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The Citizen, 2003-07-23, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2003. PAGE 5. Other Views Singing the praises of praise I can live for two months on a good compliment. - Mark Twain Pardon me for asking but...has anybody told you how great you look today? I thought not. But don’t think it’s because you don’t look good - you do. You look wonderful. It’s just that not many of us - hell, hardly any of us - take the time or the trouble to spend a few words to acknowledge the obvious and simultaneously lift the spirits of the folks who cross our paths each day Oh. there are the toadies and BS artists who ladle out compliments like Pez pellets. I’m talking about the lickspittle brown nosers so deftly skewered by Billy Crystal’s sycophantic one-liner ‘'YOU LOOK FAAABULOUS!” But that’s not a compliment - that’s baloney. (Not to be confused with Irish blarney. As someone once said: baloney is flattery so thick we know it’s not true. Blarney is flattery so thin we like it.) You don’t have to morph reality or make up fantasies to pay someone a compliment. What’s so hard about telling somebody that you like the tie they’re wearing or that they’re looking trim or just that you’re glad you happen to be sharing the same solar system? Doesn’t cost anyone a cent and it just might turn somebody else’s day around. Ah, but it’s just not in the Canadian character, is it? We’re loners. Introverts. We’re the people who yelp “Sorry!” when a stranger steps on OUR foot. Canucks don’t come easily to the habit of shoveling out of fulsome praise. A pity. A pity Veteran MPPs can be most effective When has a member of the legislature been in the job too long? A Progressive Conservative candidate in the election expected this fall has claimed his Liberal opponent, Jim Bradley, an MPP since 1977, has spent too many years there and needs putting out to pasture. Tory Mark Brickell said, “in many people’s eyes. 26 years is too long.” Brickell did not call his opponent too old. which would have offended seniors and many younger voters. The last politician to do so was punished for it. Annamarie Castrilli was one of two Liberal MPPs disputing who should run when their ridings were merged for the 1999 election. Castrilli claimed she could represent residents better than Monte Kwinter, because she was 48 and he was 66 and would still be an MPP in his doddering 70s. Party members still chose Kwinter. a former consumer minister who went on to win the election, while Castrilli in youthful impetuosity flew off in a huff, ran unsuccessfully for the Tories and has not been heard from since. Bradley also is only 58 and only a year older than Premier Ernie Eves, who will be trying to win his first election leading his party, and no Tory would dare hint the premier is too old. But there also is not much evidence that being around a long time diminishes an MPP’s effectiveness. Some younger MPPs are among the smartest performers. These include Tory Health Minister Tony Clement. 42. now basking in praise for his handling of SARS. and Liberal Michael Bryant, 37. who adds a courtroom lawyer’s aggression and precision to a passion for attacking government. But news media asked to name the most consistently useful performer outside cabinet Arthur Black we couldn’t all be a bit more like, well Ron Miller, for instance. Miller lives in Washington, D. C. and for the past 13 years he’s made it his business to hang out on the street comers just...complimenting people as they stroll by. He’ll smile at a harried businessman and say, “Those are beautiful shoes you’ve got on there.” Or he’ll catch the eye of some brow-beaten, deadline-dodging young sub-secretary and say, “Ma’am, your hair looks just lovely this evening.” But hey, this is Washington, D.C. - crime ridden, junkie-infested and hotbed of sleazy lobbyists, tinhorn politicians and paranoid G- men. Doesn’t Miller get stone-walled, punched out or at least run in for public harassment? Not on your life, he doesn’t. The people in his neighbourhood love the guy. They call him The Compliment Man. The most common reaction he gets, is “Thanks. You made my day!” As a matter of fact, Washingtonians didn’t know just how much they needed Ron Miller until he up and disappeared last month. Vanished. Vamoosed. That was when everybody who loved the Compliment Man suddenly realized that, hey, in any party probably would choose Liberal Gerry Phillips, who has been an MPP 16 years and is 61. Phillips, as financial critic, has repeatedly exposed government waste in spending and one of his strengths is that, far from hurrying home to put on his slippers, he is in his office almost every day of the year plugging his causes. The high regard in which media hold Phillips was shown when Eves’s predecessor as premier, Mike Harris, called him an “asshole” and reporters rushed to defend him as the MPP least deserving this description. The most popular politician in Ontario right now may be the durable mayor of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion, who is 82 and has been a mayor 33 years. McCallion is still so respected on municipal issues the Tories named her to chair their study on smart growth for central Ontario and she will run again in the next municipal election and has determination youth would envy. McCallion was in a recent traffic accident which gave Eves an opportunity to tell a meeting “Hazel is a true phenomenon. A couple of weeks ago she was hit by truck. Hazel is here tonight - the truck is still in the body shop.” Bradley, an environment critic with fewer opportunities than a financial spokesman, nonetheless ranks among the most useful half­ we don’t know where this guy lives, if he’s got a job or a family - we don’t even know his name. One newspaper ran a feature headlined WHERE’S THE COMPLIMENT MAN? Radio stations picked up the story and a Washington TV reporter did a man-on-the- streeter asking locals just how much they missed their daily dose of praise. Fittingly, the story had a happy ending. Turned out Ron Miller hadn’t been kidnapped, hit by a semi or whacked and tossed in a dumpster. He had just headed down to Florida on a whim to stay with relatives. But he missed his old Washington acquaintances as much as they missed him, and after two weeks he moved back north. “When I got back, it was chaos,” says Miller. They all said ‘Compliment Man, you abandoned us!’ but I didn’t. I just took a little break.” Miller is back on his usual beat, saying nice things to people and making them nicer in the process. Who knows? Ron Miller is such a pro he could probably have coaxed a smile onto the blue-black jowls of Washington’s greatest grump, Richard Milhous Nixon. But maybe not. Nixon and compliments were a kind of natural oxymoron. There’s a story about the time when Nixon returned to his cabin at Camp David and announced, “I scored 126.” Henry Kissinger, never one to miss a butt­ kissing opportunity, purred “Congratulations, Mister President! Your golf game is improving.” Nixon glowered at his secretary of state and snapped, “I was bowling!” Did I mention how great you look today? dozen MPPs. He was an environment minister popular with activists from 1985-90 and one, David Suzuki, recently called him the best environment minister in Canada’s history. Bradley has filled in as interim party leader and one mystery is why he never ran for leader, as less able Liberals did, but he is unassuming and down-to-earth and clearly would rather walk with the workers than ride with the bosses. Bradley at times was almost a one-man front bench during the Liberals’ down days, which have been many, and he still is the most vigorous critic in the legislature of the Tories’ practice of spending taxpayers’ money more lavishly than any predecessor on ads that promote their government and party. In recent comments marking his longevity as an MPP, Tory Attorney General Norm Sterling noted Bradley 'still has fire in his belly’ and the Liberal should put that on his election literature. Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your tetters brief and concise. Bonnie Gropp The short of it We’re falling short If there’s one thing 1 can say about being an adult, it’s that you’re never bored. There’s always a job to be done. And any time you can be found sitting still, staring off into space, it is quite likely by design. When there always seems to be too much to do, there’s no greater pleasure than taking some time to do nothing. Little ones too find ways to fill their days. The younger the child, the newer the world, with every discovery a surprise. But for young adolescents, boredom can be a dangerous state. This is particularly true in the summer months, when days and evenings stretch before them. It was a different world when I grew up. When the end of June arrived, the summer before me seemed endless. Yet in no time the weeks were filled with swimming, visits to my country cousin who then returned the favour, holidaying with other nearby relatives or friends and then the highlight - the annual lakeside vacation. As I hit my mid-teens the advantage of growing up in a town offered opportunities for employment in the day and early evenings, while the pool, the drive-in and dances presented themselves as diversions on long, hot nights. These days, there are no drop-in centres, no picture shows to waste away a few hours on a long, summer night. Sports is a worthwhile pursuit, but there are only so many games to be played. And for those who may not be gifted with competitiveness or ability, tney can be a frustrating experience. Making the tedium of au unbroken string of lazy nights worse is that for many young people in our small villages, they are simply a repetition of their days. While there are those who find employment, there are also the ones wno for various reasons do not. There are limited jobs for young teens particularly within cycling distance. The resourceful find a way, but unfortunately there are many more who lack the maturity, drive and initiative that job hunting can require. Also, with both parents in each household often working full-time it creates an even greater challenge to making sure the days of idle youth are filled. And so, we typically see 13, 14 and 15-year- olds clustered together downtown. It is the social break in a routine day, one which for the majority amounts to little more than conversation and killing time. But there are those whose boundless energy is channeled into mindless, destructive paths. For some mischief and vandalism amuse. Their acts create a stir which feeds the frustration and adolescent turmoil. However, I maintain the majority act not with maliciousness but spontaneity. Youth is impulsive, exuberant and of course, immature, ironically the same attributes that make them so wonderfully full of life. However on a boring, hot summer night, they can be a destructive combination. Small town Huron County may be a great place to live. But when I look at the entertainment available for young people, I don’t believe that the municipalities are doing enough. Money spent on developing and implementing programs geared to young teens is not money wasted. It’s an investment into the future. Most parents work hard at raising good kids. But these days they say it takes a village. If that’s the case I’d say the villages are falling short.