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The Huron Expositor, 1984-10-03, Page 2OPINION Huron ositor SINCE 1860, SERVING THE COMMUNITY FIRST A Incorporating russds Post 10 Main Street 527-0240 Published in SEAFORTH, ONTARIO Every Wednesday morning JOCELYN A. SHRIEK, Publisher RON WASSINK, Editor JANET L. MacDONALD, Advertising Manager Member Canadian Community Newspaper Assoc (Ontario Community Newspaper Association Ontario Press Council Commonwealth Press Union International Press Institute Subscription rates: Canada $18.75 a year (in advance) Outside Canada $55.00 a year (in advance) Single Copies - 50 cents each SEAFORTH, ON TARSO, WEDNESDAY, OCTO;iER 3, 1984 Second class mall registratkon Number 0696 on't need publicity Much has been said in the last few days concerning a ruckus on Main Street, Seaforth, the actions of police and dances held in town. Unfortunately, it's turned into a situation where you're damned if you do and damned If you don't. Citizens condemned police for breaking up a skirmish which they say never happened. Eye witnesses say all they saw was a group of people (about 100) standing around. There was no fight, no brawl, or for that matter anything wrong, they say. Nothing more than a ruckus occurred because the situation was broken up. Had a'n all out and out brawl started, then police would have been condemned for not doing something soon enough. But all that's past. What was out of the ordinary was 100 people standing around at 2 or 3:00 in the morning. It did cause some tense moments. . Let's hope the situation has been resolved. It's the kind of publicity Seaforth doesn't need. - R.W. Deliver promises All signs are pointing In the same direction. The federal Conservative government of Brian Mulroney may be no different than governments of the past. Half of the Canadian voters voted for the—Progressive Conservatives. Some voted for the party, others voted against the Liberals and the rest voted for a change. Taxpayers were fed up with government spending and a growing national deficit. And Mr. Mulroney promised change --it's how he got to be prime minister. But now It seems our new Prime Minister is doing some back tracking. He's not sure whether his government will be able to keep campaign promises scheduled for this year and next. He says Canada's financial picture is "rather worse than even we anticipated," and that will have "a direct impact on our ability to • Implement a series of -measures." We all knew the deficit was great, it can't get much worse. Surely Mr. Mulroney must have known what the financial situation was. And saying it's worse than anticipated Is a cop out. Canadians voted for change and Immediate action. Is Mr. Mulroney only now finding out that he can't keep that promise of change? The honeymoon is over. Much is expected of the new Prime Minister and his 210 MPs. For the sake of 50 per cent of the voters, let's hope he cap -deliver those promises. Otherwise it could be a long four years. - R.W. Communication COUNTRY CORNER by Larry Dillon A very wise man told me that we all try our hest to communicate our ideas and feelings when we talk. He went on to say that we always fail to do it perfectly. To complicate matters, people do not hear what we say. They hear what they think we said. This can lead to some very amusing errors, Difficulty in communicating with each other can lead to situations where everyone involved suffers. People can be hurt, businesses can be destroyed, lives can be lost all because of misunderstandings. It is easy to blame the person who did the talking. "He should have aid what he meant. " We sometimes fail to remember that communication is a process that involves two people. One person must try to make a statement that conveys his feelings. The other must strive to understand it. if there is a failure in understanding it's the fault of both parties. The purpose of talking (communicating) is to convey an idea to another person. If that idea is not conveyed correctly, the communi- cation has failed. If the speaker has used the correct words, perfect grammar and fla eleass pronunciation, he has still failed unless the other person understands him. When we listen to another, our efforts are wasted, unless we hear what that person meant to say. Most people, myself included, tend to hear what we want to hear. We should make an effort to hear what the speaker tried to say, rather than what we wanted him to say. Some people are better at talking than others. They can communicate their ideas clearly and effectively. Others are good at talking (and talking) but leave listeners more confused than when they started. Some are best at listening. To communicate effectively both skills must be used. No effort to communicate is perfect. We must Settle for conveying an idea that is close to what we meant. The words we use aren't perfect. They often have slightly different meanings to different people. The experi- ences that each person has had are different from everyone elses and thus the way they will interpret any series off words may be slightly different. An excellent example of faulty communi- cating, is a story one of my neighbors told me. Her husband had been given a few chicks and brought them home to her. Within a couple of days a neighbor's dog killed them. She was understandably upset about the incident but it was a small loss and not worth making bad friends over. She became particularly disturbed when several months later a visitor from a neighboring town expressed his sympathy over the great financial loss they suffered when "a vicious wolf had broken in and destroyed their entire laying flock." The story had passed from person to person and been changed each time until it was nearly unrecognizable. The people involved did not intend to distort it. The errors occurred because of the mistakes made in understand- ing each time the story was told. 1 listened to a group of people soundly criticize a newspaper re -porter because he reported what he was told, rather than what they wanted him to write, Each person in this group knew the "truth" about the story. They were all satisfied that they each knew what really happened. Personally, I'm slightly confused because every one of them knew a different and conflicting "true" story about the incident. Our poor news reporter becomes the villain because everyone has already made up their minds that they have heard the correct story. The reporter can only question a limited number of people about an incident. He then has a responsibility to his readers to report his impression of the story. The reason that everyone has a different story is a direct result of the errors that occur in communicating between people. These errors become exaggerated when a story is carried from person to person. Error builds on error. Although it's difficult, we each have an obligation to the people around us, to become more effective at speaking and at under- standing. We need to put more effort into saying what we mean and at listening to be sure that others understand what we tried to say. One of the most appreciated qualities a person can have is the ability to be a good listener. Most of us don't listen, we simply wait for our turn to talk. Some of what the other person is saying sometimes filters in, but it's distorted because we are impatient to tell our own story. This is unfortunate. We are able to learn at all times except when our mouth is in motion. When talking we are regurgitating what we already know. When we are listening, we are learning something new. The best listener will hear the other out. They listen carefully and question key points to determine what the speaker is trying to say. Being able to say what you mean and to understand what the people around you mean is the greatest skill you can develop. Someday it may save your business. it can save a marriage or eveb a life. It will certainly help you to make, and keep friends. Congrats to those who made it SENSE AND NONSENSE by Ron Wassink It's that time of year again --no, I'm not talking about autumn, harvesting or frost on the pumpkin --I'm talking diploma time. Secondary schools throughout Ontario are honoring their graduates, presenting diplo- mas to kids who spent 12, 13, maybe 14 or 15 years trying to get. 1 know the feeling. I got mine a few years back, and it was the hardest piece of paper I ever worked for. Taking in the commencement exercises at the Seaforth high school last week reminded parents of the graduating students, teachers and myself of our own graduation. Dave Scott was the grade 13 valedictorian. It was during his speech, when i started thinking back to when 1 was a grad. I remember high school as the most boring place in the world, Listening to Dave made me envious -envious that I didn't go to Seaforth High. He talked of good times, laughs, typic 1 student jokes and stunts pulled off by fell w classmates on other unfortunates such s teachers who were the brunt of those jok s. For me, school was none of that. I guess you could call me a middle of the road student, maybe even a below middle of the roader. I could care less about studying. Studying for me was playing chess in the library during study period. Homework meant burying my nose in a book. And I'm sure that was my problem. Books. I'd read anything, even Shakespeare. 1 recall English classes where the ancient teacher would hand out assignments. We were to read the first three pages of Romeo and Juliet. But I said to myself, "Self, why stop at three pages." And there I'd be reading .the complete play, finishing it by midnight. The next day, I'd be dead tired because after I finished Romeo and Juliet, I started into McBeth (which was in the same book).' Meanwhile, fellow classmates struggled through three pages, and in the end, all of the play. Thinking back, that teacher played it smart. She could drag on' a complete semester just studying Rdmeo and Juliet. 13y the end of the semester, I probably �f hi fished about 50 books. l had the bad habit of reading one a night and more on weekends. That was my downfall. When it came time for the hated test, i had completely forgotten what Romeo had said to Juliet. But I passed, by the skin of my teeth. I'm assuming that high school has changed. I'm sure kids are working harder, studying four hours each night, trying to achieve that ultimate goal --being at the top of the class. And if I'd have realized the incentive to being a top student, such as receiving a $1,000 scholarship or maybe two such scholarships, 1 would have gone for broke. I may be middle of the road, but some tell me "money" is my middle name. Congrats to all grads. Don't sell Canada. to Americans BEHIND THE SCENES by Keith Roulston Once upon a time there was a farmer who owned a large farm but because only a few acres were cleared, he had a hard time making ends meet. His neighbor owned a farm almost as big but all of it was cleared and he was well off and lived a lifestyle that the fust farmer could only envy. "Look," said the rich farmer, "I'll gladly buy that farm that you can't afford to clear.' But the poorer farmer was stubborn. He realized that if he could just get his farm cleared, he too could be rich. So he made a deal with the rich farmer: he would sell him 50 acres of his land that was already cleared and with the money he got, he'd be able to clear the rest of his farm. After all, he thought. I've got lots of land so 1 can afford to sell some of it, it wasn't long, however, before the poor farmer realized that to make things really work on the farm, he needed a new barn, So he sold 50 more acres to the rich farmer and built the barn with the money. Soon the poor farmer was as rich as his dreams, just as rich, in fact, as the rich farmer used to be. But with the new land the rich farmer had bought, he was even richer. He built a magnificent new house. The "poor" farmer saw that house wanted one just as fine. Why not sell some more pieces of land, he said. So he sold moreland to his neighbor and built a beautiful house. But the next year was a bad year. The rain didn't come when it should have and then came at harvest and the crops were a disaster. The farmer had taxes to pay and payments to meet on machinery and all the luxuries in his beautiful house and so he sold more land. Every year after that he found that because he had less land left, he was hard -put to mare his payments and live the life to which he'd become accustomed. And each year he sold more land to his neighbors until finally, the neighbor had the whole farm. To listen to business leaders and the great revelations of our new federal government, the answer to all our problems is to get the Americans to invest more in Canada. To be sure, foreign investment does pump money into the country. Canada never grew faster and the Canadian dollar was never stronger than when the Americans were busy buying up nearly the entire Canadian economy in the 1950's. But it's hard to figure out how people like business leaders and the conservative economic thinkers who decry gfewing gov- ernment deficits (becaus they 'i argue, eventually, you've got toy off a govern- ment debt just like we ord nary mortals must pay our debts), can't see that if foreign investment comes in, cgsentually it must be pain back. One of the problems of the falling Canadian dollar right now is that although we've built record trade surpluses in recent years, so much money is going out of the country in profits and dividends to American parent companies that Canada has a balance of payment problem. The Mulroney government seems, like the farmer of -the story, to think the answer is to sell more of our country to foreigners to pay what we already owe them. How long before there's nothing left to sell? Saltiness isn't boring SUGAR AND SPICE by Sill Smiley 1 was going to say, "There's nothing more boring than old people talking about the 'good old days' when they were young." Then i realized that i was out in left field. with nobody at bat, the pitcher chewing tobacco and spitting juice, the catcher fumbling around trying to adjust his athletic protector, as they now call a metal jockstrap. There are many things more boring. Little children who want one more horsey ride when your spine feels fractured in eight places from the 10 previous jaunts. Teenagers babbling endlessly about rock stars, boyfriends, girlfriends, and the money they need to keep up with their friends. "How come we only have a 21 inch TV? I'm 16; why can't i stay out till 3 a.m. if i want to? I'm the only girl in the class who doesn't have construction workers boots!" University students, perhaps the most boring creatures in our society. After the initial chirps of recognition: "Oh, Mr, Smiley, how are you? How's it going?" And then 40 minutes of straight, self-centred description of their university courses or their jobs, their professors, their disenchantment with their courses, their unspoken admission that they can't hack it, as you knew they couldn't in the first place. 1 manage to brush them off after about eight minutes with a cheery, "So long, Sain, great to hear you're doing so well, and best of luck. I have to go to an orgy for senior citizens that starts in four minutes, with the pornographic movie." It's great to leave them there with their mouths hanging open. Next worse, in the boring department. ars young couples wno nave prouuceu one or two infants, and talk as though they'd swum the Atlantic, or climbed Mount Everest. "Let me tell you what Timmy (or Kimmy) said the other day. He was sawing wood in the nursery school, and his saw slipped, and he pointed at his saw and he said, 'Don't you dare do that', and the teacher told me, and she said it was the most hilarious thin she'd ever seen, and blah blah blah, and.... ' Boring. B -o -r -i -n -g. We can all top that type of story. My daughter, age seven, grade two, just getting over the Santa Claus bit, came home one day and told my wife she knew what a certain familiar four-letter word that she'd seen scrawled on the sidewalk meant. At the time, rather absentmindedly, with Dr. Spock lurking in the background, she enquired. "And what does it mean, dear?" The response was, "When men and ladies he down on top of each other and go to the bathroom.That was the end of any birds and bees instruction. Next in the descending line of boring conversationalists are middle-aged grand- pents. The women, young enough to still elicit a whistle on a dark night, the men old enough to sut;k in their paunches when a bikini, walks by, they act as though they had invented grandchildren. They whine ex- changed whimpers about the baby-sitting they have to do. They brag that their grandchildren are the worst little devils in the world. Boring. And finally, we get to the elderly. Certainly some of them are boring, but they are the ones who have been bores all their lives. But the others, the salty ones, even though slowed by the body's increasing frailty, retain their saltiness, and even improve on it. because they don't give a damn anymore. They can say what they like and do what they like. And they do. i've met or talked to three men in their late 80s recently. My father-in-law, 89. seemed rather frail when we arrived for a visit, at 3 p.m. At 11 that night we were still arguing religion and politics, at top form. i've told you about old Campbell, the 85-er who dowses wells and is set to go to Paraguay. Talked to my great-uncle, riddled with arthritis, and his voice and welcome were as warm and crackling as a fireplace freshly lit. This whole column was inspired by a clipping my sister sent me about 88 year old Lawrence Consitt of Perth, Ontario. Lawrence was present when the last man was hanged in Perth. His comment: "It was strange. ' The man had turned to the crowd and smiled just before his death. He had murdered his wife. Today he'd be given a manslaughter and six years. Lawrence started playing piano 79 years ago, at dances, at the silent pictures theatre. He got five dollars a night for a dance. The talkies knocked him out of a job in 1930. But he kept on playing ragtime and jazz wherever there was an opening. i listened to him improvise for the silent movies. 1 danced to his piano at country dances, with his nieces and great-nieces. He always had a crock. Took the pledge in 1925. i1 tasted 13 months. Got sick on a ship to France in 1918, and was too late to be killed. He never married; "But i drank a lot of whiskey." He's in one of those Sunset Havens now, but when they ask him when he'll be back from a day in Perth, he says, "ft depends on who 1 meet." That's boring? Hang on, Lawrence. You gave great pleasure to many people. 1 hope i ' can stay as salty as you.