The Times-Advocate, 2002-10-09, Page 4It seems like the reality of the modern business world
is the financial bottom line, with no regard to how peo-
ple are treated.
Popular catch-phrases like ‘downsizing’ are used as
smoke screens to the reality people will be laid off, self-
esteem will suffer, families will be stressed, life will not
be easy.
Isn’t there something fundamentally wrong in a world
system when the almighty dollar comes ahead of real,
live people?
One of my first jobs was as a bank teller, han-
dling cash and customers full time.
I quickly learned ‘the customer is always right’
philosophy, even if I didn’t think they were.
Staff courtesy and patience were expected,
especially when the line-ups were long on a
Friday afternoon. Or when the little old lady
shuffles up to the teller’s wicket, plunks down
her black patent purse, fumbles with the elastic
band around her bank book and can’t find her
change purse with her precious few dollars to
deposit.
It didn’t take long to consider the stacks of bills
I worked with as just so many pieces of paper, which
they were.
Work training taught me to hand over those pieces of
paper in case of a robbery, because that’s all they were.
Paper is replaceable but people aren’t.
My, how the world has changed.
In the past 30 years, it seems like the world has turned
upside down and we now consider money to be irre-
placeable and people dispensable.
Long-time employees, no matter how productive or
valuable, can be ‘let go’ at the drop of a hat.
Whatever happened to the sense of working and
pulling together when things got tough? Is it only the
Amish who care enough to raise a barn for one of their
own rather than spending money?
Have we progressed so far it’s now just
everyone for him/herself? Kill or be killed?
Whoever makes the most money, regardless
of who gets hurt, wins?
Are we becoming too Americanized?
When did the good of the economy become
more important than people and the good of
society?
And when will it end? Didn’t some wise per-
son once say ‘Money is the root of all evil’?
I hope Thanksgiving will remind us how
important it is to be together with people who
matter before we hit Halloween and Christmas
when the need to spend more and more money
takes over our senses and the stores.
Let’s be thankful we have the opportunity every day
to show others whether we value them or whether we
think money is more important.
And to those who do, remember their money will be
cold comfort when the people have been ‘downsized’.
4 Wednesday, October 9, 2002Exeter Times–Advocate
Editorial&Opinion
Jim Beckett
Publisher and Editor
Don Smith Deb Lord
General Manager Production Manager
Published by Metroland Printing,
Publishing & Distributing Ltd.
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SANDRA
FORSTER
SANDRA
SPEAKS OUT
What happens when money is more important
It is somehow ironic that the recent Speech
from the Throne is still being discussed as
we enter October, Child Abuse Prevention
Month.
If forcing children to use food banks and homeless
shelters in one of the world’s wealthiest countries is
not child abuse, one can only wonder what is. Do chil-
dren have to be beaten senseless for it to be abuse? Is
destroying a child’s self esteem, neglecting his needs
and condemning him to a life of poverty not abuse?
While child abuse affects all classes and income lev-
els, a downturn in the economy is surely followed by
increased case loads for Children’s Aid Society work-
ers. Job loss and financial distress lead to frustration
and low self esteem, which takes its toll on families.
The simple fact of the matter is poverty is stressful.
Adults suffer. The children who depend on them suf-
fer.
The odd part is our economy has been, if not boom-
ing, then certainly in healthy shape. Money is being
made in Canada. At the same time, cutbacks, downsiz-
ing and layoffs have been the rule of the day for a lot
of companies. The bulk of the money is remaining at
the top of the food chain.
Despite Canada’s great wealth, more and more chil-
dren are living in poverty under the Chretien govern-
ment.
One of the key points made in the speech was the
need to end childhood poverty, a laudable goal, and
one announced by the Chretien government some
years ago. Critics are pointing out that fact, some with
humour, some with sarcasm. Most are asking how
Chretien expects to accomplish in a matter of months
what he and his government have failed to do over a
matter of several years.
To be charitable, the Speech from the Throne
appears to be an effort to tie up a lot of loose strings,
to end Chretien’s long political career on a positive
note, and to set a high standard for his successor,
whomever that may be.
If this government wants to end child poverty, it
must look at the broader picture. For example, kids
from poor families are a lot less likely to get any post-
secondary education. This limits their job options and
increases the likelihood the cycle of poverty will con-
tinue into the next generation.
Kids born to teenage parents start life with a num-
ber of strikes against them. The parents probably will
not finish high school. Pregnancy for younger teens
tends to be riskier than for women over 18. Poor pre-
natal care is often a problem as is poor nutrition. And
most government programs are aimed at getting the
young mother and her child off the public welfare rolls
as fast as possible, which means a minimum wage,
dead-end job and frequent visits to the local food bank.
Again, the cycle of poverty continues.
At least in Ontario, many of the programs and poli-
cies aimed at getting people off welfare are more puni-
tive than they are helpful. A young welfare mother
who tries to squeeze the system by working under the
table, or failing to report her boyfriend has moved in
with her, can get cut off welfare forever. How is this
helping to beat child poverty?
Our federal government needs to work with the
provinces and municipalities on many levels - provid-
ing educational assistance, retraining programs and
counselling for parents who are out of work, and
encouraging small businesses in communities like this,
so they can hire new employees.
Perhaps it is also time for all levels of government to
take a good, close look at how little money people on
disability pensions and welfare actually receive. They
should consider the impact on children if the amount
were enough to rent a decent apartment and buy gro-
ceries, both in the same month.
Chretien government
takes aim at child poverty