A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 13, 2006

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ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

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ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2
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Tt s about food

. “HERE?’ S.AN idea for a Christmas. gift that will

+ bell.

only cost you the price of a stamp. Anda piece
of paper. And an envelope. That’s because it in-
volves writing a letter to Premier Gordon Camp-

At issue is the 2006 version 1 of The Cost of Eat-

. | "ing in B.C. which is prepared by the Dietitians of

Canada and the Community Nutritionists Council

of B.C. 4

"What it points. out is that people who ‘either

- don’t make a lot of money or who are on ‘social

assistance simply. don’t have enough to buy the

_ right kind of food for themselves and their. fami-.

lies.

oe S not rocket science. The people who did the-
‘survey checked out the price of food in various.
- places around the province and’ ‘compared that.
- cost to the income of low wage earners and those
~ on social assistance. Then they looked at average |
_ housing costs and other items. |
They’ve determined that a family of four on:
Social assistance that receives an average $1,601
a-month must spend $653 to buy the right kind |

of food. That’s 41 per cent of the ‘family’ S$ in-

‘come and that’s pretty much impossible given the

need to o pay rent and other items such as heat and

“The clear problem, say the dietitians and nutri-
tionists, is not the cost of food. It’s that. low in-
‘come. earners or, people on social assistance don’t

have enough money to make healthy purchases. .

__. When people don’t eat well, bad things happen.
= Pregnant women have babies who have low birth |
: weight. People get sick sooner and for longer,

placing a strain on the health care system: Chil-

dren who don’t eat can’t learn, paving the way for

problems later on.
To be sure, it’s not as if the provincial govern-

ment has completely turned a blind eye to proper.

nutrition. It wants people to eat more fruits and
vegetables. It wants people to become more ac-

tive as that will cut down on obesity and, in turn,”

reduce health care costs.
That’s all well and good, reply the nutrition-

ists and dietitians, but it doesn’t get to the cen-

Serving tne Terrace and Thomhif area. Published on Wednesday of

tral theme — and that is ensuring people. have the
means in the first place to buy healthy food.

Don’t think that writing the Premier is too po- |
litical. What can be political about joining with
_ . dietitians and nutritionists in asking that each and

every person in B.C. have the means for a proper
and sufficient diet? If anything, writing the Pre-

- Mier is simple common sense.

- By post, the address is:
Premier Gordon Campbell,

. 0

_ Box 9041, Station Provincial Government

_ Victoria, B.C. -
V8W 9E1 |
If by email, Ae’ sat premier@ gov. ‘be.ca.

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_ ing for one.” ”
“tion tums out to be urban leg-’.

_ described as being

"ZACCARDELL SENSES HIS: INS ARE NUMBERED

Watch that person in the mirror

. MORE THAN once I was ;
branded: as a
growing up. I no longer. get

“nerd”.

that label, though I’m still a bit
of'a nerd. I wonder why.

I'd like to think it’s because
_ Pm now in a world:of grown —
ups, and’grown ups don’t use

labels to put people in their

‘places. But more likely things
.. have changed for me due to the

rise of the Ultimate Nerd, Bill

Gates,.who took the stigma out -

of these labels. -

- Others have ascribed this :
. advice to’ him:

é “Be nice to
nerds. You may end up work-.
While the ascrip-.

end, the advice.remains valid.
The reason I find this second
reason far more likely than the
first is that I still come across
grown up people who put oth-

_ ers in their places by branding

them with labels.

They’re fond of tagging
people as “fundamentalists.”
The writer of a recent letter in

- The Terrace Standard, warned

against a Christian organiza-
tion that delivers: millions of
gifts each Christmas to under-
privileged children around the
world. The organization was
“funda-
mentalist.”

The letter made me wonder

what this concerned citizen ac-

. tually meant by using the word
_ “fundamentalist.”

while ~

' ANDREAS TABERT _

It has at least three senses:
historical, popular, general.

‘The historical can be traced

back to a group of Christians in
the early 1900s who responded
to secularism by articulating a
set of convictions that would
set the direction of their spiri-
tuality no matter which way
the prevailing winds of culture ©
should blow: -
These convictions became

known as the Fundamentals

and those who held them as
the Fundamentalists. The ‘or-
ganization that was branded in

the letter traces its roots back

to this movement with pride.
But it's unlikely that the au-
thor used the word in its his-
torical sense.

Most often, the word gets
used in its popular sense. A
fundamentalist is someone.
who forces his or her val-

ues down the: throats of other

people, whether it’s done by
attaching strings to Christmas:

gifts or by flying planes into

~ tall buildings. > —
I find these people (fellow -

Christians included). to be no

~ fun, too quick to damn, and |
(at the risk of branding) ab-
solutely mental. Furthermore,

the indicted organization is not

» among them. This i is proven by |
the fact that it gives its gifts in’
- countries where sharing their .
Christian faith in Jesus is not

- permitted, e.g., Afghanistan.
Finally, . the word funda-

mentalist can be used i in a gen-
eral sense.’ It-can describe any.
person who believes that there.

are some fundamental ideas
and principles that apply to all

people. These ideas and prin-
ciples are worth sharing with

others around the world, even
at great expense and sacrifice.
It’s this kind of fundamental-
ism that motivates Christians

"to. communicate the love of

God far and wide, whether its
by delivering gifts to under-

privileged children or by tell-
ing people about Jesus.

This kind of fundamental-
ism may or may not be reli-
gious. It becomes possible
to speak of Secular Funda-

mentalism. No doubt, secular _
leave God ©

fundamentalists
out of the discussion. But that

doesn’t stop them from feeling

strongly that certain rights and
forms of government must be
available to ali people.

* Canada has become a secu- - ©

lar nation, But that has not
freed Canadians of a collec-
tive belief in the fundamen-
tal‘rights and freedoms of all

‘people — rights and freedoms

for which many have fought

“and died, rights and freedoms
‘that are enshrined in a Charter, -

rights and freedoms that our

peacekeepers; politicians and.

ambassadors continue to pro-

mote around the world even . ©
‘where they are not popular. _
' People who brand others as.

fundamentalist to put them in

their place may not be Chris-
‘tian’ Fundamentalists in the

historical sense of the word.
But they certainly are. funda-
mentalists in its general sense.
They believe some principles
apply to all.people. Other-
wise they wouldn’t bother
with branding. In fact, the act
of branding could earn such

people the label in its popular

sense, though not from this
fundamentalist.

Let me adapt the advice
that’s been falsely ascribed to
a famous nerd: Be nice to fun-

’ damentalists. If you don’t find
_yourself working for one, you

may find one in the mirror.
“Andreas Tabert is the pas-

tor at the Alliance Church in

Terrace, B.C.

OPRAH DEVOTED her De-
cember 1, 2006 program to.
. Stories of -what happened to

average people who came into
far more money than they ever

imagined possible and how. ~
that affected their lives.

A woman in her 20s opened
her ‘own boutique in New
York City selling scarves she
designed. Within a few years
she was grossing $2.2 million
annually. Forgetting her mod-

' est roots, she began swinging. .

with the rich crowd, taking ex-
‘pensive vacations,. and dish-
ing out $1.000 a week dining
at upscale restaurants.

Feeling like a fraud, she
turned to cocaine and devel-
oped a $600 per day habit. In
short order she was divorced,
lost custody of her three chil-
dren, and ruined her business.

Homeless, she lived in the |

New York subway system.
Now clean for over five years,
she lives modestly as the buy-
er for three small boutiques
she operates with her sister.

A mother went to a conve-..
- mience store for milk but on

impulse bought a’ lottery ticket
instead. The ticket won her
$15.5 million. It also gave her
so many headaches she often

THROUGH BIFOCALS
-CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

wishes she had bought the.
milk.
The third subject was a

47-year-old Los Angeles bin-
ner who lived under a bridge -

while recycling up to $20 of
bottles and cans daily. A doc-
umentary movie-maker asked

permission to follow him with

a camera.

Eventually the movie-mak-
er planted a briefcase contain-
ing $100,000 in a garbage bin
where he was certain to. find
it. ; .

At first he worried it was
drug money, that he might
get shot. When he realized it
was his to spend, he bought a

$34,048 truck for himself and
a car for a friend, and paid
friends’ debts.

“He rented an apartment
(where he slept on the floor)
but passed up job opportuni-
ties. He repaired his teeth.
Then he married his girlfriend.

‘When his money ran out. so

did she ... and his friends.
Psychologists = maintain

“throwing money at a problem

won't solve it. People have to
change their thinking and their

behaviour before money can .

bring lasting improvement to

their lives. =

’ To guard against squan-

deting money. whether it’s a
$400 tax refund or a $32.000
inheritance, Lynnette Khalf-
ani, financial expert and author
of The Money Coach's Guide

to. Your First Million, advises

paying off debts before treat-
ing yourself. _ \

If your windfall is $50,000
or more, Khalfani cautions
you to regulate your spending
by doing these five things:

.* Get financial help. A
trusted advisor can talk to you
about long-term plans and
help you set up a budget. A
budget is not a punishment, as
some seem to think. A budget

Think before you start Spending

assures you pay necessities
first. ©

* Have a system in place
for dealing with requests for
money. In Oprah's experi-
ence,
money once, they will return

for more:

Let an accountant or a fi-

nancial planner handle the re-
quests so you won't feel emo-
tionally responsible for saying
no

* Make sure you have a -

structured way of  giving,.
such as to charities or to your
church, so no one can make

you feel guilty for not giving -

to them individually.
I keep a list of charities I

‘donate to so I feel less guilty

denying the others.

* Plan before you invest.
Don’t make any big moves
without a long-term strategy.

* Give yourself time. Make

no rash moves right after get- -

ting your money. Wait to buy
the waterfront condo or the 38
foot yacht.

Looking back. the .binner
admits the people whose debts
he paid ceased to be triends

when his funds ran out. And a-

$5,000 truck was all he need-
ed.

if you give someone .

ao eee