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The Citizen, 2000-03-15, Page 5^Arthur Black THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2000. PAGE 5. The Siesta time - do not disturb Canada isn’t the only country that’s being homogenized these days. There are 14 nations in Europe that are undergoing the same process, melding themselves into one oleaginous mass called the European Union. Depending on your point of view, it’s an idea whose time has come; or a juggernaut that can’t be stopped. Consider the might the European Union has displayed already. It has forced Germany to give up its beloved deutchmark. It has made the English produce a sausage that is actually edible. Hell, it’s convinced the fractious French to sign a binding agreement with non-French nations - that in itself is a miracle. The European Union is a powerhouse alright. It has transformed the face of Europe as we know it. It seems unstoppable - but by God, when they take on the Spanish siesta, they go too far. Spaniards have been treating themselves to long sensual mid-day breaks for centuries. Which doesn’t exactly jibe with their new Euro partners - those hard-working Belgians, Swedes and Austrians who get by with a half hour for lunch and a couple of short coffee breaks. Weil, I know which tradition is barbaric - and it’s not the Spanish one. The siesta is, in my humble opinion, the Lo, how the mighty have fallen! There was a time when Helmut Kohl was considered to be the most prominent politician in all of Europe and certainly one of the best known in all the world. After all, it was he who brought about the reunification of the two Germanies. It was he who played an integral part in establishing the euro as the new international currency of Western Europe. And it was he who, almost single-handedly brought Germany in the forefront of the modem world. That was yesterday or else it seems like yesterday. Never mind that Kohl and his Christian Democrat party lost the last national election in his country to Gerhard Schroeder and the Social Democrats. His place in history was assured and he could enjoy his retirement years among the ranks of the senior statesmen of the continent with all the prestige that goes with it. So he thought or hoped. All that lies in tatters now. As some readers already know, Kohl has been forced to admit that he took for his party’s use illegal contributions in the millions of dollars. He has been forced to resign in humiliation. While all this is the height of dishonour, he refuses to reveal the names of those who gave him the donations, saying that such a revelation would not be honourable. Like a stack of dominoes, the next one to fall was Wolfgang Schaeuble, the newly-appointed party leader, hand-picked by Helmut Kohl himself. Schaeuble’s credibility had already been shaken by his 25-year association with Kohl but the end came for him, too, when he was forced to admit that he had accepted an greatest gift the Spanish have given the world. Each working day in Spain, at precisely 2 p.m., work ... stops. Banks close, gas stations shut off the pumps, bricklayers drop their trowels, painters put down their brushes, office workers turn off their computers and matadors hang up their capes. It’s siesta time, and no work will be done until 5 p.m. Do Spaniards simply sleep the siesta away? Some do - but more often they go to their homes, have a leisurely lunch, play with the children, read a book, drink some vino, make love to their spouses - in a word, they live. And the European Union nabobs would like to change all that. They want to deep-six the siesta. Why? Because it’s inefficient, of course. All those people at home enjoying themselves when they could be hard at work? Sacrilegious. What the enemies of the siesta don’t acknowledge is the fact that Spaniards work as many hours as any other Europeans do. They come back to work at 5 p.m. and stay on the job until 8:30 in the evening. They still put in an eight-hour workday. They just do it in two manageable chunks rather than one backbreaking stretch. Sad to say, the anti-siesta-ites are gaining ground. There was a time when most of Latin America observed the daily siesta, but no more. In Rio de Janeiro, Bogota and Buenos Aires the normal work day runs from 9 to 5, five days a week. By Raymond Canon $80,000 donation from a shady arms dealer named Karlheinz Schreiber. Some readers might sit up and admit that this name rings a bell and they would be right. This is, after all, the same Karlheinz Schreiber, who was reported involved with our former prime minister Brian Mulroney in alleged bribes to have Air Canada buy Airbus jets. There appears to be no validity in this allegation in spite of the Chretien government’s attempts to tar and feather Mr. Mulroney but Mr. Schaeuble probably wishes he could have got off as lightly as Mr. Mulroney did. The next domino in the German scandal was another party leader Roland Koch who was considered a front runner until he too became involved in another financial scandal and was forced to admit that he had lied about a one million dollar illegal donation. The Party is fast running out of people who are still politically clean and who might be considered capable of leading the party. To a degree all this might be compared to the fall of the federal Progressive Conservatives in Canada but our situation did not involve any large scale corruption but rather a voter antipathy toward the type of government that Mr. Mulroney represented. Right now the ruling Social Democrats who have not provided Germany with really first- rate government since their recent election, find themselves like the Liberals in Canada with a fragmented opposition and at a time when both countries could benefit from an opposition party on its toes. It is, however, sad to see such a political icon as Helmut Kohl reduced to a non-entity as a result of his abuse of the very laws on political contributions that his own government laid down. Small wonder that people become rather And last spring, Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo flat-out cancelled the siesta, by passing a law that requires all Mexican government officials to be at their desks from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. The irony is, the siesta is in danger at a time when North American business gurus are extolling the virtues of Power Naps, meditation and a whole host of mid-day breaks from the workplace. So is it doomed? I doubt it. Efficiency experts have been trying to outlaw the Spanish siesta for ages - Ernest Hemingway wrote about anti-siesta campaigns 70 years ago. It didn’t work then and I doubt it will work now. It’s a brave soul who gets between a Spaniard and his siesta - as construction contractors working on new buildings in the town of Plasencia learned last year. The citizens were so concerned about construction noise interfering with their siesta that the mayor of Plasencia actually issued a decree calling for silence between 3 and 5 p.m. Well, he’s got my vote. And I fervently hope that the siesta survives. The world has enough baggy-eyed, junk­ food gobbling, hom-honking, ulcer-cultivating nine-to-five working stiffs. We need to be reminded that work is just a part of life - not the whole enchilada. Viva la siesta! I’m not sure exactly what the word ‘siesta’ means, but I like to think it translates as “What’s your hurry?” cynical about politicians. It makes it all the harder for the good ones. Letters THE EDITOR, Ron Gray, the Leader of Canada’s Christian Heritage Party, will be visiting this area on March 29 and 30. It is believed there will be a federal election this year or next, and the Party intends to be prepared. Many people believe that religion and politics don’t mix, but isn’t your religion the manifestation of who you really are? And what you believe? And shouldn’t who you are and what you believe in, also be reflected in your vote? The CHP is calling us back to the principles and values this country was founded upon. Their written policies cover a wide variety of election issues, but all are based on principles drawn from Judeo Christian scriptures. Party Leader and and guest speaker. Gray, will be addressing the annual meeting of the Huron-Bruce CHP Riding Association following their dinner on Wednesday, March 29 at 7 p.m. at the Christian Reformed Church Fellowship Hall in Clinton. Dinner tickets are $ 15, or join after dinner, no charge. He will also be a guest on The Talk Show Thursday, March 30 on CKNX AM 920 radio. Gray welcomes the opportunity to meet the constituents of Huron-Bruce and surrounding area, through those two open forums. To reserve dinner tickets or for more information call Mary Ann at 887-6877 or Jean at 395- 5658. Christian Heritage Party Huron-Bruce Riding Short of it By Bonnie Gropp Liv ing good The idea of living a long and healthy life I find enticing. I’m enjoying myself here, generally, and if there’s something I can do to prolong it, while maintaining the quality I’d be open to it. That said, I must admit to a certain cautious skepticism with regards to alternative medicine. Is it everything it professes to be or at best a mind over matter cure, at worst a money grab? Perhaps, my mind is narrower than I've always thought, but there are certain claims to which I can only say “Pfft”. For instance, I cannot believe that someone looking at my irises can determine what my health problems are. Nor can I buy the premise of therapeutic touch. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, essentially it’s passing the hands over the body. Sorry, but while I have read about someone capable of curing in this way, I don’t think he’s walking among us now. Certainly, there are those things which have broken through my reserves, concepts that almost seem to make sense. For example, I bought into reflexology and chiropractic, but with no significant improvements through either, after relatively long periods of time, I feel that perhaps I am just not a receptive patient. I still think they have merit, but not, perhaps for everything they claim. But even if something did happen to make me a convert, I would have to admit that I can’t afford to pursue good health in this manner. Though there are generally no benefits, no coverage, people sink a fortune into herbal remedies, therapies and lengthy treatments. For $35 I could have an iridologist look at my eyes, then after telling me what I need, spend a small fortune to get it. For $25 someone could study my blood and watching how the little corpuscles are swimming along, determine what if anything is wrong with me. Then for just a few bucks I can cleanse my colon and begin a regimen of herbs and potions to fix me from the inside out. And all of this so that I may live longer and better than I would have otherwise. The thing is, I don’t know what otherwise is. Perhaps if I was certain. But how, if as fanatics insist these alternatives are the answer, do you explain Doug Henning and George Bums. The former was a magician who practiced transcendental meditation, and ate nothing but organic food. He died recently at the age of 52 of liver cancer. The latter, as everyone knows lived more than a century, smoking cigars, enjoying young women, and fine food and liquor. They both, it could be argued, lived the good life, one of serenity and nature, the other just living. Yet, to the purveyors of ultimate health, perhaps their longevity should have been reversed. Or is it that Henning would have lived an even shorter time had he not led a clean life? None of us know what’s in store, but I’ve always tried to live by two simple adages; If it hurts when you do that, don’t do that. And if it feels good, do it. It feels good to exercise, to eat leafy greens and cut down on fat. But, quite frankly I’d have to say that spending money on unknowns definitely hurts a bit.