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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1983-03-30, Page 4r -- What kind of physical cooditidn are you • in? Do you overtax the old bed just treking to the fridge during 'commercials? When the little woman begins talking. about your weekend projects, do you tire just, listening to her itemize the work program? Do- you get fatigued just carrying your briefcase to the office and hurrledlyseek the comfort of the easy chair behind the desk? Does the old ticker tend to thump spasmodically just from looking at your secretary rather chasing .her around the desk? Don't despair, your physical condition, or rather severe lack thereof, is typicals.for office workers. In fact,office work has had a compelling habit of creating millions of sedentaryslobs. People just don't get the exercise their bodies require. The midsection tends to bulge . - un- controllably around age -30, the hair begins to thin, taut muscles now have a tendency to sag and exercise has been reduced to driving the kid to the rink oti Saturday and chasingdown a beer between, periods.. Does that kind of sum lip your lifestyle lately? Well, you re not alone. While many office workers are outof shape physically, they often tend to have a low boredom threshold. Mach time is wasted when employees engage in mindless office games such as waste paper basket- ball. asketball. We've all done it. Admit it. The favorite past tune in editorialusedto be basketball games played with _ waste baskets and tennisbalis..Occasionally, the odd hockey garne would develop on a slow news day. Well, 'it seems' that many office workers across North America. thrive on such frivilous activity to get .them through the rigors of the work day. Recently in a Chicago, an enterprising office worker held the First Annual Office Olympics, a showcase for the unfit and unhealthy office work . Wllike .riot, to imply that: all office workers at e.. p ysically incapable of caring for themselves oats a daily basest the theladielioento were graduates -o the EdAim school of MOSS_ The liist of competitors included bosses as Well . as Proletariat and several injuries were. reported during the competition including coffee cup 'burns and Paper .basketball ar- thritis. But, considering the olympic events were held in a hotel, the Vic Tanny's of the office set, a few beer tended to miraculoulsy mend the injuries. The olympic events included the coffee cupcarry in which competitors had to carry three cups of hot coffee 25 feet without spilling a drop. The winner completed the event ins* seconds, The speedswivel' chair spin was won by an office worker who got 24 revolutions in. 30 seconds. from; his office chair. No-one was silting in: the chair at the time of the spin-off. the hat eek toss each .ecnnpetitor d seven toles, seat: a rack 10 feet aw, and. h„ lei. winnerproda d,#Xerinern. The. la 'airplane flyt►:olvedh ng the hoae, with a paper airplane from varying distances. The. winner had three hits in five attempts. The, fiinal competition was waste paper ` basketball and, the .record holder hit the basket on nine of '13 tries., Success in this competition naturally hinged on the con- - struetion of the ball, After reviewing the office. olympic events I would' have to modestly conclude that 1 would make a rather competitive con- testant. To suggest I could win such a competition, is not out of the realm of possibilities. I have honed my knack over the years for avoiding work at your favorite weekly and - the events in the olympics could be con- sidered minor league stuff to this correspondent. I play games at work people haven't even invented. *CNA BLUE RIBBON AWARD Second clasp: mail registration number 0716 SINCE 1848 THE NEWS PORT FOR GODERICH & DISTRICT Founded in 1848 and published every Wednesday at Cioderich, Ontario. Member of this CCNA and OWNA. *dyer. Using rates on request. Subscriptions payable In advance '19.90 in Canada. '30.00 to U.S.A., 10.00 to all other count - * tries, single copies 50c. Display advertising rates available on request. Please ask for Rate Card No.13 effective Oc- tober 1 , 1902. Second class mall Registration Number 0716. Advertising Is accepted an the condition that in the_ event of typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous Mem: together with reasonable allowance for signature. will, not be charged for but that balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the ap- plicable rate. In the event of a typographical error advertising goods or services et a wrong price. goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell, and may be withdrawn et any time. The Signal -Star Is not responsible for the Toss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts. photos or other materials used for reproducing pur- poses. PUBLISHED BY: SIGNAL -STAR PUBLISHING LIMITED ROBERT G. SHRIER-President and Publisher DONALD M. HUBICK-Advertising Manager DAVID SYKES-Editor P.O. BOX 220, HUCKINS ST. INDUSTRIAL PARK GODERICH N7A 4B6 FOR BUSINESS OR EDITORIAL OFFICES please phone (519) 524-8331 A tough decision A British Columbia judge was faced last week with what surely must have been the most painful decision of his career. He finally ordered that young Stephen Dawson ": undergo an operation to prolong the Child's life. - The case arose when it became apparent that the child would die unless surgery was performed. His parents refused their permission on the grounds that he should be allowed to die, since continued life as a blind, retarded and physically handicapped person. in constant pain promised only an agonizing future. There was no reported evidence that the parents were anything but deeply loving in their relationship with the boy. The British Columbia -Children's Aid . Society, however; was prepared to fight the case to the highest court in their belief that no parent should have the right to deny life to a child. The moral issue involved in this complex case is, in itself, an agonizing one, as the judge demonstrated when he begged the boy's parents to make the decision them - The law an The big news in the farming community recently was the hunger strike undertaken in the Stratford jail by the president of the farm survival group, Mr. Wilford) The man vowed to starve himself to death, if necessary, to ensure that the Canadian parliament would enact legislation to prevent foreclosure by the banks on the pro- perties of bankrupt farmers. With all thesympathy in the world for farmers who have found themselves in serious financial difficulty, we do not agree than any laws of the land should be forced through parliament with a human death as an alternative. The fact that it was his own life which he threatened makes absolutely no difference. A human life is still a life, whether it was that of Wilford or that of a hostage. selves. The techniques of modern medicine have completely changed the values by which we must make decisions about human life.; Just a few years ago the question would not have arisen because the operation may .not have been possible with available medicaltechnology. The child's death would simply have been accepted as • God's will. However, today we must decide ,whether God is the arbiter or the judge and the surgeons are the ones to decide. In this precedent setting case, the judge decided the operation must be performed, so that Stephen will live. Only time and our medical knowledge and abilities will tell what the quality of his life will be. Certainly none of us would willingly have taken the judge's position as he wrestled with the decision to prolong the life of another human being. Hopefully none of us will ever have to be placed in such a position. life If such violent tactics are perceivedto be successful there might be no end to the pattern; every group which feltitself to..be the victim of government neglect might attempt the smile tactics as Wilford. Mr. Wilford did, of course, succeed in drawing lots of attention to the plight of bankrupt farmers everywhere. The town of Listowel was overflowing with city newspaper and television reporters and cameramen. Whether or not all this media attention will eventually prove beneficial to farmers generally is another matter for debate. It has, at least served to provide adequate warnings to the banks to be very careful in future about '??ending credit for farm operators. (Wingham Advance - Times ) DEAR READERS SHIRLEY KELLER My blood pressure soared Friday morning as I sat reading The London Free Press while I was eating my half grapefruit - unsweetened. What unmitigated gall, I thought, as the faces'of two young Londoners peered back at me. There they were - she, 17 years old and six months pregnant; he, 18 years old and about to be a father. They were unemployed and unwed, and while I admit their job status and their marital status aren't related to each other, they are relevent to the pitiful story -in which they are the principle players. Seems as though he 'had a job until a few months ago at a fast food place. He was fired, he said, because in the 16 weeks he had worked there,, he, had been late a couple of times. No big deal. 'What the heck? Employers should un- derstand that kind of thing happens from time to time. Probably had car trouble .... or a bit of nausea. I suppose he hadn't worked long enough to claim unemployment insurance benefits. Now that's a bummer. Rotten luck. I'd say, what with the baby on the way and all. But as the story pointed out sb well, he's a gutsy sort of guy. Notonly is he accepting responsibilty for his pregnant common-law wife and their unborn child, he is actively searching for help. Already he's been to the welfare agencies and some of the churches in London for assistance. And he's applied for work, of course, but the job market is pretty tough for a guy ke withouthim. any special training, even a gutsy guy. li4 But you've got to give him a "A" for initiative. He placed an ad in The London Free Press reaming: "Is there anyone who cares? Young couple desperately needs help - maternity clothes, baby clothes, food.", The response hasn't been all that bad either. They got 11 telephone calls from people who were ready to help. And they got almost half the front page in The London Free Press on Friday under the headline: "Churches, welfare officers hit for refusing couple aid". Doubtless they'll get all thehelp they need now, from people eager to prove that church supporters and welfare of- ficers are a bunch of santimonious hypocrites. o My quarrel isn't with the kids. Obvrodfisly they believe the world owes them a living. Right now they are putting their trust in the motto on a little plaque on their apartment wall which reads: "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." It isn't their fault they are old enough to produce a child and too young to comprehend that they are themselves still children. Society's full of people - some of them not so young as these - who fully expect others to pay, and keep on paying, for their bad luck and mistaken jud'gernent. My quarrel isn't with the churches either. 1 had a chat last weekend with one London cleric who told me that a full 30 percent of his congregation ' is unemployed ... and that his members have their hands full just looking after the folks in their own parish who need support in this period. I suspect the welfare agencies are lined with people down in their luck and seeking a handout. It's not nearly so degrading these days to depend on welfare for support - that's probably because provincial and federal governments have 'provided so handsomely for so many of our basic needs, in good times and in bad. •And when you get right down to it, I believe that help should be available to .deserving Canadians who reallydo need some financial • shoring up. I wouldn't even argue that these two youngsters are undeserving of public assistance. I just don't know. But I. get livid with indignation when the media - in this case The London Free Press - uses this kind of a story to smear innocent members of society, whether they be church members who fail to attain Christian perfection, or taxpayers who fail to adequately fund all the welfare programs it would take to finance every kind of self-inflicted misery, or the men and women with jobs who fail to share all they work so hard to 'attain with the have-nots of the community. In my opinion, it is unmitigated gall to so blatantly'support these two young people in their. idea that they are above reproach and anyone who doesn't dig deep to help them out is some kind of low life form not worthy to be called anything decent. But I shouldn't be surprised. It has 'ever been thus. This weekend it's Easter, and I remember the story of a man who gave all He had, even His life, for a world of ungrateful people. And while He hung suffering untold •pain and agony, the very passersby whose forgiveness He earned, shouted ,. obscenities at Him and spit on him, made jokes about Him and gambled for his clothes. His response was perfection. He cried, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." This is about little boxes with labels, but let me begin with the arrival of the season's first boat in Goderich Harbour. Seeing Captain Soovere's picture on the front page made me think of the chats we had during receptions on similar occasions in the past. Captain Soovere and I conversed in English, as that was the language un- derstood by the majority of the persons present, but we always exchanged some little comment in Estonian, after discovering that we were both born in that distant little country before it became part of the Soviet Union during the war. Some of us were able to leave in time and eventually made our way to other shores, created other homes ftpd accepted the respon- sibilities of new loyalties. The stories of most Canadians are variations on the theme - either their own experiences or how their ancestors arrived on this continent. There is nothing remarkable about having been born In • Estonia - or China, Montreal, Goderich or a native reserve. It is an event beyond one's control and contribution: However;' it seems to be an excuse for little boxes with labels' into which we are officially and publicly and increasingly divided. Ethnic and other boxes. While the French and the English appear in a perpetual huff and linguistic and cultural apartheid is more and more promoted, the remaining one third of the population squeals "Me too, me too" and the boxes are officially convenient for keeping everybody busily in place. They are also ridiculous. The French would say°that since I am not a francophone I must be an anglophone. The English, upon hearing my accent, would be politely most astonished. The members of the third category - the hyphenated ethnics - would say that yes, I may play with them, but there is a difficulty with the toys. Since I am not ,of a "visible minority", would I agree that I am invisible? If not, perhaps for people like myself and Captain Soovere who speak several languages, but all of them with an accent, there should be a new category created - the audible minority. It becomes even more obvious how ridiculous such divisions are, if one takesit one step further. If a Polish -Canadian marries a Chinese -Canadian and their son marries the daughter of a French-Canadian and Japanese -Canadian couple - what of their offspring?- The hyphen has to stop somewhere and the labelled box must fall apart at some point. No doubt it sounds corny and simplistic, but people like' Captain Soovere and I came here to be simply Canadians among other Canadians here and now. Forever dwelling on who outfought or outwitted whom in battles in the distant history or how to get even for perceived or real grievances of the past keeps all of us from living fully in the present reality of natural equality, and respect. We are here now - is it really im- portant who was here first? A language is a means of communication. Any language can be learned and every language is learned; no child•will ever burst automatically into a song in a certain language at a certain age. 1 am glad that I learned English; I can communicate with you now. I am glad that I learned German because_readingRilke's poems enriches my life. Culture is universal; it is acquainting oneself with the best that has been known, said, written, painted, composel or built in the world. Culture is not pea soup or perogi. Tribalism under apy other name is still tribalism, even if it has the sanction of of- ficial encouragement under a more at- tractive label. It would be to our advantage to cultivate and celebrate the things which bind us in our, common, individual humanity. I for one refuse to dwell in a separate little box with a label on it. ELBA HAYDON 4