The Brussels Post, 1980-03-19, Page 2Just turn , oh any hour of the day and night
and ,you get your instant Porlion of bad
news.
And 'there's all so little people , can do
`about it. Our country's future may be
decided in the next few weeki with the
referendum in Quebec and there's not a
darned thing those who care in, the rest of
the' country can do abOut it. Alberta is
fightihg with Ontario and 'Ottawa. but we sit
helpless. The interest rate is going up, the
dollar down and we're helpleas. What can
we do to help the hoslages in Iran except
pray? With hundreds of thousands. being
killed or starving in Cambodia` how can we
, save ,them?
We live'in an increasingly complex world
in which we have turned more and more over
to the experts and' the experts have bungled
it. When we try to fight the experts 'We are
told we 'don't know enough to make valid
arguments. People distrust nuclear power,
fearing the conSequences but .the experts
and our provincial government tell us they
know better than the public and will go
ahead anyway. We produce more and more
chemical waste while the cOmpanieS and the
government struggle to find out how to get
rid of the wastes. When people object to the
treatment and flushing of these wastes into
the waterways they are told 'by government,
and business "trust' us, we knew best."
Yet how can we trust people who have
already polluted the country so badly? How
can we trust politicians who promise to lower
interest rates as the last ,two governments
have while they were in opposition only to
raise them in government?
During the Depression years countries in
North American and Europe retreated into
isolationism, more concerned with the doing
of their own country than the rest of the
world. They ignored the early signs of
trouble in Europe in Spain: They ignored
Ethiopia. They appeased Hitler. The Amer-
icans sat out more than two years of the war.
Could it be that the troubles of today have
led to a new isolationism on a more personal
level: a retreat into me? Perhaps it is that the
pressures of the world hive led to people
deciding their only alternative is to pull back
into a world they can at least have some
control over: their own lives? They worry
about their job, about their family, their
latest gadgets in the home because they
can't do anything about the wars on the
other side of the world.
The problem is there is .no escape. The
troubles push their way into the home as
well. Where do people go to escape? ,
The retreat into me,
We've been in it now for most of a decade.
It has been dubbed the "me generation"•
and it has been a growing preoccupation
with self.
Many of us have spoken out against this
selfishness. We have blamed it for many of
the problems, we face today. On a Weal level
it has seen people worried ,more about
material possessions than the health of the ,
Community. On a national level we've seen it
show up as an increasingly bitter regional-
ized fight amon'g the various parts of Canada
who see themselves threatened by the test:
In the recent weeks however I for one have
begun to wonder whip* came first, the
retreat. into selfiihneas or the state, of the
country. Is the "me generation",thecause of
many of our troubles or are our troubles
responsible for the birth of the, "me
generation!: ,
It takes a major act Of courage these days
to turn on the radio in the miming and start
your day .off with the latest dose of gloom
and doom. Probably there have been other
times ,as troubled as ours but few 'people
have been so bombarded with bad news as
the people of today. Instant communication -
from around the world makes us aware not
only of the tragedies of our own community,
Our own country but of tiny countries on the
other side of the world: •
Wars have always been with us. Look
through old newspapers of a century ago and
Pau'll see plenty, of news about wars around
the world. But there was something
comfortably remote about those wars.
• Take the war in Afghanistan as example; .
If it had happened at the turn of the century
the news would have taken weeks to get out
of the mountainous country. By the time it
reached the pages of the daily newspapers it
would have been comfortably part of history:
Why worry about the future of such a war
because by the time you learned about it the
future was already past?
Noetoday. We get' blow-by-blow reports
on the activities of Iran or Afghanistan or
Cambodia or Rhodesia. The parade of gloom
from around the world assaults us two or
three times a day on television, every hour
on the hour on radio. In the old days you
read the paper, got the bad news then .used
the paper to start the fire in the parlour and
forgot the news. Today if you work with a
radio playing in the background you'll be
reminded how depressed you should be
every hour. In ,fact the newest invention of
the radio business is the all news radio so
you don't even have to wait to be depressed.
russe ehind the .scenes
•.by,,ceith•Rtivisip.n •
WEDNESDAY; MARCH 19, 1900
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
By McLean Bros. PubIE hers Limited
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Pat Langleis - Advertising
Member Canadian.Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario'Weekly Newspaper Association-
Subscriptiona (in advance) Canada $10.00 a Year:
Others $20.00 a Year. Single Copies 25 cents each.
A sense of community
The people of Cranbrook must really care about their community.
It's hard enough to get 40 people, together on a Friday night for any ,
matter of business, but the fact that 40 people came out last Friday
night to discuss future uses and improvements for, the Cranbrook
Community Hall is in 'itself a bit unusual.
Members of the hall board, the recreation committee, and of Grey
Township council vicre all there to take part in the discussions. In' these
days of apathy, it's refreshing to.see .that some people still do care
about their communities and what's happening in them, even 'if it
means taking time out of their own business or social 'activities.
. The people at the meeting also managed to come up with .some new
uses for'the hall and some suggestions for i'epairs. Not only that, but a
number of them quite willingly volunteered to' serve on committees
that were set up for th• new future uses of the hall such as Family
Dances, Teen Dances, and others volunteered to help with the repairs.
It's good to see this enthusiasm. Let's hope the Cranbrook
community keeps it uP.
Brussels seeks fair queen
The BrusSels Agricultural Society is trying
something new this year fOr the fair—a
Queen of the Fair Competition and are
looking for -,,sinesses from the area 'who
would be interested in sponsoring a contest-
ant for the event.
Contestants must be single and be
between the ages of 18 and 23 by September
`1. The Brussels winner would go on to
compete in the C.N.E., all expenses paid,
and would also attend the O.A.A.S. conven-
tion in Toronto in February plus other
events. She would also receive many gifts.
Sugar and spice
'By Bill Smiley
Canadians are security conscious
The girls will be interviewed and expected
to give a two minute speech on "My Future
in the Eighties." Judging of the Queen of
the Fair contest will take place at the Annual
Fair Board dance at the B.M.G. Community
Centre on Saturday, July 26.
The. Fair Board would be pleased to accept
donations of money or gifts to be given to the
contestants. Replies should be made to
Chairman John Boneschansker, RR 1, Ethel,
OG 1TO, phone 887-6870 or call Mrs.
Rosemarie Bishop , 887-6186.
I've decided how to supplement my
income, when they drag me, kicking and
squealing, into retirement.
This is an occupational hazard of
potential retirees, who, after living in this
country for the past 30 years, know full well
that their paper money is giong to be good
for starting fires with, and not much else,
in a decade or so.
Canadians are extremely security-
conscious. They don't give a diddle about
growing old gracefullly. They want to grow
old comfortably.
It's hard to believe. These are the same
people whose ancestors came from the fogs
of Scotland and the bogs of Ireland and the
smogs of England, with, plenty of nerve and
not much else.
They paid their dues with hard work,
taking chances, raising and feeding huge
families: The last things in their minds
were pensions, condominiums in the south,
the falling dollar, or Ayrabs.
They didn't need oil; they cut their own
wood. They couldn't even spell condo-
minium. There was no such thing as a
pension.
The old man was Grampa, and he hung
onto his land, bullied his sons, and made
most of the decisions, _until he retired to,
senility and the fireside.
The, old lady was
hW *:41300 :hp
Gramma and she, ,
hel6 4M o thher,lhiandehildiel,‘SSed herr h
midnight, when she thought no one was
looking.
But in those days, people grew old with a
certain dignity, if not beauty. They
accepted their final illness as "God's will."
Most people today say, "Why me?" when
they are stricken.
Today people want to be beautiful when
they're old. They want to be thought of as
"young at heart." They want to be
comfortable. They don't want to be ill.
They dread the cold. They fear poverty.
They search, sometimes desptrately, for
some sort of womb, or cocoon to go back to,
where they will be safe and warm and fed,
and never have to look that grim Old Man
straight in the eye.
And modern economy lets them down.
Their hard-earned, and hard-saved dollars
dwindle into cents. They come close to
heart attacks and strokes when they have
to pay $3.80 for a pound of beef, 89 cents
for a lousy head'of lettuce, Over a dollar for
a pound of butter. They are disoriented,
confused and frightened.
And it's not only the old ' who are
frightened and insecure, I see it in my
younger colleagues. They don't talk about
Truth and Beauty, Ideas and Life., They
talked about property and R.R,S.P.S, and
the price of gold, and inflation, and the
terrorizing ,possSibility,of closing-their jol,'
Some'of the smart yoAhger teacher
bought some land when it was cheap '
(they're not so young any more, eh?) and
built on it. The smarter ones have a
working wife. The smartest ones have
both. Most of them, even those in their
30s, are already figuring on a second
income when they retire: selling real estate
or boats; doing the books for some small
businessman; market gardening; antique
shops. Who can blame them?
But I have the answer for every one of
them, as I announced in my thesis, back in
paragraph one. No problem about retire-
ment.
Just follow Bill Smiley around, do
exactly the opposite to what he does, and
you'll come out healthy, wealthy, and wise,
When it's time to put your feet up. My Wife
could have told anyone that years ago.
If Smiley buys equities, buy blue chip
stocks. If, Smiley buys gold Mitring stock,
buy a swamp. If Smiley calls the Tories' to
win. vote Liberal. If Siniley buys an' ounce
of gold, dump yours fast, because it will
drop $200 overnight. If Smiley gets into
seat-belts, because they are compulsory,
you get out. The law will change,
I could go on and 6n,. but I won't. Just
watch what I do, and do the opposite. And I
have all the papers to prove it. But I'm
charging 20' per• cent of everything you
f y make, . And that!, ,now .1 plan: to. weather,..,
inflation aiid retirement? P ,}
daughters, had a wisdom that only hard
living can give, and was buried thankfully,
but with copious tears all around.
They lived with a certain ugliness; brutal
work, vicious weather, cruel child-bearing
by the women, until they were warped and
arthritic and sick in body.
Few pleasures like music and books and
' drama and automatic dishwashers and
television and' milk in a plastic carton
instead of a cow. •
But they didn't need two martinis to give
them an appetite for dinner. They didn't
need a 'couple of Seconal to put them to'
sleep, or a couple of mood elevators to
relieve their depression, or a couple of
Valium to relax their muscles.
They ate like animals because they
worked like horses. They slept like animals
because they were exhausted. They didn't
need mood changers because they had only
two or three moods: angry, tired out, or
joyful. They didn't need muscle, relaxers
because their muscles were too busy to
relax.
Now you may think I'm making a pitch
for "The good old days." I'm not. I think
they were dreadful days. I remember the
look on my Dad when he couldn't even
make a payment on the coal bill. I
remember watching ,my mother, who petrel.
Xeriedi'deVpiheover;the sewing machine at