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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-09-14, Page 4Page 4 Times -Advocate, September 14, 1983 imes Times Established 1873 Serving South Huron, North Middlesex Advocate Established 1881 & North Lambton Since 1873 Amalgamated 1924 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications Limited ' LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 235-1331 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $21.00 Per year; U.S.A. $56.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' and 'ABC' Answer to no one One of the tendencies of people who don't get the answer they expect in response to a question is to ask the question again m the hope they will hear something different the second time around. In the case of the answers being received from the Soviet Union regarding the shooting down of a Korean passenger aircraft, it is not surprising that the ques- tions are being repeated again and again. Unfortunately, the answers remain unchanged. The barbarous action took place because the aircraft +CNA BLUE RIBBON Av,ARD 1980 BLUE RIBBON AWARD 1981 wandered into Soviet air space in a highly sensitive zone. The chilling response indicates that the same ac- tion would be taken again under similar circumstances. Basically, the Soviet Union leadership.answers to no one. They do as they want, when they want. They do not admit mistakes, however serious and callous they may appear to be. It is very frightening! A dizzy situation Most wage earners don't need to be reminded that the governments in Ottawa and Ontario have set limitations on pay increases as part of the much - heralded "six and five" plan to control inflation. What those wage earners have difficulty, in understanding is why those same governments don't follow the plan; a reluctance that is noticeable in government pricing of booze and cigarettes and even more pronounced in gasoline. Gasoline prices continue to fluctuate at a dizzy pace and it is not unusual to have a change of 10 to 20 We all Boys do it - girls do it - men do it - women do it - clergy do it - lay people do it - and we suspect, on very rare occasions of course, that even people -who say they don't really do o it! Do what? Tell a lie! Is it still a sin to tell a lie? California psychologist Jerald Jellison tells us that we all lie daily to cover our "social errors". According to Jellison, who has spent abouka decade musing on the truth about lies, each of us fibs at least 50 times a day. He says we lie most often about the Big Three - age, income and sex - areas where our egos and self-images are most vulnerable. To protect them we even lie non -verbally with -gestures, silences, inac- tions and body language. "You can lie with your emotions," says Jellison. "The smile you don't mean, or the classic nervous laugh." A man asks a woman, "Your place or mine?" and then chuckles. If she's offended, he can always elaborate on the laugh by saying "Can't you take a joke? I was only kidding." These types of lies we call "little white lies," the kind we throw round as casually as old slippers but which Jellison claims are our "social justifications". We -lie because it pays. We use them to escape punishment for our small errors... and because our percent on any given day, even at government - controlled outlets. In Manitoba recently, one gas war reached the sil- ly stage, where one operator was actually paying motorists three cents a litre to fill up with his product. What Canadians would really like to know is what price should be considered fair when they fill up at the pumps. Surely the millions of dollars they have in- vested in the oil industry should provide them with some assurances that they are paying a consistently fair price. do it social justifications help us to avoid disapproval. `I gave at the office,' or 'I'm sorry.' But our most common reason for lying is to spare someone's feelings. We often tell ourselves that, but usually we are trying to protect our own best interests. We feel that if we really tell the truth, someone's go- ing to get mad. Jellison beleves that white lies are the oil for the machinery of daily life. "Society actually functions fairly well on many small deceptions. "They contribute the little, civilized rituals that comfort us... We take for granted some degree of lying from politicians, government, business, advertising. We don't get.excited about an ad that hypes some product in a -way we might know might not be quite true. But the rub comes when we go to someone we need and trust, and are deceived. A banker who says he's got the best interest rate going for loans. A real estate agent who convinces us his is the best package available. An insurance agent pushing an unsound policy. An auto dealer who doesn't tell us the product's safety record. Then our backs go up, and what isn't true - hurts.. Huron Church News They've made a few changes This is the time of year area parents ex- perience .the joy and tribulations of hav- ing an offspring leave the nest. For some it is the first flight, while for others it is rather old hat and may even be the signal that the nest is finally emptied. The experience, of cnursP, is having a son or daughter embark on the trial of seeking an education at an institution of higher learning. The writer joined the list when number one son enrolled at Conestoga College and it is most interesting to consider the dif- ference in the situation that was faced by his father when he departed from Exeter exactly 30 years earlier to further his education. The most noticeable difference is in the selection process itself. The selection 30 years ago did not appear to be as mind- boggling as that facing today's young peo- ple. The career choices were certainly fewer in number, as were the institutions in that pre community college era. The 1953 freshmen were, in most cases, either entering London teacherscollege,a nursing school, ag college or the Univer- sity of Western Ontario. A few of us strayed as far away as Toronto and that was almost considered a foreign country, and those of us who didn't enrol in nurs- ing, agriculture or teaching were certain- ly the exceptions to the rule. Many of our contemporaries, having completed special commercial at SHDHS, were off to work in the offices of industries or businesses in London, while others stayed at home to work in a family business or with the tradesman down the street. The courses today's grads have to select are almost unlimited and have just about reached the point where one needs to take a course to learn how to select a course. Name a job and chances are you'll find some school offering a course to train someone for it. Unfortunately, that doesn't guarantee that you'll get a job when you complete the course and that is another marked dif- ference from what the freshmen of 1953 faced. Most of them were cited figures sug- gesting there were five, 10, 15 or even BATT'N AROUND with the editor more jobs for every grad coming out of the course. The figures have now been reversed and the 1983 freshmen realize that there is probably one job for every five, 10 or 15 grads in some fields. • The initial task,for the freshman of 1953 was to search out a boarding house'. Something within walking distance was preferable, or at least on a rather direct bus route or street car line. Many homeowners in university cities offered room and board and the daily paper was filled with such listings. It was a means of augmenting income for the homowner. Despite the economic difficulties of the past couple of years, that source of ac- commodation for students has virtually dried up. University residences, of course, have mushroomed to fill the need in many instances, but those attending schools which do not provide such facilities find the main source of accom- modation is an apartment. That was con- sidered a sheer and almost unthinkable luxury 30 years ago, but today it is more in the realm of a necessity. Another major change can be seen in exploring the campus of institutions these days to see the huge areas set aside for student and staff parking. My alma mater at Ryerson had a park- ing area about half the size of a football field and it was seldom filled to capacity, despite the fact many groups of students from as far away as Oshawa commuted in car pools. Now it has parking areas for 10 times that many vehicles and still has problems ' in meeting the needs of the motorized stu- dent body. The only thing that has proliferated at an equal growth rate is the student pubs. No doubt that beats a dull night at the library! Naturally, those facilities are provided at some community colleges for instruc- tion purposes. It gives the students enroll- ed in the bartending course an opportuni- ty to test their skills without having to pour their concoctions down the drain. In comparsions to today's freshman, the one of 30 years ago was generally rather naive as to what went on in the world about him. The rural student in par- ticular was rather mystified in being set down in the middle of a huge city and a sprawling campus. Ilis air of excitement at being away from home on his own was accompanied by a sense of insecurity and awe that took several weks to overcome. Through TV, mass communication and the shrinking world, today's freshman ap- pears to be able to step into that world without a backward step. That no doubt has some advantages, but it appears to diminish the excitement that this country boy experienced in be- ing dumped off at the Central YMCA in downtown Toronto 30 years ago. "Have a nice day at the unemployment line. dear!" Who's at the Well, you can't say it hasn't been a hummer of a summer, with all those bright hot days beckoning everybody to the golf course and the beach. Why is it then, that when I go into the. local delicatessen to pick up a bit of grubbery, there are 44 women ahead of me, waving their numbered cards, pushing, jostling, pointing at six kinds of cold meat, and shouting: "A lidddle of that, cut real thin. Half a pound of that, in one pound chunks. Three-quarter pounds of potato salad, no more, it mak4 me fat ;two pounds of the pickled beans - well, no - well, OK, I'll have on- ly a spoonful"? Who's at the beach? Who's at the golf course? Well, I know who's at the beach. The cops. I took the boys out for a swim one blazing afternoon, found what I thought was a fair- ly legal spot, even though it said, "No Parking" and it cost me 10 bucks. Why aren't our boys in blue out chasing motorcycle gangs, instead of hanging tickets on doting (doty?) grandfathers? I guess it's fairly simple. They're not going to be beaten up by the odd grandfather. Who's at the golf course? I don't know. I'm not going to thump around on my tin foot checking what idiots are hitting or missing a little white sphere when the temperature and humidi- ty are up around 100 degrees. F that is. Just to add to my sum- mer fun is a busted ear- drum that isn't healing. But even that has advan- tages. If I push my finger into my good ear, I can't hear a word my wife is saying. It drives her wool- ly, because I've been pretending for years that s Sugar and Spice Dispensed By Smiley I was getting deaf when she -.vent into a tirade. "Why haven'tyou trimmed the hedge?" Eh? swept the ledge? "Why don't you get the grass cut"? "Watch your language, lady." "Why aren't you useful about the house, like other husbands?" Just to add to my sum- mer fun, my English staff has disintegrated. in almost one swell foop. One lady, an outstanding teacher, has become sick of the system, pulled out and started her own business. Another has gone on halftime, so he can write poetry. Two others are knocked out for some time with heart trou- ble. Another has been hav- ing a baby, with six months leave. Iter kid will be ready for Day -Care by the time she gets back. I'll probably wind up with a couple of jocks who don't know the difference between, "I seen the both of them", and "The whole team wore gloves on its right hand," or golf course? "Shakespeare wrote in longhand because the typewriter was not yet invited." However, as summer wanes, don't think we haven't had a swell time. My wife took a music course, driving 60 miles a day to do it. I had some nice trips,, too. To the beach - $10. Eight miles. We talk vaguely about going to Stratford or the Shaw Festival, and wind up watching a re -run of "Dallas." I sit fn the backyard try- ing to get inspiration from the trees and all 1 can see is dust, and all I can hear is bulldozers. Speaking of dust, that's all you'll be able to see of me, even if it's only snow - dust, come Dec. 31. And I'm sure you had a lovely summer, too, with all those relatives dropp- ing in, just at meal -time. You're having two slices of ham and a tomato, and a big bowl of canned soup, and a whole carload of friends whom you invited to drop in, six years ago, arrive at the door, friend- ly as all get out and hungry as hell. No, no, they wouldn't think of staying for lunch. It would be an imposition, which it is. Half an hour later. they've drunk all your beer, commented on your "lovely" house, and downed the canned ham you were saving for an emergency, gobbled the fresh corn you were savng for supper, and cleaned up your fresh green beans. You don't even know whether the guy's name is Rob or Rod, or whether the woman's name is Myr- tle or Marg. You just sit there in the debris, not caring, and hating their kids for breaking a branch off your lilac tree. Summers, on the whole, though, are therapeutic. They make you realize you are too fat and blowsy, and that, next winter, you're going to ski and walk in the snow, and not be such a slob, eating pig food and lying around like a eunuch or a harem member. And, of course, when winter comes, you realize that you must keep up your strength by eating lots of carbohydrates to beat the cold, and wat- ching TV "to keep up with things," and that next summer you're going to exercise and get fit and brown by running down in the car to the super- market, and jogging all the way from the car to the house with the groceries, and striding angrily across to the boy who cuts your lawn and demanding why he hasn't cut it. And altthe time, millions of kids are starv- ing in Asia and Africa. Serves them right. They should have been born in Canada. It's rather scarey Last week I mentioned 'joy -ride'. that we had spent a weekend in Detroit with some friends.. Just the week before we got there my host's car had been stolen. Now we all know that can happen right here in our own area. Not too long ago my next door neighbour's car was stolen right out of his laneway. In both cases the car was deserted within a cou- ple of days and in both cases the gas tank was empty indicating that the car had been used for a The only difference was • that in my host's case, one tire (a new one) had been stolen and replaced with an old worn-out one. Other than some personal items in the car, this was all that was different about the car t not counting the damage to the steering Perspectives By Syd Fletcher column where they had started the vehicle. Apparently this is becoming a common thing over there. Somebody owns a particular kind of car. Their tires get a little bald, so they go out and steal a car of the same age and model, simply to get a new pair of tires or a bat tery or whatever part the' need. What bothers me is the small regard that is being shown for the law and its possible consequences. For the sake of a seventy- five dollar tire, somebody is willing to risk imprison- ment and all that can mean. Beyond that, what value can human life have to the mind which cares not for even a small law? Scarey, isn't it?