Times Advocate, 1992-12-16, Page 4Timers-Adacme, Degember 16, 1992
•
Publisher: im seokett
News &Mors Addan lune
IIlbinses Mamas: Don Smith
Comps&don Msnsl/sr: Deb Lord
ReNeeuone Melt Rsi&botien Number 0398
S MSGE PTtt]N RATES: , fps
'Weide 40 "Mee CU km.) addressed
to MalatteranM addreaase 030.00 tutu *210 O.S.T.
Outside 40 adios (OS _i m.) or any letter savvier address
030.00 drams *26.21 (Mal 10.25) + 3.94 O.S.T.
Owletr: Dana& 016.00
111111111112111111111111
Putting Christmas back
he Christmas Bureau has a
challenge ahead of it in coming years.
The operation, organized ' by the Chil-
dren's Aid Society and supported by ro-
tating Huron County Churches, does a
great deal to brighten the Christmases
of hundreds of county families each
and every year.
As they point out, their main objec-
tive is to make sure each child in each
needy family receives at least one toy
and one new item of clothing at Christ-
mas. They also have an arrangement
with grocery stores to provide families
with gift certificates so they can buy a
Christmas dinner of their choosing.
Somewhere along the line, however,
the public has come to view the Christ-
mas Bureau as a kind of food bank.
Not wanting to seem ungrateful for re-
ceiving such generosity, the Bureau has
gladly collected and distributed what-
ever food items have come their way.
. The same goes for the hundreds of
items of used clothing brought in by
donors. We all know there are people
out there who can certainly use it.
However, this year, the "food bank"
j aspect has perhaps overtaken the origi-
1 nal intent of the Christmas Bureau. Re-
i
0
alizing that the recession has taken 'its
worst bite iii 1992, the canned goods
have been rolling in the doors of the Bu-
reau at the expense of the donations of
toys and clothing.
Organizers don't want to seem ungrate-
ful and certainly don't want to bite the
hands that feed them, but we can see
their concern when they realize they
have more foodstuffs than they know
what to do with, but will have to go out
and purchase toys to be able to meet the
numbers of the children registered with
the Bureau.
The media are likely to blame for this
diversion away from the Bureau's main
cause. We can only hope the message
comes across delicately enough in the
future to make people think again about
what Christmas will mean in the homes
of the county's needy next year.
Without suppressing the desire to give
and be generous, we must help put the
"Christmas" back into the Bureau's
name.
While it is nice to be appreciated and
thanked for the gifts we give to family
and friends, isn't it better to anonymous-
ly place a toy under the tree for a child
we've never met?
A.D.H.
Do without the ribbons
Although I haven't worn a white
ribbon on my shoulder, I do know I
wouldn't be wearing one any more
if I had.
I have to agree with the broad-
caster who refused to wear any kind
of ribbon or symbol on the ground
he was a journalist and not a bill-
board. As a journalist, I feel I must
be an impartial observer of issues
and events, not their booster club.
But I have seen men wearing the
ribbons, and have been impressed
with their support for the cause of
abolishing violence against women.
But the truth is out now. These
men were doing nothing but mak-
ing an insincere ploy to appear
sympathetic to women while secret-
ly -_harbouring..their_male ..dominant
attitudes.
This is more or less what Robin
Morgan, editor of Ms. Magazinit,
told an audience in London on De-
cember 5. She suspects many men
wear the ribbons as an "awful sim-
ple, fast solution" to appearing a
sensitive male.
The underlying message is that
men are not to be trusted.
As obvious as it is that the °prob-
lem of abuse of women has a long
way to go before being solved, I
doubt such misguided lectures on
the evils of men are going to help.
As a male myself, I can't help but
feel annoyed at this annual celebra-
Hold that
thought ...
By
Adrian Harte
tion of "Marc Lepine Day" every
December 6. I know the candle -
.light v-igils-putport.lo.remember.the
massacre of 14 women at Ecole
Polytechnique in 1989, but they in-
creasingly appear to mark a celebra-
tion of the anti -violence cause's first
martyr.
Lepine, who committed suicide
after the shooting deaths of the 14
young women, was never exposed
as the deranged madman he prob-
ably was. Instead, he became an
unwitting martyr, now seen as rap -
resenting every man's latent desire
to kill women.
Frankly, myself and other men
I've talked with feel offended at the
lionization of an otherwise sense-
less killing.
Even the high schools are getting
into the act, setting aside special as-
semblies for December 6 vigils. I
heard someone the other day won-
der out loud whether they do as
much for Remembrance Day any
more.
Violence against women is a
much more insidious crime. It
lurks in our homes, in our families.
It doesn't require a rifle and a' death
wish for national publicity.
Sexual harassment, likewise,
lurks in our workplaces where men
still play by outdated rules. .
The 20th century is the most
change -ridden era in mankind's his-
tory. We've gone from steam trains
to space shuttles, from suffragettes
to legislated sexual equality. Not
all elements of society have been
able to keep up with the pace.
Violence against women is one of
the problems we will carry with us
into the next century, but we'llhave
to do it without the white ribbons.
Candy Cane Campaign
The enamel of my children's
teeth is bombarded all year
round with corrosive and un-
healthy suoatances. We used to
belong to a dental plan. This
meant that other people helped
us foot the bill for dental care,
preventive dental care and den-
tal hygiene. Now I'm netting
aside roughly S2000 a year, for
that purpose. Why do we have
to pay such a horrendous
amount for dental protection?
I'll give you one reason: -peo-
ple keep teeding,our kids hard
candy. There are candy Valen-
tine hearts and candy Easter
eggs, there are lollipops for
birthdays, gooey candy kisses
for Hallowe'en. But at no time
of the year is the onslaught as
overpowering as in December.
the Month of the Candy Cane
Campaign.
You can't walk down any
street in town with your kids
these days without somebody
-thrusting a sticky candy ape
into their eager little hands.
Don't tell me to use my paren-
tal authority to prevent this non-
sense. I've tried everything. But
I'm going to give up trying. The
Candy Cane is too big forme, I
admit defeat.
Each of our kids can expect an -
Peter's
Point
•
Peter Hesse!
average of five candy canes per
day between the end of Novem-
ber and early January. That's
about 600 candy canes a season
Tat Me mot Of Mein togdtllet.
The total purchasing value of
these sweet weapons is probably
less than six .dollars, but they
. cause hundreds of dollars worth
of damage.
We go to he Santa Claus pa-
rade. andlhete aro clowns walk-
ing on both sides of the sueeta,
handing out candy caries by .the
bucket. They make sure that no
one from infant to teenager is
missed. Our kids have become
too big to sit on Santa's knee at
the mall, so what does Santa
Baby do? He gets up from his
throne, walks over to them and
gives them candy canes. Why
doesn't he take an industrial dia-
mond and scrape away their
tooth enamel?
Whenever the kids come
home from a Christmas party,
their pockets bulge with candy
cane wrappers. Everybody who
happens to come in contact with
our kids during the "festive sea-
son", seems to consider it an un-
written law that candy canes
.14114 0e. dispenaod "To.m.,.atce.tbe
children happy." Does it never
occur to these benefactors that
they are making the parents un-
happy? And the children sick?
For heaven's sake,;it's forbidden
to feed the animgls..at the zoo,
so why do you feed poison to
my kids?
Please turn to page 5
"Men are never so likely
to settle a question rightly
as when they discuss it
freely."
... Thomas Macaulay
Published Each wedneedayet 424 Mute St.,
Exeter, Onta. o, NOM 116 by 1.W. E Publleedoes Lt/.
Telephone 1411,238. 1
•.e.?. wnosbeesmi
Letter to Editor
Families devastated by vandals
Dear Editor
I would like to comment on the
acts of vandalism that have taken
place in many areas of our coun-
try.
These seemingly harmless larks
are not so!
This weekend two families were
devastated by the simple fun of
painting of a yield sign. One
young family lost their most pre-
cious possession, a little one of
only six. I'm sure this youngster
was excitedly looking forward to
Christmas, snow .and a long and
happy life. My family have a criu-
cally ill wife, mother,
grand mother, a
vital member of
her comm
ty. What a
senseless tragedy.
How could the
two or three sec-
ond act of defacing a road sign be
fun? What point did it make to
who?
We must impress on our young
people to consider the potential
consequences when they remove,
damage, deface or cover any safety
device. These signs etc. are in place
Letter to Editor
because there is a need for them.
Please just for one minute think
what could happen. It could have
been your mom, sister, or even
you who could be injured because
of vandalism.
If and when the guilty are found
they are liable for their actions.
What a senseless loss of a poten-
tially viable citizen. Doing time in
prison for contributing to death and
injury I'm sure was not a thought
that crossed the mind of an un-
thinking vandal.
Joyce Mills Kirkby
Canada are you still listening?
Dear Editor:
Worldwide we are witnessing
the greatest mass migration in hu-
man history - the global exodus
from the overstressed rural com-
munities. Transnational corpora-
tions and powerful agribusinesses
now outmanipulate national gov-
ernments in their queat for market
share and wealth, made possible
by enhanced free trade.
A distinct social re -ordering
around "competitiveness" has al-
ready evolved. Efficiency, produc-
tivity and deregulation, are'!buzz-
words" holding out false hopes to
rural communities and family
farmers alike.
In essence, Canada lacks a clear
vision to develop our rural neigh-
bourhoods and a farm policy. As a
consequence, fully one half of our
primary producers have left the
land in 20 years and numbers
grow. A crisis looms well beyond
the wet weather conditional
Despite government studies
proving the medium-sized family
farm is the ideal sustainable unit
of production considering efficien-
cy, the cost price squeeze of -the
1980's has decimated farmers and
rural oorrtr 0Mity -lifer -01410M any
concession road or Sown main
street over the last decade. With
the loss of seven farmers goes one
other job in a related 'industry.
When strictly economic factors
determine development, albedos
volunteer less in their cotanuini-
ties and quality -of life isztfas*d
broadly. Without even a Rik rase
of return on investment (market
prices & subsi-
dies) farm 11 aqui- -
ty actually
shrinks - losses
lead to social con-
sequences - family
violence, divorce,
alcoholism, eviction, suicides...
Fewer residents mean a shrunken
tax base, derelict houses, empty
classrooms and crumbling local
health services. Loneliness and de-
spair became prevelant right when
social services are cut back by gov-
ernment "downloading". •
It is indeed sad to see a once
proud industrious farmer, broken,
often through conditions he did not
create, competing for scarce jobs in
a nearby city where he did not ever
choose to live. Our government
calls this "restructuring". It creates
hopelessness.
In British Columbia there are al-
ready more farmers over 70 then
wider 30. Let the numbers speak. I
swot their dilemma is ours to
spare. Ina supposed Christian na-
tion, blessed with natural advantag-
es envied, by the world, social injus-
tices continue to polarize our rural
people. It is a national disgrace that
--many-excellent lumps could in-
crease theirt incomes by collect-
ing welfare for their families. Our
alitioos, resources and culture
can no longer be taken for vented
let alone food see -sufficiency.
I suggest we Canadine *serve
the type of nation we crepe. Rather
4liaaboa Sale -Jed Aspandeney
en zoSeldpoticies, itis .time for, a re-
newed economic nationalism to re-
build our autonomy and local com-
munities with vitality.
Let's promote policies that en-
hance co-operation between farm
families while respecting healthy
competition too. Let's trade fully
worldwide in ideas science and
knowledge. It is prudent now, how-
ever to retain control of our natural
resources, human resources and in-
vestment capital where possible.
Our agricultural industry is equal
in employment to the automotive
trade but even more basic to our
needs. Surely we can collectively
decide if the food industry here is
essential to our national security.
Producers deserve that first of all.
The marketplace in a free trading
world knows no national boundar-
ies. Nationals disappear and the in-
dividual exists to serve the market.
Autonomy, self-reliance and social
policy become restricted by inter-
national trading rules. It is our
challenge to reverse this process
and force the markets to serve our
human and social needs again.
Wherein lies your loyalty?
My Canada includes vital local
communities including the forgot-
ten family farmer and an apprecia-
tion for his/her historic and present
role in leading Canada to prosperi�
ty. Think globally but act, IocaUy
becomes a new imperative.
Respectfully
David Hem, Woodhaht
(Fifth generation proud
=AM and
A