The Rural Voice, 2001-12, Page 8Annual Meeting
of the Huron County
Pork Producers
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23
at the
Seaforth Community Centre
at 4 pm
Supper at 5:00 p.m.
Featuring Nutrient Manage Plan and
how it will affect us.
Tickets: $5.00. CaII Marilyn Schiestel
392-6682 or any director.
WHITE EXTRUDED PLASTIC
Plastic Sheet
Plastic Rolls
Plastic Lumber
UMHW Sheet & Bar
Mouldings & Trim
Plastic Rivets
Fibre Glass Coated Plastic
Plastic Coated Plywood
WIRE PANELS
34 inches x 16 feet
52 inches x 16 feet
WOVEN WIRE HOG FLOORING
Steel
Beams
Rebar
Cement Mesh
Angles
Flat Bar
Tubing
Call or Fax for pricing.
,Nteeey. ellxiatrwaa
teem the Amax*
Thank you to all the
producers and
contractors for
your support
this past year.
ARM -CO STEEL & PLASTICS
P.O. Box 1, Goderich, Ontario N7A 3Y5
(519) 524-2082 • FAX (519) 524-1091
4 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
There's something bigger than ourselves
Christmas time is here and parents
gain a new tool in their efforts to try
to make children behave: "You'd
better be good 'cause Santa Claus is
watching."
I hated that when I was a kid. I'll
bet there are parents who, remember-
ing that feeling,
won't use that •
scare tactic with
their kids. In fact
I'm surprised that
one of those
children's rights
groups — the
ones that are
going to the
Supreme Court to
fight against the
right of parents to
spank their kids
— haven't called
for a ban on the
all -seeing Santa.
It's blackmail at the very least. It's
invasion of privacy to think Santa is
watching when, in the privacy of the
bathroom, little Johnnie flushes his
sister's barrettes down the toilet or
when little Suzie colours her baby
sister's hair with a magic marker.
It's a definite incentive to grow up
quickly, anyway — at least these
days. Children over most of the past
century didn't escape the idea they
were being constantly observed just
because they grew into adults. When
the vast majority of people went to
church there was the constantly -rein-
forced idea that we were always being
watched by an all-knowing God.
But when it was decided in the
1960s that God was "dead", at least
from the point of view of the
government, the media and overall
society, people were set free from the
sense that, alone or in a crowd, by
day or in dark of night, their every
action was being viewed and judged.
For some people, this doesn't
matter. Even brought up outside the
church, even without proper guidance
from parents, these people still
somehow have a moral core. They
will, with no reward except their own
satisfaction, try to do the right thing
toward others and toward the world
(including their environment).
Others, however, freed from the
sense that their actions will be
judged, choose to do what's best for ,
themselves, no matter what the
consequences to others.
With no God watching over
people's shoulders, society has been
forced to create one. Malls and public
places have enough video cameras to
cover every square foot of the whole
complex. Some cities like London
are using cameras to keep track of
people in the streets. The previous
Ontario government put cameras on
the roads, slowing traffic but when
the cameras were taken down by the
current government, highways
became the playground of
Indianapolis -500 wannabes.
Governments have had to step in
to create the sense of fear that Santa
and God once provided. Environ-
mental rules have been toughened
up. Communities have been forced to
take disposal of sewage more
seriously than when they just dumped
it all in a river or stream (though at
some times of the year they some-
times still do). There's been a
realization that garbage can't be
buried in just any old gravel pit.
Government education and enforce-
ment has forced us to look at our
place in the life of the whole planet.
In many ways the "death" of God
hasn't had drastic consequences for
the everyday life of mankind. There
are fewer murders today than when
we were supposedly a church -going
society. The environment is being
cared for more than in the 1940s or
'50s. We are our brothers' keepers at
least as much today as we were a
half -century ago.
Perhaps the fear of having God
disapprove of your actions and
sentence you to almighty damnation
isn't the best way to motivate people.
Still we do need to know that, while
we are all individuals, we're also part
of something that's bigger than
ourselves. That's a sense the
Christmas season renews in us each
year: not only the sense that there's
somebody out there watching us, but
also the sense that there's a force
bigger than ourselves that loves us.0
Keith Roulston is editor and
publisher of The Rural Voice. He
lives near Blyth, ON.
r