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Home My WebLink AboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-05-10, Page 13TEA AND CAKE — Corrinna Stevenson serves tea and cake to Mrs. Joan Bernard and daughter Cindy at the Rebekah's Variety Fair held in Brussels on Saturday. (Post Photo) Amen by Karl Schuessler Trash'n Treasure SALE BBA Carnival Days . Pick up day May 15th Donations of electrical appliances, furniture, dishes and 'what have you' NO CLOTHING If this date is not suitable, call us and we will piclt up at y Mir convenience. Phone Lloyd Mayer, 887-9000 Ken Webster 887.9497 4#4,00 111141 '00 r 1Mir * 110. *41 " inStittlti011'S 11411)Q, sttrrounded by strangers, Because of this, death has 'weenie "awe$Qtrte-", freighted down with anxieties. "It comes as a .stranger, not- a$ _something along the way," he said. The speaker referred to the five ages many patients experience before death, Speaking mainly to the people who !mist cleat with the patient during these times, lie said the stage of denial is often. the hardest to cope with. He said the patient must not be deprived of a need to talk about it and those around him must be willing to listen. "Do not play down the seriousness 'of the disease," he said, "and don't give false hope." The anger stage can also be very difficult on others. The patient's anger is often directed toward people, "They are angry at what you represent, you who are full of life," he said. Their anger is often caused by a feeling of being cheated. They will never see their grandchildren, they won't see their sons graduate, etc., and this regret is manifested in anger. They arc also angry at a body that they have pampered all these years, only to have it "do them in". Though often difficult, the'speaker u rged these people to be treated with respect. "Don't take the anger personally." he warned. The third stage of bargaining takes place when the patient tries for one last chance at life and thinks he may be rewarded for good behavior. "We must listen to this bargaining and not write it: off," he said, "as .sotnetimes these people do get a. reprieve". The fourth stage, coming just prior to the acceptance stage, is the stage of depression when the patient is preparing himself "to lose everyting that has ever been important to him". He does not need attempts to cheer him at this point. What are needed are fewer words, simple shared silence, He must be allowed to cry and to say goodbye. If the four previous stages are allowed, Mr, Ross feels the patient can move into the final stage of acceptance with "quiet .expectation, almost anticipation". This is a stage almost devoid of feeling,- when silence and touch are important. "don't encourage the patient to 'hang in' or 'be strong'. The • morning session ended with a film produced for Calvary Hospital, Bronx, New York. and 1011owed one man's journey through the diagnosis of a terminal illness, through, the stages, until that final stage 'of acceptance. Small group dis- Lussions about the film brought many ideas and impressions; many felt that the major message of the film lay in the regret felt by (Continued on Page 12) CARDIFF & MULVEY Real Estate & Insurance Ltd. BOX 69, BRUSSELS, ONTARIO PHONE 887-6100 NOH 1110 YES You can insure your home to - help replace it if lost by fire YES You can insure your personal possessio-ns to help replace them if lost by fire YES You can insure your life BUT You cannot replace PLEASE Have smoke detectors installed in your home and help your family reach retirement age speaking to about ISO people fretu this area of Western Ontario who attended a seminaron death and bereavement in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on Wednes- day of last week, The event was sponsored jointly by the Wing- ham and District Ministerial Association and, the •Winghaln, and, District Hospital. Mr, Ross expressed regret that death is removes:: front familiar iAtrrottndings. When. a patient nears death, be is removed to .an institution. placed between un- familiar sheets stamped with the Ti-1n BRUSSFI,S POST, MAY 10, 1978 13 Workshop on death held from, the Wiugham Adance Times Institutions are placed in our midst because death often makes people feel they are not adequate to cope alone. This was the thought shared by Rev, Robert Ross. assistant chaplain at K-W Hospital, Kitchener. He was Give them an inch and they'll take a mile. Boy, when it comes to those metric people, they're" doing just that. Okay, so I gave them an inch. That didn't seem too bad--trading in all my inches. feet an yards for all of their centimeters, decimeters and millimeters. Not that it wasn't easy: I'm having trouble yet remembering what's what. Trying to get metric words straight is like trying to find a house in a new suburb. The houses not only look alike, but the streets have all the same sounding names--Pine Ridge, Oak Crest, Maple Knoll and Fir Hill. All those same sounds and words run through my brain like a sieve. There's nothing distinctive to make them snag on my memory and stay. But the words yard, feet and inches never gave me any trouble:They're different enough to make me remember. And, let's face it, they've been around my lifetime. But okay, metric people, I figured, have it your way. Take away my beloved inch and my measuring system built on threes and twelves. You say units of ten are easier to calculate. Yqu say we need metric to standardize the world's weights and measures. You say we can take part better in the world's market place. Trade and compete with the same measuring system. ' Why not go along with the crowd? Make things easier for everybody. • Weil, You can count me out when yousayit's easier on everybody, I find it one big, headache. Thin. tens bring on more pain than tny threes ever did. Besides, three is a good Working number, And with the barest of practice, l can divide into three as well as ten. Three has always been a big number. So many things in life comes in threes. Knife, fork and spoon: Small, medium and large: Coffee, milk and cream. In fact, three is a kind of magical mystical and holy number. Take the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit or Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Did you ever wonder why so many old stories come in threes? The Three Beat% Three Billy Coats Gruff and the Three Pigs. Have you ever noticed in speeches or prose how illustrations, examples and words often come in threes? IlOW kit end stress is usually in units of three? Three Is a good count. A natural Unit, And if the good Lord really wanted metric, one lady said, Jesus would have had ten disciples, not twelve. He would have risen from the dead on the fifth day, not the third. I've found three quite satisfactory, thank you. But okay, metric people, I thought I'd be big about it and go along with you. I'd cooperate. Give an inch. They made it easy in the beginning. For almost a whole year they let us adjust to temperature in celsius. The water turned out just as warm in Celsius as Fahrenheit. But that turned out to be just like sticking in our big too. Now they're taking the mile. Now the whole tidal wave of metric is rolling over us. It's on us with a vengence. No more coaxing and teasing and letting us get used to the water gradually. All roadsigns read metric. The car speedometers read kilometers. Every bottle in the hosuc is milliliter. Every ice cream ixIckage a liter. Metric breaks in on us everywhere. It's into my wife's cookbooks, my daughter's dress making, the farmer's fertilizing programs arid livestock tonnage. It's changing calculations, price quotations and our vocabulary. Metric has taken over. What started out as giving an inch is now a mile. But there's more, The latest blow came when I read real estate ads. Now metric is after the acre. My sacred acre is slipping away. It's disappearing into the hectare. Now, how does that sound? "Just went out and bought myself 43.3 hectare of farm." Don't those metric people realize? Every since the beginning of this country, those sturdy pioneer went OUt into the vast wilderness and stalked their claims in acres? They cleared their land in acres: They plowed in,aeres. Sowed in acres, Reaped in acres. And now what do we have? Hectare: . don't care if the metric people tell me. "Recto" means "I00 times'', It's their &fettle Way of multiplying. All I cat see irt that word is heck and tare, Arid neither of them. means anything good. Who wants tares—and that's the bible way ofsaying weeds--when you cart have wheat? And who wants heti when you Catt lrave heaven? All t can say is to heck with hectare„