Times Advocate, 1992-05-20, Page 4Thi o'Af vomo1o, 'May 2D,'1N2
Pusher: Jim s.aNatt
*ISM Tibor: Maw Marto
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illusbrsssitilsnnenr: Den Smith
Oomposittion 'Min sr: Dib Lord
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"Meh ere never so Nicety
to settie.a question lightly
as When they discuss it
... Thbmes Macauley
"., Msat 424 /Nab it..
ti.ter,a1NOMasjw. !reiy
Publss,teia Ltd.
tM.ebess 26120364331
e s.Y. sitiesllogs
More welfare isn't healthy
The dramatic increase in wel-
fare payments is certainly get-
ting the attention of the pro-
vincial government. Welfare, family
benefits, and drug benefits used to total
a "mere" $2.5 billion in 1990. By 1993
that figure will be up .to $6.2 billion, ac-
cording to Queen's Park.
The announcement by community
and social services minister Marion
Boyd to take measures to save $300
million a year sounds like a good idea,
but in comparison to the totals, it's only
a drop in the bucket.
As the recession lingers on, many
workers find themselves skilled for in-
dustries that no longer thrive, or even
exist, in Ontario. The unemployment
benefits run out and welfare becomes
necessary. Many, no doubt bitter over
losing their jobs, feel the system owes
them a living anyway.
The solution, we learn from the minis-
ter, is to retrain these masses for any of
the wonderful new jobs that are going
to be in abundance in Ontario any time
soon. What those jobs are, we aren't
being told.
No wait, we find the ministry itself
will be hiring 450 people "to improve
service to social assistance recipients
and to carry out many of the new meas-
ures". The cost of this .hiring is $18
million, averaging $40,000 each.
It is to be hoped that these retraining
programs will be aimed at making wel-
fare recipients into civil servants, be-
cause this appears to be the only true
growth industry in this economy.
Never mind that the civil service con-
tributes nothing to the Gross National
Product,( and only consumes tax dollars.
The ministry's press release is littered
with words like "increased", "expand-
ing", and "addition". All confirm that
this government is continuing the time-
honoured tradition of responding to a
problem by throwing more money and
resources at it.
We also find that Boyd wants to get
people off the welfare rolls and other
forms of social assistance. While this
may shuffle the figures around the
books, it is hard to see how the taxpayer
or the economy benefits.
Social assistance is an awkward sub-
ject. Those who have never had cause
to receive it will glibly assert that
cutting benefits in half would get more
people back to work that all the govern-
ment's job creation programs put togeth-
er. They also point out that as the sys-
tem tries to avoid poverty with a certain
amount of dignity, many find it all too
easy to abuse the system as an easy way
out of the responsibilities most of us
take for granted.
Boyd is correct, however, by pointing
out that welfare should be a last resort
for hardluck cases only. It should be
avoided at all costs. The unemployed
must be put back to work, not on wel-
fare. Many employers already view
someone outiof work for six months as
virtually unemployable.
The common wisdom on the street
would have it that the quickest way to
put more Canadians back to work is
through smaller government and less
taxation. The NDP claim they believe
this philosophy, but do not always ap-
pear to be following it.
When playing's no fun
I have a card in my desk draw-
er. It says "organization is the
key to success" - a relic from a
time management seminar I at-
tended.
Granted, organization is often
underrated, but I think there are
times when it can be the quick-
est route to boredom.
There's a commercial on tele-
vision. A boy is out playing
golf, saying how it develops the
character of the child better than
other sports. He eventually
gives up and uses a baseball bat
to blast the ball into the nearest
pond, explaining that kids
shouldn't grow up too quickly.
1 would have to agree, al-
though it is often hard to stop
them from trying to grow up too
fast, or hard to stop their parents
from trying too.
I remember when I was nine
or ten years old. My father gave
me a bow and arrow set and
taught me how to shoot. I liked
this elegant sport. Eventually I
wanted to join a club, to learn
how to shoot .tikethe.Dldericids
and the grownups. The club
was joined and needed a better
bow and fibreglass arrows.
Soon came the competitions, the
lessons, and practise sessions. I
was in search of those extra few
points per round to move me up
into the next plass. I did shoot
better for a -while and, took the
plunge into freestyle, got a bet-
ter bow, sights, a stablizer. and
balanced aluminum arrows.
But in the pressure to find
those extra few points, I drlt9el-
oped a flinch in my blot. I
oouldn't get rid of it, and by the
age of 13 my archery caner was
over.
In retrospect, even though I
thought I was having a great
time, I probably would have had
much more fun firing arrows
Hold that
thought ...
By
Adrian Harte
into a bale of hay on Saturday
afternoons.
Unfortunately, archery is one
of those sports that demands or-
ganization. Most people object
to feathered projectiles flying
loose around the neighbourhood.
I do however, fondly recall
many an evening on the corner
lot, playing baseball with all the
other kids. Baseball was a new
sport to me then, having just
come from England. We played
with a tennis ball, ._whjeh dn't
break windows and you didn't
sally need a glove to catch.
any anyone can !hit a home
nm with a good hit off a tennis
ball. We didn't have a bench, so
everyone got up to bat. A strike
out wasn't much of an embar-
rassment, because no one kept
statistics.
Baseball weaned more fun
than any other game in -the
world. I wouldn't have .laded
those games for anything. ,And
as I watch the (-ball play srn,,pc
ionized into league tdits& 1
wonder ;if they have anywhere
near that much fun. rat sue
A.D.Hj
they feel grown up in their spon-
sored uniforms and special
shoes, but do they have as much
fun as when playing without
spectators and without a score -
book?
I'm not saying minor sports are
bad for kids. I don't think that's
entirely true, despite the con-
cerns of child psychologists and
physician. Competition can be
healthy, - so can -teaming -to -lose,
and learning to win (many teams
are better losers than winners).
But I have my doubts' when I
watch teams of little boys, all
decked out in the latest kevlar
body armour and carbon fibre
helmets, all trying to play hock-
ey and please shouting parents
and coaches, although not one
can yet skate.
Kids used to skate around on
ponds, picking up sticks and
copying big brother. Now they
attend training camps and week-
ly practises.
I know, kids also used to
drown beneath thin ice, and used
to get hum without protective
Anent. But this Hush to or-
everything doesn't al -
wait; seem .like the most logical
approach.
What has it come to? Do
scouts scour the caner lots,
looking for tennis ball games of
scrub?
"ltley your kid's got talent.
With; the right coaching he could
be aging out for the Peewees,
yqis know. I've got a clink go-
ing Saturday m
o-
ing:Saturdaym orning. 1t's.only
On for ,an hour's Tutton.
Chola are $89.95 extra, of
"Of co se we'll let you pay the repair bill in monthly payments —
after all, you're still voung. "
Getting rid of it
Last week I described the
elaborate preparations for our
garage sale. I promised to tell
you how things went. Here's a
blow-by-blow account.
I was jolted out of a dream
when the phone rang at 6:30
a.m. It was a lady from the 1 lth
line.
"Do you have any size eight
girl's dresses."
"What?" It took me awhile to
get oriented. Then I remem-
bered: we were having a garage
sale.
She rang the doorbell at 7
sharp. I was still in my house-
coat and slippers. It was pouring
rain. I opened the garage door,
took my umbrella and shuffled
across the yard. The woman
bought twenty dollars worth of
clothes.
I went back into the house to
get dressed, but another car was
pulling into the driveway.
"Are you the guys with the
crazy garage sale ad?"
We hadn't even put our signs
out yet. I wasn't fully awake yet.
The man bought an old saw
for $10. It was now 7:30. I man-
aged to wake up Stephanie and
Duncan. But I couldn't rouse
Alex without a fight.
I got dressed in a hurry. 1 load-
ed the signs in the car and drove
off in all directions, leaving the
twins in charge.
What is an optimist?
What is the definition of an
optimist? A guy with an umbrel-
la in one hand, a hammer in the
other, a pocket full of nails, and
a garage sale sign between this
teeth.
When I got back, I noticed
two things. It had stopped rain-
ing, although it was still sopping
wet. And the yard was full of
Dear Editor.
The economy may be healing in
the eyes of some, but for many, a
helping band is required to assist
in the feeding of their families.
Once again the Exelef Fire Depart-
ment will be twisting :the Ailsa
Craig Food Bank, in -their 1992
Food Drive. Approximately 30
families in the Brei 1668 are
aerved through this Food Book.
Beginning at 6:00 p.m. Am June
8 the volunteer Faro will
be •:art colhati it�atber
donated items are Waft yolu
readorabip to be on the lookout.fOr
cars. The kids were having a
ball, it was not 8 o'clock.
People never stopped coming.
When Alexander finally ap-
peared at 9:30 we had already
sold the folding chair, the pick
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hessel
axe, the weird silver wine cups,
and the Power Vak (even
though the ad had called it a
Power Van, and I had some ex-
plaining to do). On the other
hand, the Water Pik (only used
once) was still unsold.
It had started to rain again. It
was cold and windy. But I
learned that a little thing like ad-
verse weather will never stop
true garage sale enthusiasts.
Maybe it even spurs them on.
Instead of serving Koolaid - as
promised in the ad - we should
havemade coffee or hot choco-
late.
It would be wrong to say that
Elizabeth takes on interest in
our garage sales. She did come
out once -or twice to ask: "How
much money have you made al-
ready?"
Finally: the sun
By 11 o'clock the sun peaked
through the clouds. Promptly
Duncan sprang into action with
his little table and chairs. The
first 'cup of Koolaid spilled all
over . Stephanie's slacks. But
enough customers were good
sports. Duncan's business
boomed. Md ours boomed right
along with his.
t_ ri i !_)-
We closed shop at 1:30 p.m.,
when things had slowed down.
The roll of bills in my pocket
had swollen to a respectable
size. The kids were happy and
considered themselves indepen-
dently wealthy.
It took us all afternoon to clear
away what was left over, to pack
it all in boxes marked "Garage
Sale", to be opened again in the
fall. Or maybe we won't have an-
other sale till next spring.
What are we going to do with
all the money? The kids are
making their own plans, of
course. And I'm hoping to buy a
few things that won't end up on
our garage sale table next year.
Garage sales are hard work.
My muscles still ache from lug-
ging all those heavy boxes. My
feet are still sore from standing
around. But garage sales are also
very satisfying. Maybe I should
have became a merchant. I don't
know why it gives me such
pleasure to sell something. Even
when 1 know I once bought it for
fifty dollars and am now giving
it away for ten. It's not the mon-
ey, it's the fact that I'm making a
sale.
What did people do before gar-
age sales became the fashion?
Did they just hoard everything?
How long will the Age of Gar-
age Sales last? Perhaps future
anthropologists will judge our
civilization not by its achieve-
ments in space, not by its ad-
vances in computer science, not
by its liberation of women, but
by the way in which we raid
each other's garages week after
week.
Garage sales have become pan
of our culture. And who knows,
Maybe at our next sale we'll fi-
nally get rid of that dam Water
Pik.
F\�dfof thoug t
the Fire Trucks
as they make
their routes
through the stress
of Exeter. Donated
:items may be
bmught to
traits or loft In begs outside the
flint doer ,of the residence, or
directly .w the Fire Station
a115 'William :Strom
Law ,rite's ,ted dein .was ,an
enanamis . meow The goo wtily.
who. e,iliwe been lad
ftist 4 N!d
las risen drastically in the last 12
,months., Anyone requiring this ser-
vice should contact the food Bank
at 1-293.3637. Hard times are be-
ing experienced by everyone,
please remember those less fortu-
nate.
Thank you in advance
Rick Brydon
Secretary
Exeter Firefighters Assoc.
* hat t naiades of the Exeur
F�utps' /usual Pancake
kid on Saturday,
tape ,6. 19 , `7 O a.m. to 11:00
a,m.: ygttr4b rah