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PAGE 2, THE HERALD, Monday, April 24, 1976

EDITORIAL

‘Short People; A Lo

Fat people-“Big Fat Slob”. Old people-“Dirty
old man;"’ Stupid old.. ‘‘Silly old..” Thin people-
“Skinny...” Short people-“Runt, midget,’’... the
words associated with height and weight and age
fairly spring to.mind the moment they are
conceived.

Mr, and Mrs, Average cannot possibly know or
appreciate the agony that a person who falls
into a category outside that of “normal” or
“average,”

Just try, for a moment, however, to put
yourself into one of these situations:-

You happen to be born into a particulary
“large” family. Large-boned, that is, Your
weight is above the 200 pound mark. You are
short for your weight-and you are female, Just
walking into almost any dress shop,-and the
minutes the salesperson sees, you, she will smile
and begin a one in four procedure. It goes like
this. If she is honest, “I'm sorry but we don’t
have your size.”’ If she is not, ‘I’m sorry we are
(just) out of your size.” Then there will probably
follow the various degrees of deceit. ‘‘Some of
our size 40s are real 44’s,”—and she will try to
talk you into buying a garment that you know is
too small, or will look hopeless after you have let
it out “just a little.”

As you are getting the run-around, suffering
from too-tight (‘Queen Size”) pantyhose that
shatters the first hour you have them on, and
become aware of the other, slimmer customers

an Memacy

FELIX NICOL
UNIDENTIFIED: MAN

JOHN CZINK
' MARGARET CZINK
_ DONALD E, NORTON

Wars | and II totalled only 22.
serves no purpose at all.

lt might be interesting unchanged along High-

leam how many way 16 — such as a rock
editorials have been overhang about mile 31
published over the iast 13 West, — and the Hydro

tower about Mile 65 —
that should have heen
eliminated years ago,
Hardly a month - goes by
that additional lives are
ot claimed’ along the
Skeena’s banks. The list,
if brought up to date,
would be several times as
Jong. Remember the
column above was
compiled in less than one

years — since the above
irst appeared in the
Terrace Herald thirteen
yeurs ago, calling af-
tention to the dangers of
driving Highway 16. After
the above appeared in
rint, several more
alilities were learned to
have occurred in that 11
month period, Still, ver
deadly obstacles are left

in the shop looking at you out of the corner of
their eye-or.even
your mind goes back to the “Slings and arrows”’
that you had to suffer ever since you were a
pudgy youngster.

Fat kids suffer through no fault of their own.
They are objects of ridicule no one is afraid to
take aim at. No one (unless blind or deaf or
otherwise disabled) is ever as lonely asa fat kid
in a playgroud. School equipment-including
swings and desks, is just not made for the
heavy weights,

Going up to the front of the class to write on the
blackboard or recite or to clean the erasers (if
kids still do that) for the overweight can be a
deadly expereince. Who gives a damn about the
hours and hours of crying into a pillow once the
haven of home is safely entered? Safe, that is, of

course unless there is another gamut ‘to run. “I

say dear, isn’t there SOMETHING Georgina can
do about her weight? The neighbours are
beginning to talk. Why- only the other day...’’ or,
“Majorie, I found another candy wrapper in your
room this morning. Keally
hurting yourself.”

Then there was those heartbreaking times of -

the junior proms and senior proms. “Who wants
to date a Fatso?’’-you even asked yourself,
looking in the mirror. And you seriously con-
sidered suicide..trying to think of a way that
would be simple and painless.. —

of Commons.

Of

politician.

Idly staring and listening,- -

ear, you're only

Ottawa Offbeat.

byRichardJackson
Ottawa, Fermer Prime Minister John vyictoria-To almost an

Diefenbaker is much more than Parliament's
elder statesman and a living legend in the House
Going on 83, he is the consummate Canadian for the

With his wider and deeper perspective, he sees

The other extreme now; oo, '

Bring this imaginary experience down to ‘the
present. You are walking down a street in
Kitimat-or Prince Rupert or Smithers, or
Terrace and you see a “short person” trudging
along-and you hear children's laughter. You
suddenly realize the laughter is aimed at the
small person.

Did you ever step to think what life must be
like for him?

Outside of life in a cireus-or sideshow, job
opportunities and any degree of acceptance
practically don’t exist for the small ones.

Somehow we nearly always equate size with
mental development, Little people, we assume,
have little minds,-and if we interact with them af
all, it is as though they are children. Getting in
and out of cars and buses, entering crowded
elevators, getting in a cance, climbing a ladder,
sitting at a restaurant table-even seeing over a
church pew, not to mention trying to watch a film
in a movie house-there as vastly more difficult

and sometimes even hazardous for the three to -

four foot high human.

Did you know, for instance, that small ple
often jive in fear of their life, of “big dogs”?
They are virtually denceless against the larger
varieties as tall or taller than they are.

One area that is never heard. about, is the
problem of sex and marriage. Who wants to date
a “small person’? For ttiose who might, there is

. casual observer Cyril

Shelford’s (Skeena!
decision not to run again
provincial

legislature because 0!
frustration with the way

..,Should continue to inflict

a

+

ng-Suffering, Discriminated Minority

the knowledge whereever they are seen together
there will be ridicule-or almost as badly, silent
amusement and superior looks-and scorn.

-For love that laughs at locksmiths and can
overcome all other obstacles balks-it seems at
discrepancies of height! Driving a car for a short
person presents problems you never dreamed of!
This alone, would fill a book. Even renting a U-
Drive can be traumatic. ~

And what if one does overcome all these ob-

- 'stacles. What if say, a short person of four feet

successfully marries a woman of five feet. What
of the children and their father? Without even
‘attempting to spell out the embarrassment the
prospect of a “normal” family of a mother and
children walking down the street with father who:
is shorter than the youngest child is enough
to flood -the wellsprings of heartbreak and
sorrow. .
Yet why.should it? .
The only difference between a ‘normal’
person anda short person is a matter of inches. It
is almost trite to say that a small person is
capable of as great a love, anintellect, an ability,
dexterity, understanding and compassion as any
“giant” that ever lived. Why we, who consider
ourselves to be good, Christian, caring people
the cruellest of
treatment and subject them to the most hear-

‘tless agonizing of daily torture, is difficult to

understand.

- Barbara is not your
' Shelford-Type Critic .

—, Died July 31, 1965
ARCHIBALD LEGACE =» — Died July 31, 1965
JOHN SENCIW “— Died July 1, 1965
ALLAN DICKINSON MORRIS — Died September 1, 1965
WILFRED HENRY AKSIDEN —' Died October 3, 1965
EVANGELINE MAY LEESON — Died October 3, 1965
— Died October 25, 1965
— ‘Died October 25, 1965
LESLIE C. STOUTENBEKG = — Died Ocroter 29, 1965.
— Died November 19, 1965
— Died November 19, 1965 —
 — Died November 19, 1965

All of whom lost their lives. in traffic.accidents within a

70-mile radius of Terrace, British Columbia, Twenty-one
dead in less than one year and our total war dead for World

_ + Our war dead gove their lives that we might live out our
lives in peace and happiness but our highway death toll

LEST WE FORGET

'

ear. A suggestion mus
mn made that a prac-

tice be instituted along.

the highway to remind
drivers of the risk they
run, by erecting small red
crosses on metal posts _
one for each death —
close to the scene of each
fatality. This might do —
until the Department of
Highways gets around to
eliminating the causes of
many of those .deaths.
Deaths no one can afford.

BODAY IN HISTORY
y CANADI
PRESS AN
The French Foreign
Legion fought the battle commander, Capt.
of Cameroun Farm in d’Anjou, who had a
Mexico 115 years ago wooden hand, made the
today—in 1663—against surviving members
superior forces of swear onhishandtofeght
Mexican nationalists who until death,

were attacking a small
supply train. When

naires ‘were killed the

‘nearly all the legion-'

1900 — Hawali became
& UnitednStates ,

territory. . .
1905 — One thousand
American airbogne

troops landed in the
Dominican Republic and
established a nine-mile
protective zone for
Americans.

Dief had in mind that the Trudeau government
permitted use of the Gander, Newfoundland
airport, as a shuttle point for Castro’s troops and
supplies between Cuba and Africa. _—

Following the initial conquest of Angola, the ,

Cuban mercenaries have moved on_ into
Mozambique, Malagasy, Tanzania, the Congo,

_Sierre Leone, and the Horn of Africa to establish

what Dief,—and a few other color-blind Western
spokeman--fear will emerge as a new Soviet
empire.

Color-blind, because Dief and other who think

BE ike him, do not see black government as

aufomatically better than white.

‘Nor is he blinded, as have been Liberal Ex- .
ternal Affairs Minister, that he cannot see so
called “liberation movement” and “freedom:

fighters” as guerrillas “arousing revolution

= against white minority. government” for the
ultimate takeover of all Africa by the com-

munists. -

Having been howled down in Parliament—as
have all others who have warned of the peril of
fraternizing between Canadian and Cuban
governments—Dief will be carrying his warning
out across the country. ‘

While others haggle, oyer the economy and
unity, he'll focus on the really basic issue of
world peace, and Canada’s part in keeping it.

For Cuban mercenaries are now fully
engaged—with continuing Canadian government
aid—in colonizing Africa as anew dominion of the

<

soviet.

Ivan Laschenko, four years old, holding the
five dollar bill in his hand he won the
‘ HERALD Easter colouring contest. It may
be awhile since Easter, but Ivan was in no
hurry-in fact he séemed downright pleased
about it. In many ways, we'd say, Ivan is a

Tuances = of

sure “winner”. Zz

RUTH HELEN TURGEON = — Died Aprit 4, 1965 more at stake now than the economy and * om Hea rewponae,

Joo Hational unity. ; Shelford said recently

DONNA RAE TURGEON — Died April 4 1965 He is concerned with world peace. - that’ the legislative

, ae And with the part-even if it is a very small members spend 80 per

JACK THOMAS LLEWELLYN — Died July 15,'1965 f part--that Canada.can play, but still refuses, in cent of their time at:

; ° preserving it. ; a ne” only 20; or cont, attacking

GARY THOMAS — Died July 18, 1965 Long concerned with the Soviet use of Cuba a8 thenro of the
. a western satellite and Cuban troops as mer- ce.

MARIE.CRITCHLOW — Died July 31,°1965 cenaries, he has tried and failed — blocked by But there is one MLA

Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals —todo who doesn’t fit into that

_ CLIFFORD CRITCHLOW — Died July 31, 1965 - something about it. . category. She’s a red-

. The government benches shouted him down hea ; grandmother nd

CAROL.ANNE JEFFERSON -- Diod July 31, 1965 when he asked that Fidel Castro be told to stricuitural

, remove his army of 23,000 mercenaries from critic for the NDP op-

MELVIN JENNER - — Died July 31, 1965 | Africa or suffer the loss of millions of dollars of ition-Barbara Wallace

_ a . m Canadian, aid trade, and even diplomatic from Cowichan-Malahat.

EARL JEFFERSON — ‘Died July 31.. 1965. Jim -relations he has enjoyed all through the years of, . She may not cause a

il the American boycott of Cuba. . stir when she gets on her

WILLARD JEFFERSON feet, but the . listen

toher. They should. When
it comes to agriculture
the 59-year-old mother of
two has a lifetime of
groundbreaking ex-
periences to draw upon
which is unmatched in
the house.

She Spent the first 18
ears of her life in a sod
; prairies
helping ‘her pioneer
parenta with the farm
chores. She came to
Vancouver Island at the
age of 18 in 1986 with her

rents and settled on a
ive-acre farm 10 miles of
north of Ladysmith
where she was again
ealled on to work the

farm.
She says that the
current Agricultural

Minister, Jim. Hewitt,
who was the manager of
the credit. union before
being elected, just
doesn't have the f g
for farming that a bona
fide farmer has. :
“He lacks knowledge of
farming
problems” she said. |
- She isn’t sure that the
Socred Party has a
cohesive farm policy and
says that the government:
pays a lot of lip service to
he policies the NDP
initiated such as farm
income assurance but.
only because of pressure
from the farming com-

munity. .
She said that lf she was

watering down of the
‘farm income assurance

program and re-establish

1 he consultative ap-

proach with the farm
community.
She also said that idea
that people can get land
of the 2 ul
Sueiea atrvilb la
‘prices will continue to
soar,

Mrs. Wallace has been
in the NDP (previously
the Canadian Com-

- monwealth Federation) .

since she was twe.
“Il was brought up in
it,” she said."“My father

. was active in the United

Farm Workers and there

were always discussions
going on in the house.”

She saic tw dévents in
her life cuntirmed her

agricultural .

Barbara Wallace

: f :

choice of political parties.
The. first occurred when
she stopped in Calgary on
her way to Vancouver
Island. She became
caught up in a parade
which was pro esting
single unem)
being cut off from the $3 a
they had. been
receiving. The protest
wasn't successful. ‘

A few days later two
young men were found
dead of malnutrition in a
Calgary Lid The ;
autopsy stowed grass in
their stomachs.

. Thesecond event which
confirmed her political
choice was the second
world war which solved
theunemployment .
oblem but at a cost she
‘ound unacceptable. .

“I've never seen cause
to: change. my decision
because I can see of no
other answer to ‘the
unemployment ;
problem,” she said.

Mrs. Wallace was first
elected in 1975 after the

a le
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permission of the Publisher. i

Strachan, resigned his
seat, after 22 years in the
legislature.

She had no though of

running-“Too old for that

Tonsense-but could see .

the constituency
organization frae-

tionalizing. .
‘. Mrs, Wallace says she

has never been a good .

housekeeper but what
she lacks in housekeeping
skilis she makes i for in
carpentry, plum an
mechanical skills,”

She calls herself a jack-

of-all trades and master
of mong and has put those
skills /io work in Joining
with Aer husband to buil
their own home. —

‘““{ mixed concrete, put
Shingles on the roof,
and did all the hundreds
of tasks you have to do to.
build a house,” she said.

helped admits -she hs
reak new groun
for women in her jobs but
shows: no si of the
hostility which is: so

herald
Published by

» Starling Publishers §

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