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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-03-17, Page 5Other Views THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005. PAGE 5. All the lonely mammals All the lonely people. Where do they all come from? Lennon-McCartney Not just people. Whales too. Away out in the Pacific, just off our west coast, marine biologists have been tracking a baleen whale — for the past 12 years. No one has seen this whale, but they hear his calls via submarine tracking hydrophones. They know it’s the same whale because he broadcasts' at 52 hertz, a much higher frequency than any known whale species. The scientists say that the whale’s voice has deepened over the years, perhaps through aging, but it’s still very recognizable. Think about that for a moment. A solitary creature, big as a freight car, moving through the ocean depths, calling, calling. There are few sounds more haunting, to the human ear at least, than the call of a whale. No one knows whether the mystery whale is a blue, a fin or a humpback, but if it’s a blue, it could have a life expectancy of 120 years. Who knows how long it was calling before scientists picked it up? Who knows how many more years it will call before it dies? Or finds the other whale it’s searching for. All the lonely mammals... In Finland last year, a 60-year old tax auditor had a heart attack at his desk and died. Nobody noticed for two days. In Italy, Giorgio Angelozzi, an 80 year-old widower who lives outside Rome got so desperately lonely he placed an ad in a newspaper. The ad said that Angelozzi was willing to pay 500 euros a month to any family willing to ‘adopt’ him as a grandfather. Liberals bo-zv to lobbies Premier Dalton McGuinty boasts he does not bow and scrape to lobbies, but he is finding some are too powerful to ignore. The Liberal premier in the latest example has allowed a senior minister and 30 police chiefs to make a six-day visit to Israel organized and partly paid for by* lobbyists for that country. The lobbyists made sure the travelers saw exactly what they wanted them to see, arranging their itinerary and accompanying them every step of the way. The trip was to inspect Israeli security techniques for coping with terrorists and suggested by the Canadian Jewish Congress, which helps many worthy causes in its community, but also is a strong advocate for Israel in its conflict with Palestinians. It invited Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter and members of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the CJC’s Ontario region chair co-chaired the mission with the minister and police chiefs’ vice- president Armand LaBarge. Kwinter is a leading member of the Jewish community and staunch spokesman for Israel in the legislature and elsewhere. He said it would be an opportunity to see from the inside how Israeli security works and meet senior Israeli security officials. He added, almost as an afterthought, that organizers also were arranging a meeting with officials of the Palestinian Authority. LaBarge declared the group would be able to see how “one of the world’s most sophisticated democratic states deals with terrorism.” The group watched demonstrations by Israeli security forces including border police, heard of trauma they suffered and visited a centre rehabilitating injured officers. It went to a detention centre holding I’m happy to report that he was besieged with offers from as far away as New Jersey and New Zealand and he’s settled in with a family near Milan. But isn’t it sad that he had to take out a want ad? Are you that lonely? I’ve got a solution for you: just call 510-872-7326 and ask for Marc. Marc Horowitz. I’m serious. He wants to know if you want to go out for a bite to eat sometime. Honestly. It all started last September when Marc, a 28-year-old San Franciscan, was working as an assistant on a photo shoot for a Crate and Barrel housewares catalogue. The set he was decorating contained one of those dry-erase boards people use to scribble reminders to themselves. “That looks too blank.” Marc thought to himself. So he took out a Sharpee and scribbled a phone number across the board. A real phone number. 510-872-7326. It gets you Marc’s personal cell phone. When the ad appeared in the catalogue, some readers glommed on to the fact that the phone number wasn’t a fake and Marc’s phone started ringing. The first call was from a curious guy named Jake in Kansas. Marc said “Why don’t I fly out to Kansas and have dinner with you?” Palestinian youth and was told it was trying to cure problems including “illiteracy, lack of education and other issues” at the root of terrorism. It also squeezed in a meeting with three representatives of the Palestinian Authority among several on its last day. Kwinter, two government representatives who went with him and the police chiefs each paid about $1,500 toward the cost of the trip, about half, and can expect to be reimbursed by their various employers. The rest will be paid by the CJC, some of its leading members called “private sponsors” and donations of cheaper flights by the state airline, El Al Israel, and hotels reducing their rates. The trip raises concerns. Jews have suffered many tribulations, but some find it offensive when police imply terrorism comes from only one side, the Palestinians. Since Arabs began their uprising against those occupying their land by force, Israeli tanks, gunships and troops have killed three times as many of them, including many women and children, as Arabs have killed Jews, which is terror even if it comes from the state. Police describing one side as a “democratic state” does not necessarily absolve it. Does anyone need an example of a country that has spread death and destruction despite having a And he did. Then there was a call from a New Hampshire grandmother. And a Florida firefighter. A Massachusetts trucker offered him “a place to crash”. A Georgia bookseller promised him “a mean lasagna” if he dropped by. A caller from Maryland left this message: “It’s because of you that 1 have a renewed hope in mankind.” At first, Marc thought he would take maybe three months off and visit a few dozen people, but his phone kept ringing. Now, he’s traded in his pickup for a minivan, sublet his San Francisco apartment, thrown a huge garage sale to raise cash for a journey that will have him criss-crossing the continent for at least the next year. Point of the exercise? Well, Marc is a conceptual artist, so he’s turned this into a performance art project and possibly a book - but it’s 'way more than that. It’s a statement about the way we live. We’ve wired the planet for communication. We’ve got cell phones and Blackberries, Palm Pilots and computer chat rooms. But for all our internet ‘connectedness’, we don’t look each other in the eye very often. “It’s about illuminating the importance of conversation between strangers,” Horowitz says. “We just plug into our computers and think that’s the way to live, but old-fashioned face-to-face is what it’s all about.” “It’s about really listening and knowing that everybody has something to say and that their stories are fascinating. This is real conversation with real people - it’s something you can’t buy." 510-872-7326. Ask for Marc. duly elected government? Among the many one-sided examples, those on the trip were shown Israeli police suffering trauma, but can they imagine how much worse it is for the many civilians, including women and children, subjected more directly and constantly to fire? The visitors saw juveniles they were told resorted to terrorism because of illiteracy, inadequate education and other issues, but no- one appeared to mention they resented treatment by occupying forces that Nobel Prizewinner Bishop Desmond Tutu, an expert if ever there was one (and not long ago an honored speaker in the legislature) called apartheid? The lobbyists may want to see Ontario better informed on security, but also have tried to create a more favourable impression of Israel and it is difficult to blame them, because it is a cause they feel deeply about. But public officials who went could have gone elsewhere to obtain information instead of accepting lobbyists’ direction and money, which hampers their findings appearing independent. If any other lobbyist was involved, a legislator in some party would complam, but none has, because these are powerful people with lots of votes to buck. Final Thought The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. - Dorothy Nevill Bonnie Gropp The short of it Better than drugs I brought some colour home with me recently. And am neither surprised by the difference it has made, nor unimpressed. It was a typical day of late. Snow was blasting past me in stark, harsh pellets expanding the bland landscape into a milky white world. Gaining control of the little voice screaming inside me that I couldn’t take much more winter I wandered into a flower shop. There, greeted by a plethora of colour, my mood was soothed and the decision was made to buy myself a bouquet of spring promise. Arriving home the pink daisies were given a place of honour in my dining room, and the world was transformed. Pink is a colour to soothe and nurture and there was no soul that needed it more than mine. Colour has been investigated and used in civilizations for more than 2,000 years. From ancient Egypt to today people have learned more about colour, how it affects us and how important it is in our lives. Colour therapy uses the seven colours of the spectrum to balance and enhance our body’s energy centres and stimulate our body’s own healing process. It can even be used as a home decorating tool. Fascinated and curious both by my reaction to the bouquet, and my coldness to winter white, I did a little research into colour and its therapeutic powers. Rather than nothingness, white contains all the colours of the spectrum. It emphasizes purity and offers clarity of thought. Too much of it can be intimidating if not broken up with colour and foliage. No surprise to me there. Pink, as noted above is about calm and love. Violet is a purifying colour that is calming for mind and body. It heightens awareness and helps us to give cur very best. Sultry indigo is sedative, but helps to open up one’s intuition. It is the colour of divine knowledge and the higher mind. Like the skies above on a clear summer day, blue is calming, relaxing and healing. Green is the colour of nature, of balance and harmonization. The colour encourages tolerance and understanding. To stimulate mental activity yellow is the way to go. Its sunny cheerfulness promotes a feeling of confidence and helps you stay alert. Orange’s warming and energizing properties can stimulate creativity. Red is about vitality. It is energetic, excites the emotions and stimulates the appetite. Magenta is a combination of red and violet. Thus it combines a person’s earthly and spiritual selves. It is a colour that balances spirit and manner. Uplifting magenta helps a person gain a feeling of completeness and fulfillment. Turquoise’s cool and calming effect is good for the nervous and immune systems. Black, coupled with another colour can enhance the energy of the other. It is about reflection and soul-searching. There are many ‘new’ ideas out there that really aren’t all that new. Taken from old wisdom or practices they are being touted as ways to find spiritual and physical contentment in busy, stress-filled lives. Like music and nature, there is no question in my mind that colour too can have a notable effect on our state of mind. We have all walked into a room and had an immediate reaction to it. A room can feel cold to us, relaxing, soothing, or vibrant. Presumably colour has played a part in this reaction. It’s an interesting notion and if it is effective, a lot better for you than prescription drugs.