Village Squire, 1980-05, Page 17ONE DAY AT A TIME
Editors's note: Jim Hagarty is a 29 -year-
old staff reporter with The Beacon Herald
in Stratford. He is the former editor of The
Mitchell Advocate and wrote a weekly
column in that newspaper for the past
three years. Responses to his column are
welcomed and can be forwarded to The
Village Squire or to Mr. Hagarty, Box 456,
Mitchell.
BY JIM HAGARTY
The rapid-fire pace of modern-day
existence has bred a desperately confused
generation of people who are failing
precisely because they are trying too hard
to succeed.
How's that for a profound way to start a
regular column for The Village Squire?
There's no use beating around the bush.
I am a hopeless romantic and an armchair
philosopher. I love talking in the very
broadest of generalities and get extremely
nervous when anyone tries to pin me down
to specifics or demands that I use concrete
factual information to support my views.
The truth is, facts bore me. Ideas are the
only things that turn on my imagination
and are, in my humble view, the only
things worth discussing in a conversation
or writing about in a column.
I only say all that as a way of warning
you about me. This column, and all the
ones I write for this magazine in the future,
are guaranteed not to increase your
storehouse of knowledge. So if you're a
bear for information and statistics, you'd
better start looking elsewhere for
something to read during television
commercial breaks.
If, as you read something I've written, a
nagging thought occurs to you that, "Heyl
Wait a minute. That can't be true!", don't
second-guess yourself. It probably isn't
true. Being a touch on the lazy size, I'd
much rather make up a fact or two where I
feel it's necessary than pull my coat on,
venture out in the rain and head down to
the local library to check the accuracy of
one of Abe Lincoln's quotes or to find out
exactly how many two -car families there
are in Canada.
Reading my column, you'll never have a
better chance to put into practice the old
adage, "Don't believe everything you
read."
There. Now that I've set the ground
rules, I'll try in the little bit of space I have
left this month to get back to whatever
topic it was I set out to write about in my
first paragraph.
The other night I was sitting feet -up in
in front of my 16 inch RCA, intermittently
paying scant attention to the action on
Eight is Enough between slurps of white
milk and chomps on my favourite chocolate
chip cookies. A hundred thoughts fought
furiously for sole occupancy of my mind
when I came to for a minute and heard one
of the actors on the T.V. lovingly advising a
young fellow actor to stop trying so hard to
THE GIFT THAT...
KEEPS ON GIVING
JEWELLERY
KIf FORM - MAKE IT
YOURSELF
CUSTOM MADE - AT LOW
COST
STONES ARE NATURAL
MINERALS IMPORTED
FROM ALL OVER THE
WORLD. NO GLASS OR
PLASTIC.
Tiger Eye, Carnelian,
Amethyst Quartz,
Garnet, Moonstone,
Jade, Opal, and Tots
more.
Rings, Pendants, Beads,
Necklaces, Belt Buckles,
Bola Ties, Bracelets,
etc.
VISIT...MINI MINERAL
MUSEUM - NO CHARGE.
/Ira jcros
51 ST. DAVID ST., GODERICH, ONT. N1A 1L4
524-9972
win the affection of a girl he was stuck on.
That one little phrase, "Quite trying so
hard," lodged tightly in my brain and
stayed there the rest of that night and all
the next day.
How many marriages fail because both
partners are trying too hard to make it
perfect? How many parents louse up their
children by trying too hard to bring up a
host of angels? How many businesses go
belly -up because their owners are trying
too hard to please the ever -demanding
public?
Most importantly, how many individual
lives end in destruction by booze, drugs or
suicide because unreasonable personal
standards could not be met?
Joe Clark tried too hard to be a great
prime minister and look where it got him.
As one not unaquainted with failure (I
was fired from my last two jobs), I can see
in all this a key to a brighter tomorrow.
Life should be worn like a loose set of
clothes. After all, none of us is going to
get out of this alive.
There. Now you can go back to whatever
T.V. show you were watching before 1 so
rudely interrupted you.
r
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VILLAGE SQUIRE/MAY 1980 PG. 15