HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2000-05-10, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2000. PAGE 5.
Other Views
About the rich man and
This is a story about two men. One of
them is royalty — Prince Jefri of
Brunei. The other man is a commoner -
a salesman: Joe Segal, of Vancouver.
Prince Jefri first. His country, Brunei, is a
tiny kidney bean of a nation about the size of
Prince Edward Island. It sits like an
afterthought on the brow of Borneo and would
be a totally forgettable backwater sultanate but
for the fact that it is filthy, stinking rich with
crude oil.
Prince Jefri, a royal son of Brunei is, to put it
mildly, a conspicuous consumer. He owns
2,000 automobiles - personally. He holds the
keys to 17 different aircraft. He has a huge
yacht, tastefully named Tits, which carries two
high-powered Zodiac tenders: Nipple One and
Nipple Two.
Mind you, he doesn’t spend all of his time on
Tits. Sometimes he lives in his palace. The one
with 1,778 rooms.
Prince Jefri has other expensive tastes.
He sponsors the Ferrari Formula One team
on the international racing circuit. He’s fond of
calling up Miss USAs, Miss Worlds and
other planetary sirens of pulchritude
and offering them $30,000 U.S. a week to
come and ‘entertain’ him and the boys at the
palace.
The prince is a young man. He has four
wives, three children, his own private polo
team and more mistresses than Casanova ever
The world’s surplus of acronyms
Have you noticed recently, or maybe not
so recently, the relentless increase in
the number of acronyms that seem to
creep into the everyday use of the media, both
print and otherwise?
It seems that it is impossible to call an
organization or activity by its full name when
discussing it, an act based blithely on the
assumption that everybody from tinker to
candlestick maker will know what is being
discussed.
So you might pick up a paper and find an
article that informs you that the WTO, the
successor or GATT, is meeting to discuss the
implications of changes at the IMF and the
WB.
Also on the discussion list is the future role
of the NAFTA, should a NAMU take place in
spite of the threat of an increase in NGO’s. The
EU is watching such increase with great
interest.
All this and we are talking only in one
specific area of activity. There are many others
just as prevalent in their own area.
Just in case you did not get all of those, they
are as follows: World Trade Organization,
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
International Monetary Fund, World Bank,
North American Free Trade Agreement, North
American Monetary Union, Non-
Governmental Organizations and European
Union.
Frankly I am not quite sure what should be
done about all this. Language has a tendency to
simplify itself and there is no greater example
of this than English.
If you go back in the history of the language,
you will find that it used to have all sorts of
endings on both its nouns and adjectives. It
wisely got rid of them, unlike German, a
sister language, and any German speaking
readers will know what I mean when I
say that language is still riddled with
all sorts of endings, both on nouns and
adjectives.
French got rid of the letter s in many words
by the simple move of putting an accent on the
previous vowel. Not quite as dramatic as the
Arthur
Black
dreamed of.
But times are hard. Recently he petitioned
his brother, the Sultan of Brunei, for $500,000
U.S. to cover “ordinary living expenses.”
That’s 500 grand a month, you understand.
That’s Prince Jefri - then there’s Joe Segal
Like Prince Jefri, Joe is a rich man - but
that’s where the similarities end. For starters,
Joe earned his dough. Joe was bom not with a
silver spoon in his mouth — more like a pick
and shovel in his hands.
He started out slinging gravel for the Alaska
Highway project back in the 40s. Soon he
moved into sales. Before he was finished (and
he’s not finished yet) Joe created Fields
Department Stores. And merged it with
Zeller’s. Which he sold to Hudson’s Bay
Company.
He was also the man behind Sterling Shoes,
First National Properties ancfone or two dozen
other flourishing concerns.
Add it all up and Joe Segal of Vancouver,
like Prince Jefri of Brunei, is a very rich man.
He also spends lavishly - but not on hookers
Raymond
Cannon
The
International
Scene
English but a step in the same direction.
The ultimate in making speaking easier was
to be found in an artificial language named
Esperanto, created during the last few years of
the 19th century by a Polish oculist named
Zamenhof. This language has only about a
dozen rules and no exceptions to any of these
rules.
This led, admittedly, to some rather strange
creations, since the feminine of a word was
always formed by adding “-in” to the
masculine noun. So onklo was uncle (not too
Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor are a forum for public opinion and comment. The views expressed do not
necessarily reflect those of this publication.
THE EDITOR,
Believe it or not, today’s youth do care, and
as members of the Huron Youth Cares
committee, we are proof. Our group which is
made up of students from all across Huron
County, are breaking through the perceptions
people have of teenagers today.
On May 27 we are organizing a day for our
community to become involved. The Day of
Caring is our chance to show that we can make
Huron County a better place to live.
We want you! Service clubs, residents of
Huron, teenagers, children, businesses ...
everyone! We can all make a difference.
You can help alone or as a team. There are
many projects you can participate in. You
could clean up garbage, escort a senior safely
around the Hensail yard sales, or anything that
you feel needs to be done.
You can make our community a place filled
with spirit. All it takes is a few hours of your
poor man
or Lear jets or yachts. Joe Segal spends his
money on people. He has earned that most old-
fashioned of descriptions: philanthropist.
He has ploughed his dough into universities
and colleges in Canada and Israel. Also
childrens’ hospitals, homes for the aged, the
Italo-Canadian Society, the Vancouver Police
Foundation, Crime Stoppers International, the
Canadian National Institute for the Blind.
Has he been recognized and honoured for
his generosity? Oh, sure. Joe’s got an Order of
British Columbia and an Order of Canada
and a drawer full of medals and certificates
and plaques - but he’s faintly embarrassed
when somebody brings it up because he
doesn’t do it for the glory. Joe Segal shares his
wealth for a very selfish reason: because he
learned a long time ago that the very most
satisfying thing you can do in life is give to
others.
“Give ‘til it hurts,” says Joe, “Then give a
little more.”
Corny? Perhaps. But I can show you two
men: - one, a Malaysian prince with luxury
cars and private jets and yachts, a palace, a
cavalcade of courtesans - even a $12 million
diamond and ruby encrusted carpet beside his
bed...
And then I’ll show you another man - Joe
Segal - with a cheque book full of stubs.
Now you tell me which one is rich and which
one is poor.
bad) but aunt automatically became onklino.
Something equally strange was the addition
of “mal-” to form the opposite. Good was bono
(also not so bad) but bad just as automatically
became malbono.
To sum all this up, Esperanto became quite
popular in the first half of this century; I have
not heard too much about it since that time.
But what to do about all these current
acronyms? I guess about the best thing is to
learn only those that revolve around your line
of work and ask people about the others. This
seems to £e what others are doing since I have
noticed an increase in the number of questions
thrown in my direction about such things as
IPO, S&? and P/E.
The dictionaries have not yet caught up with
all of them and probably never will. We are left
with learning the necessary ones in our life
ASAP without encountering too many
SNAFUS.
time. The committee is very willing to come
and speak to your business or organization. We
can give you a project or one you can choose
your own. To register your project or team
please contact the Huron United Way at (519)
482-7643, or email us at uniteway@tcc.on.ca
Sincerely,
Kari Reid (Student Representative of South
Huron District High School)
Michelle Genttner (Student Representative
of Central Huron Secondary School).
Final Thought
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t
come as a result of getting something we
don’t have, but rather of recognizing and
appreciating what we do have.
— Frederick Keonig
Bonnie
Gropp
The short of it
My springtime
pros and cons
It’s really a delicious time of year, isn’t it?
Actually it’s the only season I can think of,
that has such wonderful pros, I seldom
consider the cons.
They do exist. The grass grows. The weeds
multiply threatening to snuff out the promise of
less offensive blooms. As my pooch sheds her
rather abundant winter coat, dog hair inundates
my allergic senses, already tested by the pollen
floating undeterred through all available air
space.
But what would typically be an annoyance
becomes less so amidst the many lovely
blessings of spring. Dreary rain may plague us
one day, but we know it will only enhance the
season’s colourful potential. Itchy eyes are
soothed by the freshness they behold outdoors
and the weeds give us a reason to leave
housework behind and spend a day under blue
skies.
There is, however, one common complaint of
spring that I have for which I not only can’t
find any compensation but which actually
makes the situation all the more frustrating.
My family and I, at a time of year when the
yard as well as the interior and exterior of our
home call out for attention, when sunshine and
warmth beg us to join them, are finding
ourselves way, way too busy.
I suppose if there were rewards offered for
best intentions, we would be in good shape.
Spring cleaning has been considered since the
beginning of March. And every weekend I plan
to dust. Knowing that spring has always been
a rather insane season at our home, I’ve tried to
bring some semblance of order into the chaos,
control the willy-nilly running, fitting in
responsibilities, scheduling chores like
appointments. I organize my to-do list, plotting
each minute. Efficiency is mv creed and in the
past it has served me well.
This year, however, I may soon admit defeat.
While spring continues its growth spurt
outdoors I am besieged by indoor work that
simply must get done. Our youngest two
children, usually adequate assistants in this
area, are focussed on school. Whether it’s the
educational aspect, the extracurricular or the
planning for the future, they have little time for
the routine activities around the house, let
alone for their bigger responsibilities.
Consequently, their inability to stay on top,
buries their dad and me even further.
Added to this is the fact that my hubby has
taken on a project of gargantuan proportions
which has, of course, pushed us back a few
steps before we can move forward.
The bottom line is that the person
accustomed to a regimented schedule, who
likes to see certain tasks completed in specific
timeframes, is needing to find a way to
reconcile compulsion with reality. As we open
doors and windows to the outdoors, I am
feeling just a little overwhelmed, caught
between my need to move outside after a long,
long winter and the dustballs inside. I look
with concern as the yardwork continues to get
ahead of me and the interior remains an
ongoing project.
But it’s also a time of year for optimism. As
in years past it will all get done in due time.
And in searching for the pro to the con, I will
with a certainty that by the time the roses are in
bloom, I will have the time to smell them.