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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1977-11-30, Page 2Dave Robb - Advertising Evelyn Kennedy - Editor MITAO1.NINE0 11172 Brussels Post The touch o_f winter MUSK LS ONTARIO WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1977 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community. Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited, Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $8.00 a Year, Others $14.00 a Year, Single Copies 20 cents each. • rry 4, P E P (Afir:OPP9t" 001A N C 014m inv1...c. +NA *CNA Drudgery and work Logan Pearsall Smith, an Anglo-American writer of some years ago, said this in one of his books: "The test of a vocation is in the love of the drudgery it involves." And here is how one dictionary defines drudgery: "Work that is hard, menial or unpleasant.'' . Surely it cynical, even cruel, to tell some workers that they should love the drudgery their vocation involves. In the drudgery of some jobs the: elements of satisfaction and fulfilment and meaning are rather slight. For m any of us the drudgery in our work is redeemed by the ends it serves, ends of satisfaction self-realization. But for many • others there is little personal satisfaction and self-realization in their s:,]1aily work: for them the primary work satisfaction is in the pay-envelope which contains money for subsistence and for the leisure-time activities in which some personal satisfaction and fulfilment may be attained. Some jobs put callouses on the heart as well as on the hands. It is easy to talk about the dignity of work, about vocational fulfilment, about the significance of the work ethic, to the person who finds his or her work satisfying and pleasant. But it isn't easy -- indeed, it may be impertinent -- to talk aboult the dignity 'of work to the person whose job is simply .a matter of dull repetitive routine. Complicating the problem of work in these days of rapid change is what appears to be over-production by the education system of certain skills and competencies. A lot of people today , mostly young, are unable to find jobs for which they can use the skills they have learned. But as we struggle through li fe we find that fulfilment is not a special quality built into the job itself. This only comes through what is put into the work though it may not be quite what one aspired to. Young people who worry about not being able to find meaningful work should realize that the dimension of meaningfulness doesn't always come with the job itself but is discovered and developed in the working. at it. And most jobs can become meaningful -- or at least avoid being meaningless -- when one learns to accept the drudgery involved. (The United Church)- To t he editot: Bet ..read-or :kOps in. touch through. the Post Enclosed find cheque for $8.00 as i year subscription for the Post, so I can keep track of and informed'about all the news and goings on at Brussels, such as the New COthIllunity Centre. Good Luck and best wishes. • Doti tij Campbell Apt. 201-619 Comox Road Nanaitrio; B.c. Canada V9R I have a project in mind that must surely deserve generous funding from the Canada Council. Indeed it's a project so lengthy and difficult that it may take several hours to complete. The project I have in mind is to discover just who in Canada is benefitting from confeder- ation. It may take all the skills of Sherlock olmes plus the use of a battery of IBM computers to find out. Probably it will come down to a process of elimination. Now at the top of the list of those who are being raped by the Canadian union is Quebec. We all know that because Rene Levesque tells us that every day. Once he wins his referendum and pulls Quebec out of Canada, every ping will be hunky dory down there. No'-----u mployment. No American domination. No - roblems of any sort, except that even winning the referendum won't change 'the Quebec cli mate and they'll still have to put up with winter lilke the rest of us (although come to think of it most of the snow comes from the west and Rene might just ban imports from Ontario). For almost as long as we've heard about how everyone was benefitting from Canada at. Quebec's expense, we've also been hearing about how the West was suffereing to keep the rest of Canadians happy. They'd be much better off with their own country, westerners have told us, or even if they joined the U.S. instead. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have suffered because 'they produced all that wheat but easterners got all the jobs of turning it into flour and bread and other products. We got cheap wheat, but they had to pay through the nose for cars and toasters and other knick-knacks made down east and shipped west at great expense. Albertans, of, course, have had the same complaint for yearS about both wheat and cattle and now they're taking Cheap prices for their oil so the rest of us can keep our standard of living up. One of these days, they warn us, tlie3411 let us freeze in the dark. British Columbia, of course, with it's mountains and the seeand its warm climate isn't envious in the least of people in other parts of the country. In fact if the rest of Canada froze to ' death under a giant snow drift, the west . coasters probably Wouldn't miss us anyway: They hate easterners, anyway, just for the fun of it. The North, of course has been exploited for years by the south so they're far from happy with being part of Canada: Down east, there's talk of a new state called Atiantiea in plaae of the prese nt provinces of NOVA Scotia,, New Brkinswick and Prince Edward Island. Supporters of the idea point out they've had nothing but grief from Confederation. Before union they had a thriving economy down there, cutting trees, building boats, fishing, etc. Confederation brought an end to all that. Trade would also be easier with the New England. States than with the rest of Canada., I suppose the first thing the new country will do is built a giant fleet of sailing ships to ply the oceans and return the local economy to what it used to be :they'd have to be sailing ships because they couldn't afford to buy the oil from the kingdom of Alberta to run modern ships . Premier Moores over in Newfoundland is talking these days of pulling Newfoundland back out of Confederation. He's been undoing most of Joey Smallwood's handiwork for years n ow. So all that seems to leave just Ontario to benefit fromCanada. But Northern Ontario is in rebellion, wanting to be a separate province, tired of being exploited by the south. So that leaves just southern Ontario to benefit. But eastern Ontario has been feeling n eglected..for years, so that leaves the rest of the province as the sole beneficiaries of Confederation.But we here in Western Ontario have been unhappy with all our industry being sucked away by Toronto and Hamilton and such places for years. So that leaves only the Golden Horseshoe. But everybody in the Golden H orseshoe feels they're unjustly treated by Toronto. So that leaves just Toronto. But the burroughs and. Toronto city have been fighting for years, one clahning the other is taking advantage of the other. Now my research hasn't gone any further, but I'm beginning to think the final answer of who benefits from Confederation will come down to solitary little old lady living in don Mills drawing an old age pension paid for by taxes from people in British Columbia, eating inexpensive bread and buns made from wheat ripped off from the poor people of Saskat- chewan, and eating fish and chips from the fish stolen from hardworking:. Newfound- landers and potatoes bought at too-cheap prices from farmers in P.E.I. and heating her honse with oil subsidied by the kng-suffering people 'of Alberta. Now when this lady passes on, (or retires to Arizona) the reason for keeping Canada together will disappear and all the parts can go their happy way. And we wouldn't even have to pay for an expensive referendum. I think the Canada council should love. this project. Behind the scenes by Keith Roulston Who benefits from Confederation?