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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1993-02-17, Page 5Arthur Black International Scene ayrnond Canon THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1993. PAGE 5. The Tale of the Magic Pill I remember the very first time I ran into the Tale of the Magic Pill. I was a spindly teenager working at my spare time job, pumping gas at a Fina station on the outskirts of a little town called Nobleton, Ontario. It was a lazy, dozy August afternoon and I was filling the tank of a rusty Ford pickup. The old guy at the wheel was scowling and grumbling at every 'ding' of the gas pump. "Nine bucks?" the old guy wailed as he fumbled for his wallet. "Kid, I guess you know that if Detroit ever loses control of the pill, you'll be out of a job." "Pill?" I asked. The old guy went on to explain quite matter-of-factly how an inventor in Ohio — or maybe it was Wyoming — had come up with a magical chemical capsule. This pill was dirt cheap and if you threw it into a gallon of water — hey, presto! — you had a fuel that your car could burn cleaner and more efficiently than gasoline. "But of course General Motors got wind of the pill" the old guy told me. "They gave the inventor millions for the patent rights on his invention and then they buried it. Made Not enough heroes When I was a boy and relatively naive and unexperienced, the world held for me any number of heroes. Some of them came and went in a relatively short period of time, others stayed with me for years. They tended to act the way I wanted to act; they set for me goals to achieve and behaviour to imitate and in general gave me a good idea of how a human being should behave on this planet. If they had flaws ( and they undoubtedly did), I either refused to acknowledge them or else put them down as the product of some writer or observer with an axe to grind. One of my long term heroes was Albert Schweizer. This Frenchman from Alsace, who was a medical missionary in Africa, became known all over the world for his decision to give up a comfortable life in Europe for a much more primitive one in Africa and his medical station in Lambarene was a light shining in the darkness of central Africa. I was impressed enough by all that but, when I discovered that he was both an organist and a philosopher, he shot up another 100 per cent in my estimation. One of the first records I ever owned was Schweizer playing Bach on the organ in Gunsbach in France to raise money for his mission work. His book on the German author Goethe (another of my heroes) was read from cover to cover and then reread. There were other heroes, some of whom I met and some of whom I only read about. Two of the former were Syl Apps and Lester Pearson; two of the latter were Harry Truman and Pierre Mendes-France. The only name which may be unfamiliar to you is the the guy sign a pledge that he would never speak about his pill to anybody — especially the press." That was pretty much the gist of the Tale of The Magic Pill. Sometimes it was Ford that paid the inventor off. Occasionally it was the big oil companies themselves. The details varied from narrator to narrator, but the nub of the story was the same: somewhere out there was a magic potion that could turn water into automobile fuel and save us all billions of dollars a year, but to protect their profits, dirty old Big Business made damn sure it never came on the market. It was utter hogwash, but it was popular hogwash. It made a good story — especially for Reds-under-the-bed, Martians-in-the- White-House conspiracy buffs who seemed a lot more prevalent back in the Paranoid Fifties. At least, the story used to be hogwash. A visitor to the Alternative Transportation Exposition held recently in Burbank, Calif. might be forgiven for wondering if it hadn't finally come true. At the Exposition visitors could sit in a Chevrolet Lumina that runs on a fuel distilled from garbage, beer sludge and cheese whey. Does it work okay? Well, the owner, Cindy Hasenjager of the California Renewable Fuels Council, says she's been driving the Chevvy using nothing but the composted fuel for over a year. last one but I can clear that up by telling you that he was a premier of France who, among other things, tried to so something about alcoholism in his country. He didn't succeed but at least he gave it his best shot. One of the problems with heroes in today's world is that the media, in its efforts to report much more fully than ever used to be the case, is much more likely to dig up and report negative aspects of a person's character, sometimes even before there has been a chance to research them sufficiently. This is not to say that my heroes were without fault; they undoubtedly were and more up-to-date research has demonstrated this. It is just that at the age when I was enjoying my heroes, the private lives of public figures were hidden much better than they are today. I have only to cite John F. Kennedy as an example. I know that the "Camelot" image that he projected was seen by many as an idyllic age; certainly Kennedy was the most idolized president in my lifetime. He had a beautiful wife and two children; he came from a famous family and the press seemed to dote on him at every turn. When he was assassinated in Dallas, this idolization was stepped up considerably. However, the propensity of some of the media to tear down a person's reputation took over and Kennedy's monumental womanizing gradually came to the fore as did others of his and his family's shortcomings. The lesson is there for all to see. If such a hero as Kennedy could be shown to be something less than ideal, so could anybody else and as a result character assassination seems to be part and parcel of the life of any famous person. Just look at what Bill Clinton had to go through on the road to becoming president. George Bush fared little better. The opposition could not fault him for his part in the military; he was, after all, a navy pilot in World War II but it should not be surprising that some journalist had to Just a couple of car lengths from Cindy's display was a van owned by Leon Schumacher, an agricultural engineer at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Leon's buggy burns a mixture of soybeans and diesel oil. He says the fuel burns cleaner, is much easier on the engine and stretches mileage by as much as 25 per cent. Best of all is the smell. Leon Schumacher's van exhaust smells like ... french fries. The fuel is a big hit at St. Louis airport where it's used in all the runway vehicles. "A forklift operator told me 'We want it in all our vehicles. It smells reeeeal good,'" says Schumacher. The best thing about the Alternative Transportation Exposition? Well, guess who the three biggest sponsors were. Ford Motor Company, Chrysler Corporation and General Motors. They were in attendance to show off their prototype electrical vehicles, most of which are slated to be on the highways within the next few years. So much for the Magic Pill Conspiracy Theory. Cars that run on electrons, garbage, beer sludge, soybeans, cheese whey ... At the rate automotive engineering is hopscotching into the future, it won't be long before cars are running on nothing more than hot air. Which will be exciting news for the nation's capital. Ottawa could become the Detroit of the North. attempt to prove that he had had an "affair' with another woman. It was never proven but the very fact that it was brought up shows that we have become very cynical indeed. Perhaps the day of real heroes is over. Regardless of how much we admire somebody, we see him or her with warts and all, and the result is that the efforts of some parts of the media to build a person up end up falling flat. Perhaps what we have to do is to admire certain aspects of a person but be prepared for the shocks that come with the realization that few people are saints in the true sense of the word; they are rather human beings such as you and I and as such capable of error. Even as I write that great hero of World War II, Winston Churchill, is coming under attack for having prolonged the war needlessly. What next? Looking back Continued from page 4 Brussels Home and School Association held a family social to raise money for new playground equipment for the school. A winter storm left area roads in treacherous condition and students at local schools were sent home early. The following day all area schools were closed. Pat Watson was named president of Alpha Huron. McKillop Township issued building permits amounting to $725,000 during the previous 42 YEARS AGO February 14, 1951 W.H. Morritt was appointed chair of the Blyth Community Centre Board. The executive of the 1951 Huron Hog Producers Assoc. was Orville Taylor, Belgrave; Harry L. Sturdy, Auburn; W.R. Lobb, Clinton; William Young, Blyth. A three pound box of Quick Quaker Oats was 35 cents at Superior Food Stores, while you could buy two cans of Green Giant Niblets for 33 cents at Holland's. The short of it By Bonnie Gropp Do the crime, do the time I've said it before and I'll say 'it again. One of the hardest things I do each week is sit down to write this column. That may seem a little strange when you think of all the important and disturbing things happening in our world. After all, everyone has an opinion on something right? True, as that may be, there are Mondays when I really don't care if I do have an opinion, especially if the Monday follows a particularly busy weekend of work, as was the case this past weekend. Fortunately, on my way to work this morning, I was reminded of the move taken recently by some police forces to identify released criminals, which sparked a need to comment. One force also decided that until they hear it is an illegal move, they will circulate the picture of criminals released on bail. I had first heard about this a few days earlier. During that report, they interviewed a recently released sex offender, who said he felt the move was unjust and would hurt the chances of rehabilitation. I guess that means because of this, if they end up back in jail it will be society's fault, right? Aren't you tired of taking the wrap for other people's ills? I know I am. I have throughout most of my life, held what I believe to be are liberal values. However, when it comes to crimes resulting in loss of life or exploitation of young children, I put blinders on my compassionate view. Whatever happened to the punishment fitting the crime? I attended a course on 'democratic' parenting a few years back and while the idea of corporal punishment was seen only as a last resort, the general theme I took from the classes was that the punishment should fit the crime. If it's a good example for our kids, why isn't it good enough for people who have little or no value for society or human life? If we are going to err on one side or the other, who should we be protecting? While so-called reformed criminals may find it unfair that they be forever marked for their deeds, I find it a little hard to accept that we be expected to take a chance. . For example, why, when Guy Paul Morin, has been found guilty and jailed for murder, is he allowed to walk around free while awaiting an appeal? Until the verdict is changed are we not to assume that he did the crime? Is his life at this point of so much more value than the life of little Christine Jessop? She gets no second chance. We owe murderers and child abusers nothing. Time and again, there have been examples where liberal compassion has been misplaced. Nina De Villiers, Brenda Fitzgerald and Laura Davis are names no longer belonging to young beautiful women, but instead adorn their tombstones, because known criminals were allowed to walk among them. Certainly, it's unfortunate when someone making a singular mistake must suffer because of the sins of the others. But if suffering must be done, it shouldn't be by the innocent. It must be frustrating for police officers, working unpleasant hours in sometimes difficult and often dangerous surroundings to catch a criminal, only to have our justice system put them back on the street to kill, rape or maim once more. Dealing with society's dregs on a daily basis, they have formulated some strong insights others would do well to trust. I thank them for taking this stand to protect us and show us we do count.