HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-05-15, Page 10j
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publication we cannotascr lbeproPer credit,
ttththoughts,aresoapt for' this rticulnr
re`ot .� want to pass thorn along.:
re ,Is a canticle • r°r
This i# the time of year whei1 Many`
thousands, 0 young people in .Canada . d
their.„.schola$tic careers in high, scsr
;00090$, end unlversities.•'Many.tho•'sands
more • aro taking their fir' really serious
look at their imnnedlete funre-Is:and wonde ;�
Ing 'wh re: they can make `a start, or If they
W m101090, on 'o aa.technical school,: business,
collage: or • ►nlversity, .
It .is the time of year when these thou
sands are wondering about ambition—what.
It Is that they really want to do. .
There -is no, time when the voice of ex-
perience can be of greater value to a young
person thenwhen he or she reaches this first
crossro0s of I.fea The right advice, accepted
and followed, can, save a young person a lot
of grief and frustration.
The tirne of their first major decision in
life Is;now upon these young people. They are
now standing on their own feet, looking
speculatively at a world many times more
compilOtect than the world that faced 'their
paretits and,becoming more complex 'at a
constantly if#creasing pace.
'Schools' and parents have indicated to
the'best of their abilities the further special
ized studies or possible occupations that may
be entered. (Many papers carry full features
about what occupations would be open to
' those taking technical courses. There is,
however, an intangible problem complicat-
ing' this decision-making for young people, a
problem that some of them have not pinned
down and recognized. This problem is the
matter of ambition.
Iii, recent years the word "ambition” has
taken 'on''certain unpleasant overtones that
our forefathers' ears were completely deaf
to. The,selfish and ruthless factors of some
driving ambitions have been shown up vivid-
ly in fiction, plays and .biographies until in
some ears the word "ambition" has a nasty
sound`. Minas become the same as "grasping,
greedy, crooked and heartless".
Ambition can exhibljt ail these repulsive
features—but it can exist without them too.
It can be based not on greed for money,
t
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s°d
cos
Governments at all levels have jumped.
ort, the bandwagon called "economy". Sens-
ing that voters everywhere are becoming in-
creasingly aware of the high cost of every-
thing from just plain eating to going out for a
night on the town, the wordy platitudes about,
saving on public expenditures are now on the
politicians' lips: There are far tdo many in-
stances, however, where political expedien-
cy costs the nation vast sums, simply for the
sake of a gesture.
° As one outstanding example, think of the
urge during, the past few year3 to give the
French lanj uage equal place with English
not only in those areas where French is the
dominant tongue ---but right across the land.
Take a look at the front of our own post
office. There are the words, "Bureau de
Poste", proclaiming, along with their
English counterpart that this is the place to
mail your letters. Ask any 20 passersby to
pronounce the French words and none would
be able to „say them correctly, with the pos-
sible exception of a high school student, and
then only if he or she happens to have opted
for the French 'course.
So you say the extra cost for the post
office sign in two languages is a compara-
tively inexpensive gesture<toward'bilingual-
ism—and you're probably right. Something
else 'again is the federal government's
decision to print all public reports and other
such documents in two languages. Not long
ago a handsomely -bound volume arrived in
the mail for our perusal. It turned out to be
the final report of one of the numerous comp
en f
.. d: 1'#n1�r but, r��
�+ sic:drive oaf an' embitl ts,
desireto make a wor'thwhiNe c ontrifon to
•t ie road, .then \ambition 'domes , sacred
ITame
4:>ef�►lr�;later' ;l'he �l 1phf of thatfial�er:
will grin r4eeognitjor .Such : flarries h ve
Otii;fht.Oned-Ailc.4iyarrIrd, the world for untotd
millions..
Those in Whom thesese flamburned °e'tre
2,1:0q10110'he few who have derived abeOrbing-
enioyrnent and satisfaction. from thelr lives.
They; '.hare never been bored, rairelydown
hearted and. they Pave, felt' the`lremendou4.
• joy and tisfaction' of'knowing, that Brew wets.
notwast 4hat the would leave th. ,.world
. pit least *Ole, ett thane.wheri their, ent edi'
it
,All, the really gr e t ,an.4,,res .p ted, names
°•in. t'he,hlstpry of the world have been men
and women lired .by this: kind/off ambttimn.
°"Old," responds youth. "-low do 1 find.
out 'What 1 should. da.? How do 1 light this
Horne?°' p . C
The complete' answer can,, !of- course, be
gjiyen in three'words e; essence of. all the
:great philosophies -"Man, know thyself.''
But that answer, 'is meaningless . to youth,
iation of
h e. •
to.,loa hat bsuacbk
Ind ;w-
t� These may.
at are
Those:three words'are the final di
experience which' youth does n
The first Clue to;a career,
over Your school record and
ject or subjects you,'are best
not be'the . subjects or 'occupat
'appealing to► your imagination .hist now, but
:the odds. are they point�ciear"�'ly to•the,occbpa
tion or profession you are -best f ittetfer 'Ake
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