am reluctantly coming to the con- clusion that Canadians are turning into a nation of crybabies. It hurts, because I love this country and want to respect and admire my fellow-cit4ens. But"the feeling has been groWing for some time and neared full flower after the first hockey game against the Rus- sians. What an edifying spectacle that was! There were our finest, giving up every- thing - except salaries , insurance, ex- penses and other fringe benefits - to defend our national honour against those dastardly Russians who'd had the nerve to think they belonged on the same ice. And there was a huge and happy crowd of hockey fans, almost slavering over the anticipated slaughter. And there were the poor old Rus- sians, walking Into the lion's den, some of them so pint-sized compared to our hulking menaces that they looked as though they were fairly large Peewee players. Whack! went the puck into the net and the roof nearly went off the Forum. Whack! again, and across the nation people winked at each other and settled back to speculate on whether the Russians could score a goal before our heroes got into two figures. But then something began to happen that turned strong men across the country a pale gray. Those dumb Russians didn't know enough to quit and go home and forget the whole thing as a bad dream. They just kept skating and passing and shooting, and every so often, one of their shots would go into the Canadian net. The happy crowd in the Forum grew glummer and glummer. Team Canada, the greatest, and most expensive col- lection of hockey talent ever gathered under one roof, looked more and more like the Hayfork Centre Midgets. •But just wait until the third period. After all, these guys are pro's. They'll get organ- ized and come back to win the game with a bang. Unfortunately, the game ended, not with a bang, but a whimper. Toward the end. the visitors were toying with the Canadians, as a toreador plays a bull. And toward the end, our boys began to resemble bulls rushing wildly at anything that moved, only to find it wasn't there. Not content with looking like the Ladies' Aid on skates, Some Canadian players showed anything but profession- alism and began swinging sticks, throwing elbows, and such. Crybaby stuff. What about the fans? Did they give the Russians a standing •ovation, or even a hearty round of applause for toppling the giants? Not they. They filed sullenly out of the arena, muttering, grasping for excuses, dazed. They hadn't had their blood. The toreador had not been tossed by the bull, and the bull had not even been neatly dispatched, just sort of stun- ned. Crybabies. In the next morning's papers, it was rather fun to watch the experts and the sports writers tearing at their own en- trails like wounded hyenas, a species which sports writers resemble in some respects. Crybabies. To be fair, the players and coaches were honest. They'd been well and thoroughly whipped, and admitted it. Since then, of course, things have changed and our businessmen on skates are showing why they are so well paid. But the fact is that if it had been a one- game shot, the. Russians would be truly world champs. And if it had been a two- game series, total goals to count, the Russians would be winners, 8 - '7. Somehow, the whole thing was a little saddening. I know a number of people who felt that their personal honour had been smirched. There were aggravated ulcers, endless alibis, and probably some heart attacks across this fair land. Over a game! I chose this single incident to illustrate this sinking feeling I have that many Canacilans have their values all turned around. We whine endlessly about the Americans taking over Canada, and do nothing about it. Except warn stridently that something must be done about it. And then run to Washington, hat in hand, when the Yanks suggest any form of tariff that might cost us dollars. Cry- babies. We virtually ignore our writers, ac- tors, artists, musicians, until they have made it big somewhere else. Then we can't understand why they don't come home and work in their own vineyard, at labourers' wages. - Same with our athletes. We sneer at their Olympic efforts. s' Yeah, we finished twenty-third again." Smart y sportscasters find all kinds of excuses for the athletes. Admirably, most of the latter are much more honest. The best of them bluntly say they did the beSt they could, but it wasn't good enough. Oh, we're great at spending billions on building: highways, dams, high-rises; and on welfare, medicare, second-rate education. But when it comes to spend- ing something on the development of the hunian being, in this case a strong national team of athletes, we pinch the purse until it hurtS. This is written more in sorrow than in anger. Let's wipe away the tears and stand up in the true north, strong and free. Come on, Canadians. Let's not be crybabies.