The Citizen, 1992-02-12, Page 7THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12,1992. PAGE 7.
The Other Side
By Keith Roulston
Lazing around,
watching others
strain themselves
I must admit I caught Olympic
disease on the weekend- that's the
disease where millions of people
laze on the couch for hours and
watch other people strain them
selves to the limit of human
endurance.
I sat there Sunday and watched
women race 15 km in 42 minutes in
the thin mountain air 4000 feet
above sea level. The commentator
talked about the terrible pain exer
tion brings at that level. I knew the
feeling. It hurt me even to think
about it, let alone get up off the
couch and do something like brush
my teeth.
Every four years we get
enthralled with the Olympics.
Maybe it's just that it's an excuse to
sit around and be lazy. After all, the
argument goes, this only happens
once every four years so we’d bet
ter sit down and watch. And if it
keeps us from vacuuming the rug
or changing the furnace filters...
well you can't work all the time can
you.
Then there's the real-life drama
being played out before your very
eyes. No soap opera, no prime time
drama, can match the emotional
punch you see right before your
eyes. Watch a figure skater who
has practiced hours a day for years,
miss a simple jump in their once-
in-a-lifetime Olympic chance, and
you can't help feel the heartbreak.
Watch someone persevere through
a long, painful, perhaps even dan
gerous, event and win, and you
only wish you could experience the
sheer joy they must be feeling.
The Olympics takes the glory of
victory and the tragedy of defeat
that one might experience in a life
time, and concentrates it into a few
precious moments. Pure human
emotion is on display in living
colour for us all to see.
But while the best of what is
human is on display, the determina
tion, the strength of character, the
spirit, the comradeship, so too are
some of the foibles, and downright
bad things about humans. What is it
about humans, for instance, that
must take everything to extremes.
You look at the events of the Win
ter Olympics and you can see the
childhood games these high-priced
sports started from. Luge and the
bob sled are really just a super-seri
ous version of sliding down a hill
on a sled. Only today we must have
a icy tunnel of a slide, and the ice
must be so perfect that we put in an
artificial ice-plant, and the runners
of the sleds must be so perfectly
honed that teams employ techni
cians who do nothing but polish the
Klopp says NDP faced
50 years of expectations
You can’t pick when you get
elected, Huron M.P.P. Paul Klopp
told the annual meeting of the
Huron New Democratic Party
Association in Clinton Thursday
night.
There were 50 years of expecta
tions on the NDP when it came to
power in Sept. 1990, Mr. Klopp
told the 25 people at the meeting
but the economy meant that many
of the things the party wanted to do
couldn't be carried out. "we figured
we needed to spend $3 billion more
than we were taking in (to do the
things they felt necessary)" he said.
Then came surprises like the
money owed on the SkyDome and
the growing deficit and although
the province ended up budgeting a
$9 billion deficit, only a little over
$1 billion was on new initiatives.
Economists argued the government
didn't have to spend to stimulate
the economy last spring but history
showed the government was right,
he said. Pointing to recent argu
ments from the president of the
Bank of Montreal that the federal
and provincial governments should
spend on things like roads and
bridges to stimulate the economy
Mr. Klopp joked "When the Bank
of Montreal starts agreeing with an
NDP government, it’s kind of
scary."
While money should be spent on
infrastructure like roads and long
term needs, the everyday costs of
the government's doing business
must be run as efficiently as possi
ble, he said.
Agriculture is a cornerstone of
the NDP plan for Ontario, he said
and predicted there will be a couple
of new initiatives in the provincial
budget.
In an election at the meeting,
Gloria Workman was named presi
dent, replacing Valerie Bolton.
Ross Hemingway is vice-president.
Brent Boyer is secretary; Fran
McQuail, treasurer; Paul Spittai,
membership secretary; Paul Ross,
council delegate; Gwen Richard
son, council alternate. Members at
large are Heather Klopp, Jerry
McDonnell, Brenda Cathers and
Margaret Mennell.
runners and the riders wear special
aerodynamic suits that make them
look like something out of a B sci
ence fiction movie.
Cross country-skiing a dozen
years ago, was hailed as the new
participation sport of Canada. It
was much cheaper than down-hill
skiing and anybody could take part.
But I read the other day that Cana
dian ski officials are worried that
top flight competition may be
beyond the price range of many
athletes soon unless our govern
ment gives more aid. Seems skis
and boots for top cross-country rac
ers are actually more expensive
than downhill racers' and the spe
cial new waxes a racer must have
to be competitive are so expensive,
they were compared to having a
cocaine habit.
And of course in the country of
Ben Johnston, we all know how far
athletes are prepared to go these
days to win and collect the millions
that go with being a champion.
One of the things I'd like to see
in the new "world order" would be
getting the games back to what they
were intended to be: the games of
individual accomplishment. I must
admit a sense of pride when I see a
Canadian do well, but wouldn’t we
be better off without the flags? In
their attempts to prove the superior
ity of their systems, eastern Euro
pean Communists had become
factories manufacturing stop ath
letes, even if it took drugs to do it.
Now that those regimes have self-
destructed, couldn't it be hoped that
the need to glorify a country by
winning in sport could end too?
Couldn't we forget government
funding and let people go back to
being athletes on a part-time basis
as was the original intent of the
Olympics? In the end, wouldn't the
thrill of victory be even more
rewarding to the person who did it
on his or her own, instead of being
the latest product of human engi
neering?
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26% of Huron deaths from
heart disease, Heart,
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Twenty-six per cent of all deaths
in Huron County are due to
ischemic heart disease, the Huron
County Health Unit says. That fig
ure gives new emphasis to the dec
laration of February as Heart
Month in the county.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is
the leading cause of death and dis
ability in Canada the Health Unit
says.
Heart disease has often been
referred to as lifestyle disease. Evi
dence indicates that by reducing
risk behaviors, such as smoking,
poor eating habits and lack of phys
ical activity, the risk of developing
cardiovascular disease is reduced.
Smoking, which is the major risk
factor for heart disease, is also one
of the most preventable causes of
heart disease. Research shows that
coronary heart disease accounts for
18,000 deaths each year, 6,000 of
which are attributed to tobacco use.
Maintaining a healthy body
weight can also help keep your
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heart healthy. Excess body weight
forces your heart to work harder. A
combination of increased physical
activity and healthy eating habits is
necessary to achieve and maintain a
healthy weight loss.
In recognition of Heart Month,
consider making some heart
healthy lifestyle choices - for your
own peace of well-being. For more
information concerning heart
healthy lifestyle choices, call
Heather Hoover at the Huron
County Health Unit (482-3416 or
1-800-265-5184) or talk to the Pub
lic Health Nurse in your area.
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