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Times Advocate, 1991-02-20, Page 4Page 4 1 Times -Advocate, February 20, 1991 Publisher: Jim Beckett News Editor: Adrian Harte Business Manager: Don Smith Composition Manager: Deb Lord Published Each Wednesday Morning at 424 Main St., Exeter, Ontario, NOM 1S6 by J.W. E y Publications Ltd. Telephone 1.51%235.1331 Second Class Mall Registration Number 0388 SUBSCRIPTION RATES; Canada: $27.00 plus $1.89 G.S.T. Per year, U.S.A. $68.00 plus $4.76 G.S.T. G.S.T. S121052w835 "Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely." • • . Thomas Macauley Mother Nature proved she can be cruel, but Grand Bend Winter Carnival organizers, area businesses, and enthusiastic tour- ists proved a little hope can go a long way. Five years ago, carnival chairperson Dave Sheppard and several other vil- lage residents came together to prove the village can do well all year-round, and have proved the cynics wrong ever since. The first weekend of activities was threatened by unseasonably warm tem- peratures, and itlooked like the sled dog races would be called off for the third consecutive year dashing the hopes of a future race, but with an ounce of inspiration and a pound of perspiration Pinery Park officials and volunteers were able to pull it off with a shorter trail. The weekend's activities which in- cluded a fashion show, gong show and a play entitled As the Bend Turns, were well -attended. In fact, the play, written and directed by Toronto -actress turned Grand Bend resident Barbara Wheel - Community spirit wins again don, was a sold -out performance. Last Friday's snowstorm spelled disas- ter for the second weekend of Carnival events, but fortunately the storm settled early Saturday morning clearing the way for the day's parade and scheduled list of activities. Grand Bend Legion members braved the Arctic winds for the steak barbecue, and Huron, Lambton and Middlesex res- idents came out in droves to show their support. On Sunday morning, the Grand Bend. Fire Hall's pancake breakfast had peo- pled lined up in the building and outside for a taste of a hassle -free breakfast. The event ended in time for residents to at- tend church. For 10 days, Grand Bend business peo- ple and residents proved the village can be lucrative and enjoyable no matter what the season. A village with a population of approxi- mately 700 people proved even in the worst of times, people can survive and enjoy some of the best of times. C.L.C. For the love of love This is a troubled world. And in these troubled times, some may be too preoccupied to re- member that February is the month of lovers. So forgive me for sharing a few serious thoughts on one of my favourite subjects: love. More poems and books have been written, more pictures painted, more songs composed about love than about any other subject on earth. Love is the central theme in our lives from the day our parents conceive us to the day our survivors mourn for us. Without love we would not be human. Cynics say that nothing is ce tain except death and taxes. must add love to this short list o certainties. We are all loved and we all love. It is impossibl to live without love. Those wh arc without love are not alive. I is interesting that - in English a least - the words "love" an "live" are so similar. No matter how selfish we be come as persons or as nations we must always return to love sooner or later. Aggression, vio fence, war, hatred are only de- tours on the road of love. They can lead us astray and temporar- ily obscure the central force of human existence. Love is the real humanity. Everyone knows the love we feel for lovers, fami- ly, country. Not everyone has known the love we should feel for those with whom no close bonds unite us: strangers and foreign countries. And few peo- ple love their enemies. It is most difficult to Iove those who of- fend, hurt, torture or kill us. Yet even the hearts of danger - could resolve all conflicts mom easily No human being is all bad. All have a capacity for love. If only we could find their "window"; their receptors for love, we could avoid confronta- tion. PETER'S POINT e by Peter Hessel We try this with our children r- when they "are bad". We know I that they're not "bad children". f They only behave badly from , time to time. With stem, inflexi- e ble or even aggressive counter - o measures, success is rare. When t we allow our temper to control t our actions, the effect is predict - d able. The children become "worse", not "better". But when - we assure the children that we , love them in spite of their unac- ceptable behaviour, when we - hug them instead of hitting them, when we praise them for the good things they do instead of concentrating on their present failures, we defuse the situation. Why don't we try this with adults? Betwee quarreling friends or in blsiness argu- ments? Even when dealing with ruthless and treacherous interna- tional aggressors? Why don't we Team from Shakespeare's Tam- ing of the Shrew and kill them all with kindness? No one has ever clitned that hate can move mountains. Only love is capable of that. Love is our greatest, most formidable weapon. With love we become frsistiblc. Why then do we not se it more? Why don't we build ous criminals are more suscepti- ble to love than to hate. If we were able to master the difficult i task of loving our enemies, we u pp mighty arsenals 1Fiio,1with which to smite our- enemies? • Why don't we ride into battle with love as our sword and shield? We fmd it too difficult to offer an outstretched hand to our opponent and plead: "I do not like what you are do- ing. But I love you. I understand that you believe you may have good reason for your action. Let us sit down together and explore your feelings, your fears, your concerns." In spite of 2,000 years of Christian preaching, that is not how we are taught to respond. We grow up in an atmosphere of adversary thinking. At the slightest provocation we lock horns like thick-headed rams. Parents against children. Unions against employers. Lawyers against prosecutors. The right against the left. We against. them. It is' -time to remember love, our central theme. Among my most favourite pieces of writing are these 13 little words from I Corinthians: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Love never ends." But not only the Bible tells us about the supreme power of love. 4100 years ago, the King of Heracleopolis in ancient Egypt advised: "Make your last- ing monument in love...Instill love into all the world." And the Roman poet Virgil, who was born in 70 B.C., said: "Love conquers all things; let us too surrender to love". Yes, February is the month for lovers. And love between lovers, between men and women, ought to be celebrated as one of the greatest gifts of life. But there is another, even greater love worth celebrating: the love of love it- self. HAVE AN OPINION? The Times Advocate welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number and address should we need to Clarify any Information. The newspaper also reserves the right to edit letters. Letters can be dropped off at the Times Advocate Office or mailed to: Exeter Times Advocate Pox 850, Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S6 MEXICAN HAT DANCE To the other side and back I ve -often complained Mon- days just .don't, have enough hours in'the day to let us catch up' with our deadlines. A few extra hours would make all the difference, I thought. Today, as I write this, I have my wish. My Monday is twen- ty-nine hours long. There is a price to pay for everything, of course. So after I woke up before 5 a.m. in Man- ningtree, England, I spent virtu- ally the rest of the day making my way across the five time zones, g ining back those hours I lost on Wednesday. Luck seemed to be on my side, because I managed to pass through Liverpool Street Station on my way to Heathrow airport blissfully unaware that the IRA had just bombed Paddington and Victoria Street stations, closing them down. I also left the air- port without a hitch, even though I'm now told it too was shut down later that day. Dear Editor. We are writing this letter to your newspaper to tell your readers of an exciting event to take place in Tara, Ontario! On August 2, 3 and 4, 1991, the Township of Arran and the Village of Tara residents arc inviting past residents to attend their "Homecoming" celebrations. The Arran Tara Homecoming Committee arc busy making plans for a very funfilled weekend, with Although I hadn't planned on returning to England for a :while, I found myself booked on a last- minute flight last week after I learned of my grandfather's death. No one had expected he Hold that thought... By Adrian Harte would pass away so suddenly. We. somehow imagined him to be with us for many years to come because although his health at 84 wasn't what it used to be, it didn't prevent him from getting out and about too much. It seemed very strange to me to be heading over to England while trying to realize my grand- father would not be there any- more. Even when in his apart - Letters to Editor ment after the funeral. I felt t wouldn't be surprised to'see him coming out of the kitchen; pot of tea at the ready. I mostly associate Walter Tun - more, my mother's father, with the memories of my childhood. Christmases and Easters were often spent with my grandpar- ents in Ipswich back then, some- thing which changed forever when I came to Canada. So whenever my grandfather and I were together again, either here or there, the tendency was to think back to those early days together - days when he first taught me how to play darts, or just when we used to walk to the post office together. All the family are going to miss grandad, myself included; but perhaps I can feel a little for- tunate that all those memories are still distinct and separate from my life here. And as they continue to be a part of my life, so will my grandad. Tara homecoming a friendly, warm setting to renew old acquaintances. The purpose of this letter, also, is to make a request that'if any of your readers are past residents of the forward their ad-11)area or know of any such resi- dents, that they will dresses to the Com mince so that we may ensure a proper invitation is sent to them, with all details of our upcoming "Homecoming" week- end. The persons to contact are the Tara and District Kineuc Club, Box 220, Tara, Ontario, NOH 2NO, Attention: Sharon Trelford. Thank you, Mr. Editor, for your cooperation in printing this letter in your newspaper. Sharon Trelford Tara & District Kinettc Club Dear Sir: Drew Robertson's letter (Times Advocate - January 30, 1991) does not accurately reflect the commu- nications which we have had with the residents of Crediton concern- ing changes in postal services in their community. On October 29, we informed by letter all households and business- es of the retirement of Postmaster Rosemary Stewart and our plans for an rnform,+tion session on No- vember 15. At the information session, we expressed our confidence an oper- ator of a Retail Postal Outlet would be found. Several custom- ers expressed interest in receiving mail delivery through Community Postal services in Crediton Mail Boxes. Also at the session we were made aware of some delivery concerns by customers who live along the eastern portion of Victor- ia Street. On December 5, a survey was sent to custom- ers in Crediton ask- ing for their deliv- ery preference: postal box in a Re- tail Postal Outlet or Community Mailbox. Based on the results of the survey the decision was made to introduce Group Mail Box ser- vice upon the change in service on February 5. Later we will upgrade to Community Mail.Box service. This infotmation_along with the announcement that JEM Variety would be operating the Retail Post- al Outlet was announced in a letter to customers on December 27. At the request of those customers in attendance at the customer infor- mation session it was dccided to extend RR 1 Crediton to include additional customers who were re- quired to pick up their mail at the post office. We arc confident the retail ser- vices offered by JEM Variety and the improvements in local mail de- livery will meet with the satisfac- tion of Crediton residents. Yours truly, Tom Creech Media Relations Officer • 1