Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-05-27, Page 5Arthur Black THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 27,1992. PAGE 5. Are Good Samaritans an endangered species? “Life” Woody Allen once wrote, “is divided into the horrible and the miserable.” A touch pessimistic, even for New York's nabob of neurosis, but some days such an observation seems distressingly close to the truth. Bandits in pin stripes hijacking the Dow Jones. Neo nazis pushing back manhole covers and crawling out of the sewers of Europe and Asia. And south central L.A. Foreign factory ships calmly stripmining the Grand Banks fish stocks. And over it all, the moist palms and false smiles of politicians, promising, murmuring, working the crowd and passing oceans of oral gas. Some days you wake up, look around and wonder what ever happened to the good guys. You wonder if Good Samaritans should be added to the Endangered Species list. Endangered, perhaps but not extinct. A cursory poke into a thicket of weekend newspapers flushed three examples of the species. It made me feel good to learn about them. Maybe it'll work for you too. First, there's Thomas Walker. Mister International Scene By Ray mond Canon s '■ "Situation hopeless, but not serious" It has been so many centuries since I was a child that I have forgotten what people used at that time to scare children into better behaviour. I think one might have been the fact that Santa Claus would not bring us the required number of presents while another might have been God condemning us to hell if our behaviour didn't improve. I'm not sure how effective any of those were. I grew up during the Depression and World War II when Santa Claus was not too generous to begin with while my limited acquaintance with God leads me to the belief that he is a loving, not a cruel person. However, the trend continues and I would look at some of the things that are frequently used to frighten people with, I suspect, about the same effect. I'm not sure what motivates people to practice such policies but, by the time I am finished this article, some of my more perceptive readers may come up with a few motives. One that has grown popular over the years is the claim that, if Canada does not follow the solutions proposed by the speaker or writer, we will become a “banana republic.” I would suspect that the vast majority of any audience and probably most speakers have never been to a so-called “banana republic” \ Walker's a retired police officer who’s developed the hobby of flying helium balloons from his backyard in Baltimore. Balloons ... with money attached to them - sometimes a sawbuck sometimes a 50 dollar bill. There's a little prayer attached as well, and Mister Walker's address and phone number. As for delivery, Mister Walker says he leaves that up to God. “I was upset that there were a lot of children killed last year” says Mister Walker. I wanted to send something cheerful.” Then there's Shauneen McKay from the tiny town of Beeton, Ontario. Beeton's in Tecumseth Township. You need to know that so you can understand how Shauneen McKay became known as the Tree Lady of Tecumseth. Shauneen's like a lot of us, - constantly reminded and eternally bummed out by the way we two-legged tenants mistreat this planet. She's heard all about the clear cuts in B.C., the burning rainforest in Brazil, the budworm spraying in New Brunswick and the acid rain everywhere. Instead of wallowing in guilt, Shauneen McKay chose to act. “I decided I might not be able to fix the rain forests, but I could sure do something about Tecumseth Township.” And she did. McKay got the local horticultural society mobilized. They blitzed for donations, and pretty soon they had enough to buy a big batch of ash, maple, linden and birch trees - all bargain priced because they were seconds. Come the first planting day McKay and her colleagues and thus have no real idea of what they are talking about. It probably is not even a republic but no matter, it undoubtedly has a population whose average education is rock bottom next to nothing in the way of a health care system, a few very rich people and a great many very poor ones, a government whose level of corruption is endemic. By now you get the picture and if you think for one minute that Canadians are stupid enough politically or uneducated enough academi­ cally to get anywhere in this vicinity, you should probably be exiled to live in Somalia. The next time you hear this expression, you can safely discount just about everything the speaker says. Now that I have warmed up to the subject, let's look at another - the “damned foreigners” syndrome. When in doubt you can always blame it on the foreigners who (choose one are: (1) undercutting all our hardworking manufacturers (2) practicing strange religious cults (3) putting Canadians out of work (4) too lazy to work (5) put in your favourite one. Most of the time the same foreigners are not here to defend themselves from such charges but, when they are, they are obviously in the wrong. To cite one example, I read recently that the British recently discovered that the student with the highest marks ever in mathematics was not a Brit after all but a Bangladeshi, from one of those “banana republics.” We should learn something from history. During the Second World War it was the Germans and the Japanese and, to a lesser extent, the Italians who were the butt of all our jokes. The valianet Chinese and the Russians were our friends and allies. Times change and so it came to pass that the same Chinese and Russians were the ogres and were used to scare us into arming to the found 30 volunteers - housewives, seniors and kids from the high school - leaning on shovels, waiting for instructions. Shauneen McKay and friends have done such a good job of greening up the outskirts of Beeton that other towns and their councils are following suit. And why not? Trees arc the red corpuscles of earthly life. They filter junk out of the air and put oxygen back in. They control soil erosion, raise water tables, provide shelter for animals, windbreaks for drivers, food for countless species of wild­ life ... Oh yes, and trees are easy on the eyes too. My last Good Samaritan of the week? Well, I can't introduce you because I don't know the Samaritan's name. All I know is for the past month or so, somebody has been going up to a hydro pole at the comer of Islington Avenue and Elmhurst Drive in the north end of Toronto and hanging shopping bags full of groceries on it. Good stuff - eggs, fish sticks, butter, cheese. Nobody ever sees whoever leaves it there. Don't know who the phantom grocer's trying to reach. Perhaps the same people Thomas Walker is trying to air express his money to. The people who'll benefit most from Shauneen McKay and her tree planting aren't even bom yet. Those trees won't be done growing till long after Shauneen and you and I are planted ourselves. Thomas Walker, Shauneen McKay and the Phantom Grocer aren't trying to save the world. They're just tidying up their comer of it. teeth. Now we are sending food parcels to what remains of the Soviet Union while our government sends high powered trade commissions to China to develop stronger ties with them. This all leads to a question we should ask. When are the people of other nations ogres and when are they the nice guys? Why and when are they used to scare us on some occasions and then the object of our concern and affection? Is the concept of the bogey man” so rooted in our psyche that we cannot get rid of it and call it up every time we can't handle a situation? The ogre of the 1990's has, of course, been good old Saddam Hussein although he is not in the news much lately. Although the western nations were responsible for arming him to the teeth and giving him many of the arms on terms of credit that you and I can only drool over, with one swoop he became an overnight ogre. We were told over and over again just how horrible he was, what he would do if left unchecked and how he definitely had to be stopped. I have no argument with the threat he posed but why was he so desirable for over a decade, yet suddenly every propaganda ploy known to the western world was turned on? A favourite comparison of the time was Hitler and Saddam. Other than the fact that neither one was very good at military strategy, this comparison is somewhat weak. In my book Saddam does not even come close. Perhaps in this age of superbowls, super everything else, we have to have super expressions to get through to people. In so doing we have a far less clear picture of reality as it exists. Perhaps there is something to be said for the Austrian general who, reporting on the situation of his division at the Russian front, remarked that “the situation is hopeless but not serious.” TheShort of it By Bonnie Gropp "Mommy stuff and martyrdom Call it reverse chauvinism but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I really think the pressures facing working mothers are greater than those facing working fathers. Now, let me defend myself before you react. Today's father, generally, is undeniably a help around the house. Certainly more so than even just a generation ago. My mother worked full-time because my father had started a new business and they needed the extra income. But, she also did the cleaning, washing and cooking. Not only would my father not have considered getting up after supper to help with dishes, she wouldn't have expected it. (Boy, is she getting him back since they retired and she found out men can actually leam how to do these things) The big problem with being a working mother is that despite the fact men contribute more to housework now, they still generally don't worry about or deal with typical "mommy stuff'. "Mommy stuff" is all those organizational and administrative aspects of running a household - all those tiny, but time-consuming hassles that dads tend to overlook. Seldom does Dad worry himself with babysitters, what activities the kids have after school and how are they going to get to them, is there a car available to get everyone where they have to go and what can we possibly eat for supper that is going to accommodate all the schedules. It has been realized by professional therapists that working mothers are under a good deal of stress and face unique challenges, because regardless of the help they get, they are still pulled in several directions. And it's quite likely our own fault! It all comes down to guilt. Guilt, you see, is the big thing that makes this so difficult. This generation of mothers was raised by guilt. Guilt was the formula used by our mothers to get things done and its results are imbedded in us for keeps. The kingdom of martyrdom is ours. I have only ever met a handful of women with the capability to block out what needs to be done and guiltlessly set it aside to enjoy some time to themself. While men seem to have the knack of putting pressing things on the back burner to take a five minute "power nap" women put it to the back of their mind where it keeps pushing its way forward. We want to be super mom, we want to be everything to all people. When it can't be accomplished we suffer and if we do achieve it it is not without a minimal amount of aggravation, at best. I thought of this the other day after something a colleague said, one who has managed to eliminate guilt from her life. While I was remarking on how desperately I needed a few minutes to myself, she pointed out that there is only one person who can and will give them to me. When things get too much, when demands and pressures just seem to be compounding, rather than try to get them all done when you know you can't, you are better to sit down and relax for a while with a glass of wine or a good book. Sure! Everybody knows that "me time " is imperative to one's sanity, but how do you keep guilt out of it? My body may sit, but my head won't stop! Anyway, the other day, I decided I really was going to give this a try. So I got home, po;ired myself a cold drink and sat down to relax. It wasn't easy. You can’t imagine the guilt J experienced when my husband pulled in with a truckful of wood to unload. Let me tell you I felt really bad about not helping. Maybe a stronger drink would fix that.