Loading...
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.