The Times-Advocate, 2002-10-30, Page 4Every week I edit the police briefs which frequently
contain admonitions to ‘Buckle your seatbelt’ and ‘Drive
carefully’.
Police statistics show 75 per cent of people ejected
from their vehicle die.
Why doesn’t that information have a bigger impact?
Why is it that, despite repeated warnings, some people
just don’t get it?
Take ‘Buckle your seatbelt’.
Statistics again show those wearing seatbelts reduce
their risk of fatal injury by 45 per cent.
Although most people do buckle up, police officers
find the worst offenders are teenage men followed
closely by senior men driving pickup trucks in rural
areas.
Does it make one macho? Or dead?
Like the 39-year-old husband of a friend from
Kincardine.
He didn’t buckle up, was thrown from his car
and now his wife’s a widow.
Does the concept of cause and effect not mean
anything?
In the good old days, kids grew up playing out-
side all day.
If we got hurt or broke a bone, there were no
lawsuits from these accidents. They were just
accidents. There was no one to blame but our-
selves.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were
expected. There was no one to hide behind. If we got in
trouble, parents actually sided with the law and would-
n’t think of bailing us out.
Now we’ve forgotten the concept of personal respon-
sibility.
Like the woman who spilled hot coffee on her lap and
sued McDonald’s or the woman suing fast food restau-
rants for serving high-fat foods.
Why should we blame someone else for our own
actions?
All of us have been told to ‘Eat your vegetables’ ‘Quit
smoking’ and ‘Your body is your temple’.
No one but you puts food or a cigarette in your
mouth.
Maybe personal responsibility is a hard lesson, but
isn’t it necessary?
Isn’t it time to acknowledge the concept of self-care?
Our own physical, mental, spiritual and
social health is up to us.
No one else is going to look out for you.
I’ve learned no one’s going to stand up for
me unless I do it myself.
It’s my job to eat right, exercise, do up my
seatbelt.
Personal responsibility gives me the ability
to ask for what I need and what’s best for me,
not necessarily what I’d like.
I’ve never smoked, and have virtually elimi-
nated chocolate, high sugar and fat from my
diet. I bike as often as I can.
Learning responsibility teaches us to be
healthy problem-solvers, ready to create, invent and
take smart risks, not to ignore the warnings sent to help
us live longer.
Take care of yourself. You deserve it.
4 Wednesday, October 30, 2002Exeter Times–Advocate
Editorial&Opinion
Jim Beckett
Publisher and Editor
Don Smith Deb Lord
General Manager Production Manager
Published by Metroland Printing,
Publishing & Distributing Ltd.
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SANDRA
FORSTER
SANDRA
SPEAKS OUT
Where did personal responsibility go?
This is the time of year when the sun sets
early and the leaves rustle in a colourful
swirl around your feet. There is a hint of
frost in the air, and the crisp scent of apples and
wood smoke.
Front lawns sprout pumpkins and corn stalks as if by
magic. Here and there, one can see the whimsical figure
of a witch plastered against a hydro pole. And the stores
are filled with candies and treats packaged in orange
and black for handing out to tiny trick-or-treaters
Halloween night.
Halloween once had a religious significance. In pre-
Christian times, it was one of the in-between times,
when summer had gone but winter had not yet set in,
when the dividing line between the spirit world and our
own was especially thin. Spirits roamed the earth on All
Hallows Eve, and candles burned in hollowed-out veg-
etables to ward off evil.
Sometimes high-spirited young folk dressed in cos-
tumes and went from door to door, playing pranks and
asking for treats.
In a way it was poking fun at the terrifying hardships
of winter, like pulling the tail of a vicious dog. To con-
quer your fears, you must face them. In ancient times
the people knew all too well that winter meant cold,
starvation and death. At Halloween, the last leaves had
fallen, the harvest was in, and all that remained was to
wait for the snow to fall and the world to freeze. A show
of confidence - a plea to the gods and later to God - that
the freeze would end, was definitely in order.
The religious significance of the night has faded into
history, leaving only the pranks and fun and special
treats. Little ones dressed as favourite cartoon charac-
ters go from house to house, holding out pillow cases for
candy and chips, chanting “trick or treat” while dad or
an older sibling stands in the background.
Some of the tricks played on Halloween are neither
witty nor fun, and many parents choose to accompany
smaller children on their rounds to protect them from
larger children bent on stealing candy, vandalizing
church yards, setting fires and doing damage.
Even worse, there are adult predators on the prowl in
every city and the occasional small town, ready to target
the many children out and about after dark.
Children must be taught to be careful which houses
they visit, to watch out when crossing streets, and to
stay in neighbourhoods they know. They are taught
never to go inside anyone’s home for the promise of a
special treat. And they are instructed to handle all their
goodies with extra care.
An caramel apple was once a prized treat for little
Halloween goblins but there were instances where for-
eign objects were hidden inside the fruit.
Any candy sealed in a package is deemed safe, but
not if the wrapping appears to be torn or tampered with
in any way. The most popular are small packets of chips
and candy bars. All the extra wrapping may be an envi-
ronmental nightmare, but the children have been taught
two or three layers of plastic means the product inside is
safe to eat.
It seems a shame that our children have to be taught
to look on home-made fudge or a caramel apple as a
potential ticking bomb, that young children have to be
escorted around the streets of their own community by
wary adults, and that some children are not allowed to
go trick-or-treating.
However, it is part of the reality of our culture, just as
burning candles in hollowed out turnips or pumpkins
was part of an ancient reality.
May all the little ghosts, goblins, princesses, ghouls,
witches, vampire slayers and Batmen have a safe and
fun Halloween. May all the goodies in their treat bags be
triple-wrapped, hermetically-sealed candy bars, chips
and licorice sticks. And may every decent person in our
community watch carefully over the little ones who will
be out and about on our streets Thursday night.
Take care - trick or treat
time has arrived