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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1974-08-21, Page 2EsirActiSHIM .1111: gBrussels Post • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21, 1974 BRUSSELS. ONTARIO Serving Brussels and the surrounding community, Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels,. Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom. Haley - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. Subscriptions (in advance) Canada'56,00 a yeampthers • NA fi ' C $8.00 a year, SingleCopies 15 cents each. cc_i Second class mail Registration No. 0562. Telephone 887-6641.. • VIERIFIRO ' CIFICULO,4,119N Thoughts on gossip Most of us t ake delight in discovering the follies and sins and shortcomings of others and in chatting knowingly about them. Gossip does bring us some cheap comfort, giving us nice feelings of superiority. Our weaknesses and failures do not seem so serious when we can compare them with the monstrous ones of sorge people we know. We like to gossip because it generally makes us feel much better about ourselves. Behind much of our gossipping 'is the mechanism the psychologists call "projection". There is the tendency to attribute to others our own reprehensible attitudes and feelings. A London psychiatrist, Dr. J.A.Hadfield, has commented on this tendency: "In judging others we trumpet abroad our secret • faults. We personalize our unrecognized failings, and hate in others the very faults to which we are secretly addicted. Like the lark fluttering with agitation over her next, we exhibit most flagrantly the very thing we would hide." Think about that the next time you are tempted to assist in the distribution of malicious rumors about someone you know. Censorious gossip generally tells more about the person who does the gossipping than about the victim. In Albert Camus' novel, "The Fall", the. narrator gives this warning to his companion: "People hasten to judge in order not to be judged themselves . . . .The Judgment you, are passing on others eventually snaps back in your face, causing some damage." (Contributed) To the Editor Three say thanks A [ Sugar and Spice By Bill Smiley OKI ong wer ow. (Conti to il 1111142 nittee thc's t, tram mice ntc until said !help re as l I uniea I anti1 idcrs eGreg west Q110V3 at t Ming leBrit ' UII ten du iced Ice N I Schott I5,6k 70 an 111181I'll 1C1' hi teal lug a nieml Its wer crs nu cc isthith hard ag di( ed, sl' to of as tit Ice s, Hill 8a hint an the aC lirocel one .0 will no C loll so Ii can In Pt dail NI( I of The 1 s for there fl tee Sir: The Ingersoll Umpires Association would once more like to take the opportunity of using your newspaper to thank the Executive of your fine Softball Tournament and the excellent ball fans in the BrUssels area for their hospitality during the four day • tournament just completed. Some of our umpires took advantage of your park facilities and stayed for the entire tournament with their families, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We look forward to once again having the opportunity of coming back yet another year. Some fine ball games were played, and the sportsmanship displayed by all teams speaks well for the Tournament organizers. Gord. Campbell Ingersoll Umpires Association J.Gord. Campbell President A letter addressed to Dave McCutcheon from Tom. Smith of the Conroy Abbatoirs indicates his appreciation for the Brussels Tournament. ' "This is just a short "thank you" note to you and the organizers and sponsors of your fastball tournament held this past week end. Every year we go to this tournament and we meet old friends and acquire new ones. We always have a good time and enjoy ourselves even though we don't win too much of the loot. Once again, thanks for inviting us and we hope that we will be asked next year. Its always a pleasure to participate in such a well organized tournament and we mean Torn Smith Conroy Abbatoirs' Once upon a ,time, I really enjoyed shopping in supermarkets. My wife hates shopping of any kind. Most women, I believe, rather enjoy it, especially for clothes. She detests it. Therefore, she'd hand me a list as long as a foot, and off I'd got() the supermarket. Walking into that air-conditioning on a sweltering summer day was like going for a cool swim off a red-hot beach, Picking up your empty grocery cart was like getting into a boat to go fishing, or finding an empty cornucopia to fill. Then there was the pleasant, leisurely stroll through the vast maze of goodies. Past the vegetable counter, where -the contents were sprayed with water to make them look "garden-fresh". Poking through the meat counter, with the red light overhead to make the meat look fresher. Along the frozen-food section, where I always did some wild inipulse buying, like fiddleheads or fresh Shrimp in a gourmet sauce. Into the fruit section where I'd snatch up a basket of apples that looked as though they came front the Garden of Eden and tasted like wet tissue. Or grab a bag of oranges that looked as though they'd just been plucked off a tree and had about as much juice in them (and a lot more seeds) as a wizened little old lady of 94. Pondering over the cheese counter and selecting a ripe Camembert, forgetting the cheese slices which were on the list: Then there were the delightful personal encounters. The bowing and stepping back and smiling when yOu almost ran into a little old lady with her cart. The making friends with sticky babies riding in the baskets. The brief interchange with a friend and the inevitable, "We must get together one of these days." The polite and friendly clerks who would gallop a quarter-mile up and down the aisles to find you one small item you couldn't locate. And finally; a pleasant chit-chat with the cashier, and the cheery willingness of the packers, the boys who put your stuff in bags and then carried it to your car, even in a blizzard, refusing a tip, once, then taking it with thanks. Those were the days. But they're gone. To the Editor Sir: May I take this opportunity to offer my sincerest appreciation to the Lions Club members and the people of Brussels for the Many things you did for me while I Was your guest. Not only did you extend a Want, deep and lasting welcome to me; but many of you sacrificed your time, your efforts and your cornfort to see that my stay in Canada was a pleasant one. Indeed "it was pleasant but more than that it was edticational, exciting and rewarding and Oh, the same cruddy rnoodmusic comes over the speakers. The signs and banners are there, more misleading than ever, But by gosh, the price is NOT right, the sei•vice is lousy, and the old courtesy and leisureliness is a thing of the past, The vegetables are still hosed down,tut now the customer is being hosed as well. Fifty cents for a head of lettuce? We now walk past the meat counter with eyes averted, until we come to the hamburg section and surreptitiously snatch. up half a pound. • The frozen food department is enough to freeze the blood. in fruit, raspberries at $1.00 a pint, bananas that loOk beautiful at ten cents each, and rot overnight.And on and on. Cheese must be made of angels' milk. • • Service? You might as well be in the Sahara looking fin an oasis as in a supermarket looking for a clerk. There seems to be a big cut-back on staff. Hit for the door With a full shopping cart on a busy Friday or Saturday afternoon and two of the five or six check-out counters will be closed, You can stand in line for half an hour: The cheery boys who used to do the packing are almost non-existent, and you're lucky if they put the groceries in your cart, let alone take it to your car. The cashiers are as friendly as computers. Inside the store, don't turn your back on that sweet little old lady you once exchanged smiles and apoligies with. She'll run you down from behind with sixty pounds of groceries, trying to beat you to. that "super-special" on aged turnips. Don't try to make friends With that cute kid riding in the basket. He'll probably throw a half-empty pop can at you, or sling a half-eaten chocolate" bar onto your clean shirt. Oh, dear reader, we are being manipulated by the supermarkets. Who do you think is paying for that "free" parking, those full-page or double-page advertisements, all that fancy packaging? It is you and it is fellow-sucker. I always knew I Was being taken in A supermarket. But it used to be sort of fun. Now it's a nightmare. shall be truly marked in my memory as one of the happiest times of my life. It is my prayer that the friendships I .gained will live forever and that 'each yoa will be blessed in a very real arid beautiful way for the kindness you showed me: May Canada always remain a place of prosperity and happiness, - it will as long. AS people like "y'all" live there; eh? Yours hi peace and frierid8hiP, Chesna DiekeMbli, then, Tdii0' that sincerely.