HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-12-07, Page 4PAGE 4—GODERICH SIGNAL STAR, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1983
DAVE
SYKES
-T
71,
•
'Records were meant to be broken' is a
sports axiom that semi -cerebral jocks use to
rationalize their diminshed stature in the
sports world once one &their long-standing
records has been surpassed by a pimply -
faced kid.
It seems that every time a team takes to
the ice, every time an overgrown, overpaid
seven -footer dribbles a ball, every time a
European barefoot kicker boots a football
through the goal posts, a record is set.
That someone would actually keep track
of such petrified trivia, or the fact that
anyone would actually care, is beyond
comprehension. But, records, of all kinds
continue to intrigue the public.
The Guiness boys, of world record fame,
have done more for useless information than
the staff here at the Signal -Star. In the elite
record circles, the Guiness boys are revered
as the best. Every conceivable bit of useless
a
information is c:Irefully researched,
ca loped and chronicled in their famed
books. People have been know to do crazed,
weird and oft' times wonderful things tto get
mention in the -book.
This past Monday evening I casually
suggested that the venerable members of
our own municipal council may be eligible
for mention in the book of world records.
Elsewhere in this picayune paper, appear
a few paltry paragraphs concerning the
most recent meeting of the town's elected
officials. The meeting began promptly at
7.30 p.m., as is the custom, and concluded
precisely 14 minutes later.
The members of the press barely had time
to exchange and examine their assorted
candies, mints and gums, lustily munched
on through most meetings, when it was all
over. There wasn't time to exchange
pleasantries. enquire about another's
family or loveo one or even go to use
washroom.
Even the lone spectator, a veteran of 12
council campaigns herself, was so flab-
bergasted that not a single question came to
mind during the question period.
There was a time when covering a council
meeting meant that a reporter would oft' bid
farewell t� his family for a day or two. The
sessions had a nasty habit of carrying on
into the night and council was often called
upon to invoke a special motion to carry on
past 11 p.m.
But 14 minutes. It's sounds almost
sacrilegious. There were days when one
councillor could speak for longer than 14
minutes without drawing a breath.
If word of this leaks out, Goderich town
. council could be mercilessly ridiculed in
municipal circles around the country. Every
self-respecting politician takes pride in his
ability to deliver long-winded, rhetorical
orations on any number of subjects. They
don't have to bear any pretense to relevancy
either.
Local officials were quick to point to the
press in attendance that the brevity of the
meeting could be easily attributed to the
lack of urgent business on the agenda. There
was a definite hint of efficiency and the
politicians were shamefully aware of its
presence.
My family was shocked to see its husband
and father scant minutes after leaving
home. I felt like an outsider, a definite in-
truder on their Monday evening activities,
which generally didn't include me. I think
they had trouble relating to my presence as
well..
Hopefully the record-breaking 14 minute
meeting was just a bad dream and council
will get back to its plodding ways. My family
can't cope.
Member:
*CNA
Second class
mail registration
number 0716
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Take responsibility
As this paper hits the streets and homes of the com-
munity, the December 7 dateline marks the end of Safe
Driving Week in Canada.
The theme for 1983 was "None for the Road" and was
aimed, obviously, at the drinking driver. President of the
Canada Safety Council'W.L. Higgitt, says that impaired
drivers are the most persistent contributors to traffic
collisions and fatalities. The problem of drinking and
driving "could be overcome by drivers accepting their full
personal responsibility towards others."
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, a long-time supporter
of Safe Driving Week identifies "impaired driving as a
major problem to overcome. Your full responsibility in
this special area of concern will greatly reduce the risk of
accidents and unnecessary loss of life."
The Canada Safety Council urges all motorists to look at
their drinking habits and not drink and drive at all times.
All agencies who have contact with the motoring public
have also been asked to spread the word.
Everyone can make a contribution that will make the
roadways safe for everyone.
The Ontario Provincial Police will be launching an all-
out attack on the drinking driver over the Christmas -New
Year's holiday season. Roadside breath testers will be
used to test drivers that police believe have been drinking.
OPP Commissioner Archie Ferguson said that while the
provincial force will play a major role in reducing
drinking and driving, the responsibility rests with
everyone.
The holiday season brings with it a proliferation of of-
fice and house parties, family and neighbourhood
gatherings and impromptu get-togethers. Everyone can
help by making sincere attempts to prevent the drinking
driver from reaching the'car when he or she is obviously
impaired. Your action could save a life of a friend or loved
one.
The commissioner emphasizes that moderation is the
key word during the holiday season and that playing host
always carries with it certain responsibilities — to make
sure that guests get home safely.
It's easy to talk piously of moderation, but if you are
impaired over the holiday, have the sense to call a cab or
let someone else drive.
�� y1
1
An enduring gift
While donating body organs may be repugnant to some
people says the Exeter Times Advocate, a large majority
probably have no qualms about what is removed after
their death. In fact, many indicate that they would con-
sider it worthwhile to have those organs used to improve
the quality of life for some recipient.
However, statistics indicate that there still remains a
critical shortage of such organs as kidneys for the couple
of hundred Ontario residents who could be spared from
the costly and time-consuming ordeal of dialysis if there
were sufficient donors.
A London kidney specialist. appointed co-chairman of a
task force designed to raise awareness of the need for
kidney donations in the province, says the problem is not
that most people are unwilling to help out, but rather that
they can't face the prospect of death.
As a result, they don't give their consent on the optional
portion of their driver's licence to donate their organs in
case of death. Therefore, half of the 400 people in Ontario
requiring kidney transplants each year have to continue
enduring dialysis treatment at hospitals.
Thanks to new drugs which reduce rejection rates,
kidney transplants are close to 90 per cent successful.
Transplants represent a one-time cost of $15,000 to $20,000
in comparison to the annual cost of $30,000 for dialysis
done in hospitals. Successful transplants also mean
patients can be healthy, normal, productive people again.
Given that set of circumstances, it is rather disap-
pointing that so few willing donors are available.
Think about it! Why haven't you signed the consent
form on your driver's licence. it could save someone's life
and that is a most worthwhile gift and generous gesture.
Active port
By Dave Sykes
DEAR READERS
SHIRLEY KELLER
The editor at The Huron Expositor in Seaforth
told it like it is in the last two issues of her paper.
Susan White, who incide' i. ally left the country
last week for a year in New Zealand ( not because
of the article I hasten to point out) talked to some
secondary school students, a family planning
nurse from the Huron County Health Unit, a high
school teacher who instructs a sex education
class and even a pharmacist.
She found that perhaps the majority of
teenagers in Huron County may be sexually
active by the time they reach age 16. Those who
aren't sexually active are definitely in the
minority, according to White's unofficial study.
The whole point of the article was to make
parents aware of the critical real life situation
right here at home for their teenagers - and to
advise them to face up to the blatant truths and
to,take action to help their sexually active kids to
protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies.
"Talk to your teenagers about sex," was the
underlying message. "Work with the experts to
improve the quality and quantity of sex
education in the schools."
In this day of controversy between pro -
abortionists and right -to -lifers, that's a com-
mendable show of responsibility I suppose.
The article also warned parents it is pointless
to expect teenagers to respect your wishes for
them to remain sexually inactive, for religious
reasons or any other reasons. It implied that
peer pressure as well as the pressure of society's
relaxed attitude toward human sexuality, will
control the minds and eventually the hearts of
the majority of teenagers in Huron County after
all else has been said and done.
Favourable comment about the article ih two
parts, has come to the newspaper from some
quarters, expressly for having the courage to
print such a truthful story about such a con-
troversial subject.
And I too believe that some parents need to be
jolted out of their apathy ... need to understand
that their children are desperately waiting for
their parents' understanding and guidance, not
lectures and threats.
But what dismayed me most about the article
was the implication that sexual freedom is the
acceptable norm .... that it's right and proper,
especially for those over 18, providing some
method of birth control is used ... that it's only in
question when it results in an unwanted
pregnancy.
On this subject, I have discovered a few truths
of my own.
In the first place, I believe sweeping
generalities are too easy to make and often
misleading.
I believe human beings are created to be
sexual beings - that their sexual desires are
natural, healthy and nothing of which to be
ashamed. But I also believe it is potentially
dangerous and debilitating to be pre -occupied
with sex and the country's courts, the coun-
selling offices, the welfare agencies are full of
persons who have learned that the hard way.
I agree with the Expositor article that we sell
kids short too much of the time. By far the
majority of teenagers are fully able to reason
and to make quality judgments for themelves.
Even very small -children, for instance, can
learn to decide for themselves to be safe about
fire, traffic, animals, heights. It's a fact of life
that not every child has to get badly burned to
learn that he shouldn't put his hand into a flame.
But I believe that while parents do their
children a great injustice by imposing their
personal method of reason and their personal
standard for making judgments on their chldren,
they do an even greater injustice by failing to tell
their children what it is they do believe. About
everything. Popular or unpopular.
Kids deserve that ,kind of honesty from their
parents. They deserve consistency. And they
deserve adult good sense and responsible
guidance. In this way, kids have a clear ben-
chmark, a measuring stick by which they can
begin to develop their own personal standards in
tune with their own goals and ambitions for life,
by which they can do their own reasoning and
judging.
For I believe that if children have such a
firm family foundation on which to build, they
can learn to know who they are. They can begin
to believe in themselves because they are part of
something else to which they can relate. They
will be in a much better position to make correct
decisions for themselves because they aren't set
adrift in a world where anything goes.
They will be less likely to knuckle under the
pressures they feel from outside themselves.
They will be happier human beings, more in tulle
with their human sexuality. And wonder of
wonders, I believe that in nine cases out of ten
where parents and kids communicate in this
way, their final decisions will'` be' similar in
nature though they will use different routes to
get there.
I believe if as much effort were expended by
society to teach people to make reasoned, quality
judgments for themselves as is expended by
society at every level to protect people because
they don't know how to make reasoned, quality
judgments, society in general would be much
better off.
I'm simply not ready to give up that easily - to
say that as a parent, I really can't change the
thrust of society within my own home, my own
family.
I can't accept that as a loving, caring mother, I
have less influence than peers who are as fickle
and fleeting as a hot air balloon.
I just can't believe there's nothing much I can
do to help my children, my grandchildren,
anyone see clearly to the heart of the world's
pressures and shortsightedness. For I know such
things rob them of their goals in life and the
happiness they want so badly.
I'm just not able to close my eyes to what I
consider to be the social and moral weaknesses
of the day and say, "That's the way the cookie
crumbles, kids. Put on your armour and get out
there and participate. And good luck."
If that makes me old-fashioned, so be it. If it
makes me the butt of people's sick jokes, let it
happen. If I sound like some kind of fanatic., I'll
have to take it on the chin.
But let no one accuse me of being uninformed,
unfeeling and irresponsible. And 'let no one say
I'm alone in my views for though I may be in the
minority according to the Expositor story, I am
supported by thousands the world over - some of
them teenagers right here in Huron County.
So we are using Russian ships to send our
corn to Cuba - further evidence of the Com-
munist encirclement of the United States!
Worse still, the front page of the local paper
displays the mayor's picture with a Soviet
flag and a Russian captain - proof of
unstable government and subversive in-
filtration of the news media! There is ob;
viously a threat to the security and ter-
ritorial integrity of this area and Saltford
and Holmesville are said to have made an
urgent request to President Reagan to send
in the marines and paratroops!
The vicious global propaganda, paranoia
and military rattling on all sides is, admit-
tedly, a very serious and dangerous state of
affairs, but one can neutralize it to some ex-
tent by winking at its pomposity and clum-
siness, and be creating even just a little
spark of sanity and civility in our midst.
I feel that such a spark of civility was pro -
vided by the interview and trout page
coverage last week - and by the good grace
and sense of Mayor Palmer, who extended
to Captain Redenko the same welcoming
courtesies which are periodically offered to
the captains of other foreign ships visiting
our harbour. Reading about it gave me a
pleasant sense of uplift and pride that in a
small and peaceful corner of a turbulent
world we can choose a treat with civilized
common sense and courtesy those of our
fellow men who live in a different system.
I am glad that the Soviet captain and his
crew left with pleasant and positive
memories of our town - its people, buildings,
shops, cleanliness, friendliness, way of life.
That is not such a small contribution to the
enormous task of peace on a very human
level. It is better than marches, I think.
In another publication i read another
story. It was about a Russian who, after con-
siderable delays, had been granted an exit
visa recently, to join his young American
wife in the States. Many friends and
relatives of the wife's family joined the
celebrations of the happy reunion in Lex-
ington. The sentence which caught my at-
tention was an expression of some surprise.
"Looking at him, you'd never think he
wasn't American." (Incidentally, I found
myself thinking - is that good or bad?) The
young man wore a grey salt, smiled, spoke
"quite good" English, danced to the latest
tunes.
Did the American relatives think that the
young man would sprout little horns or have
fangs or what? Truly, President Reagan's
tireless and tiresome rhetoric is designed to
create an impression that the streets in the
Soviet Union are filled with wailing
creatures in rags, dragging heavy chains,
and that their leaders are monsters with two
heads.
The young man studied, danced and
laughed long before he arrived in Lexington.
Captain Redenko and his crew members
shopped in Goderich for presents for their
families with whom they will probably
share stories about the visit to our town,
among other things. Are these people so
very different from us?
No, I am not promoting the Soviet system;
I am not a friend of it. That is why I am here.
But that is another story - a long story. I
firmly believe that among nations there
must be room for different systems, dif-
ferent beliefs - marching to different drum-
mers. There must be acceptance of the sim-
ple fact that other peoples' patriotism and
love for their homes and families is just as
valid as ours. There can be no peace without
this understanding on the level of ordinary
people.
Tht is why it was important to welcome
the ship in our harbour.
ELSA HAYDON