HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1976-09-22, Page 2Brussels Post
ORUSSE LS
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1976
Serving Brussels and thesurrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
•CNA
\- Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6.00 a year. Others
$8.00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each.
He's. got to be ou
Amen
by Karl Schuessler
Avoid making
an ash , of yourself
It's one thing in .life to make an. ash of
yourself by accident - fall asleep smoking in
bed or get yourself purged in some other fiery
furnace. But to make an ash of yourself by
design - when you're dead - now that's
another matter. That's something I want to
avoid.
If you haven't guessed already, I don't like
cremation. The thought of me - the final me -
going up in smoke turns me off.
Just sink me in the earth slowly and let me
take years to go all to pieces.
That's one thing I like about the country.- all
those church cemeteries standing right next to
the church. They seem to say we have time.
We're in no hurry. We have space to let you
rest in peace. We're not eager to reduce you
to one small metal box and shelve, you into a
slot drawer in some. museum-like cavern.
Oh, I know all the advantages of delivering
my body to be burned. It's economical. It's
tidy. It's spacesavirg. Efficient. Fast.
But still. I'll leave all those good reasons
with the crowded and populated cities. I'll die
the country way. With a good decent burial,
the whole body burial.
I say this because I read an item in a church
newspaper. It seems an Anglican clergyman
in. Yorkshire, England was greatly distressed
when he received a member of his through 'the
,mail.
When he opened up the morning mail, he
discovered the remains of an elderly woman
due for burial in the local' churchyard:
Now, the mortician in London certainly had
efficiency on his side. He was a good steward.
of time and money.- The shipping of the small
metal box containing the ashes Only cost him
$3.70. '
But the clergyman objected. He said in
England more and more undertakers were
shipping remains through the mail, And he
said he found the practice degrading and
distasteful.
Yuk. So do I.
For years now I've gathered up all` sorts of
good reasons why I prefer burial. The best
one, of course, is the testimony ,to the
Christian belief in the resurrection of the
body. From kids on, we're taught the soul
leaves the body after death. It's the soul that
counts. The body's a wasteland and it doesn't .
matter too much what happens to it.
The. Greeks may have thought that way. But.
our Hebrew tradition is' more body oriented.
More materialistic. It never made such neat
distinctions between body and soul. It saw
them as one, quite inseparable: The body
counts. The body matters. Matter matters,
So at 'death I'm not shuffling off some,
mortal coil, as Shakespeare said. I'm not
getting rid of the inconsequential and freeing
myself from my embodied prison.
And now this Anglican clergyman is giving
me' one more good reason for body burial. I'm
not taking any chanCeS be delivered in the
mail. I'm not.going to let my mail lady Minnie
Vock lean on her horn and go beep, beep,
beep - real loud - like when the package is too
big for the mail box. She won't get my wife to
run outside and sign' for a package of
registered mail and then find out it's me
inside.
NOfie of .that. I'm telling my wife and
friends and. relativeS how I want to go•
Then I won't have to take the advice of the
good parson gave to his parishioners in the
church newspaper. He told them to specify id
their woirllgbruhraiatl.th,,ey ``not be sent bylegistered
post f
Traveller's weapon
Should moral considerations enter into a
traveller's plans to visit a foreign country?
Such an idea may seem strange to Canadians -who
think of travel only ip terms of pleasure. Carefree,
we go to any land that appeals to our desire for new
adventures or a' return' to familiar scenes. If we're
rewarded with interesting sights, beautiful views,
picturesque people and masterpieces of art or
architecture, that's about all we ask.
All of which seems. perfectly innocent and
"broadening". Yet behind the scenes in many
countries are countless cases of human repression,
exploitation, jailing and execution without trial,
cruelty and torture. Such incidents are reported
almost daily in news media. And our reaction is:
."Thank God I don't live in that country!
Then, conveniently forgetting all we've heard, we
pack our bags and fly to some of the countries where
these shocking conditions exist. Of course when we
arrive, the authorities screen us from all signs of
injustice and inhumane treatment, of their citizens.
We tourists mustn't 'be upset. We bring money
desperately needed by economically shaky nations.
By by-passing such oppressive countries in our
travels, we can cast a vote for human decency. Our
absence may go unnoticed. But we can live a little
better with ourselves. And we can tell travel agents
why some countries are on our blacklist.
If enough Canadians act on such conviptions,some
tourist-hungry governments may get the message --
where it hurts!
(Contributed')
Brother, sister graduate,
MARRIED 50 YEARS' Alfred Millet and
Marguerite Wilton were married September ggi 1926
in St.„ Ambrose church, They have. lived 50 years in
Toronto. Mr. and Mrs„ Bleties,.are celebrating their
50th--Anniversary with a nuptial mass in their parith
ChUtth of . the Precious' BlOOdi ,SbarbOrtii- Thit 0111 be
followed by a reception given - by their. three -Children
at: 'their 'hOrtie:. NOW that their home ,it no longer in'
Brussels the coupie .dO n ot Visit AS' Often but they
never lost interest in their friends' and Brussels
COMM -Unity, MrS, .Bittlet said she wished continued
success to The Past.,
Dorothy Card BoneSchatisker,
daughter of Mr.. and MrS, John.
BOnesthansker, Ethel
recently graduated from Hefting
Institute, Toronto, in 'Computer
SCienCe and Technology rand is
now employed Computer
Piogianifritt at :Catradian Tire
Stores in TOrOnto. Formerly she
attended Grey Central and
Secondary Schools.
John William 13- otteschatisketo son
Of Mr: and: Mrs: Bones-
ehaiiSketi 12A14 i, Ethel, recently
graduated from Hefting Institute o•
Toronto, in CoMputer:Seietide and
Technology and is. now :employed
AS, Production control
tor At Mfiltiple AccesS i, tired&
Formerly he attended ,Grey
Central and
Seciiii4ty Schools,