The Brussels Post, 1974-11-20, Page 2Liberty?
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
LET's see. Where am I? I
know I was going to
make a pointed, telling
attack this week on one of
the great evils of our
society. But I can't remem-
ber what it was.
Maybe that's because I
have three exams to set,
eleventy-four essays to
mark, my bricks are falling
out, along with my fillings,
and my wife, who has just
given me a thrilling account
of how she couldn't get the
car started, is going to
the hospital tomorrow.
Ah, well, c'est la vie, as
the Chinese say. You can't ,
have everything running
like clockwork in a world in
which the most sensible
creatures seem to be cock-
roaches.
I also have forty-four
letters to answer, six vital
telephone calls to make,
a speech to write, and a
grandbabby to bring up.
Then there are about
seven _thousand pounds of
oak leaves to rake and bag. I
think I'll send them to
Bangla-Desh. Surely some-
body there knows how to
make oak leaf and acorn
soup. 'Don't think I'm being
hard and cynical. There's a
lot of protein. in those
acorns. And I have 28
squirrels, not counting chil- ,
dren, in my attic to prove it.
Maybe you think this is
just the whining of a
middleaged man, who can't,
cope with life. Well, you're
right.
My bricks are falling out.
Or they are being sucked
out, by the gentle vines of
this old Georgian house,
which are about as gentle as
a* giant sqUid. The roofer
said, "Geez, Bill, your bricks
are loose." It sounds sort of
obscene, like, "You have
rocks in your head." But it's
not. They're falling out. (Or
being knocked out by the
clumsy roofers and painters.
Sh-h-h-h.)
And my fillings are falling
out as fast as I can, or my
dentist can, put them
in. He's a nice guy, and the
most painless dentist I have
ever had, for which I will
cling to him until teeth do us
depart, but you can't build
pine trees out of stumps.
And then, there's my
grandbabby. You'd think I
would not worry about him
when he's a hundred miles
away. But I do.
How do I know those
young sillies in the daycare
centre are teaching him the
right things. Do they know
how to ride him on a jigging
foot to the tune of, "Did You
Ever Go Into An Irish-,
man's Shanty, Where Money
Is Scarce and Whiskey Is
Plenty?"?
Do they know how to let
him chew their thumb while
at the same time whistling in
his belly and waving his bare
foot in the air to the tune of
"Knees Up, Mother Brown"?
Well, maybe the young
sillies aren't doing too badly,
as long as there are three of
them to one of him. At least
they're not trying to unteach
him the good things he's
learned from his gramps.
Had a call from his mother
last Sunday. She made it
from a phone booth, as
Mother Bell has not smiled
on them yet. Asked her
where the baby was. She
responded coolly that he was
on her knee, tearing pages
out of the telephone direc-
tory.
He loves tearing up books,
especially those of sacred
institutes, like the Bell, I
started him • off with the
inane coloured sections of
the Saturday papers, He
seemed to thrive on it,
ripping them apart with
gusto, relish, and any
ketchup that happened to be
around.
I thought it wise to move
him up to telephone books,
police reports, politicians'
speeches, beer labels and
such examples of Canadian
culture. Turns out he's a
boy after my own heart,
Go to it, Pokey. His real
name is Nicov Chen, but I
tacked Pokey on him, and it
. has stuck. He pokes into
everything that is moving,
or still. If it's moving, he
stops it; if it's still, he makes
it move, grinning fiendishly
all the time.
I tell you, it's a gay, mad
whirl around here. Just
now I was interrupted by
two pretty girls at the front
door, rakes in hand. I'd
forgotten about them.
They'd come to rake my
leaves. For money, of
course. Couldn't get any
boys.
In the past week I have
also dealt with sixteen
students who are obvious
flunkers, one irate parent,
several disgruntled teach-
ers, and one invitation to
judge a beauty contest.
To top it off, in today's
mail came an election flyer,
from Ray Argyle, who
syndicates this column, an-
nouncing his run for school
trustee. He must be out of
his nut.
Everybody seems to be
going a bit mad these days,
but I'll lay odds that I get.
there before the rest of you,
Political anguish
western grain handlers
refused to load ship
after ship with grain as
a form of protest? Some
of those ships were
scheduled to go to
places like Bangladesh
about whose starving
missions M.P.. Saltsman
is concerned.
Where was he when ,.
need not go on with
the list,
If Me, SaltsMah is
serious, I, for one,
would be peepaeed to
support hit private mem-
ber's bill But to be
serious he must also be
consistent.
Is' he prepared to
seek an amendment to the
Criminal Code "to make
it an indictable offense
for anyone to destroy
any usable good as
form Of protest'?
Does Mr. SaTtsMan
feel the same moral
anguish when strike
after strike leaves
food to rot ih fields ;
robs children of a good
education ; cripples part
of our economy, stoPs
peoduction, of essential
commodities, allows
people to be' left Mot e '
less by uncontrolled
fire, stops essential
- services, or just holds
D part of society UP 4
sratISOO I dO:
Is Mr: Sal ' tsmans
anguish real or i8 tit
just political?
E lbert va
n
Christian Farmers J,
Federation of
Drayton, Draytori, Ontari6
APAI4OMIP
11,2.
Brussels Post
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 1974 :74TAX
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community,
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros.Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6.00 a year, Others
,del" , $8.00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
With the current increase in the
number of strikes in transportation,
both national and local, and involv-
ing planes and trains as well as bus
and subway facilities, is it wise to
keep emphasizing that "we're not
doing too badly," in these near-
emergency situations? Rather should-
n't press, TV and radio be emphasiz-
ing that the "liberties" which are
being taken with the much-boasted
principle of liberty, not only by
striking employees, but by many
minority groups which take the law
into their own hands, represent a
definite threat to the very freedom
which the word liberty proclaims?
Today in practise our so-called
liberty is beginning to border upon
license, with little regard to the
fact that there can be no liberty
unless it is accompanied by a neces-
sary sense of responsibility.
With the increasing complete dis-
regard for the rights and welfare of
others, there will come a time when
the majority of persons will rebel
against such license, and stricter
legal prohibitions will be initiated
which could lead to actual curtailments
of our hard-won freedom.
Unless we learn to accept responsi-
bility for the welfare of others, and
place limitations on the exercise of
our liberties, more drastic ones may
be forced upon us.
So let's not talk of how well we
did, or could do again under strike
conditions, but concentrate instead
upon what more we can do to prevent,
such emergencies recurring.
Both employers and employees
need to realize and accept the res-
ponsibility for the inconvenience,
discomfort and actual hardship they
are causing to others. Not "my
rights" but freedom to act within
the limits of the rights of the
general public should be'the accep-
ted criterion. (Contributed)
To the Editor
Sir:
Is Max Saltsman,
(NOP, Waterloo-Cambridge)
serious about amending
the Criminal Code " to
make it an indictable
offence for anyone to
destroy useable food as
a form of pYOtest"? I
have a hard time believ-
ing that he is,
Where was he when
Montreal firemen Went on
strike and let building
after building burn as
a form of protest?
Where Wat he when
egg
ate
rs.
rs.
ogn
nst
Rev
nis
rian
Is s
ret
To
each
rmon
the
day
Carr
r To
Mr,
rn i
d wh
ne y
rent
nada
rout
s pul
roil
ward
fry
Marl
e
atti
to B .
d on
ded
e Mi
esby
.Can
d th
Wes
Lon
lleg
ter
Oy
On
e Pr
St
rth
00
ollo
ado!
mg,
urtl
$t
is,.
1.1 I
nl i
nis
;V.!
urea
ey
ifC
hoe
F61.
t
t
few