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COMMENTARY I should be so lucky. You are quite right, sir. Once or twice a year would be sufficient, for the grandboys‘ visit. But I have never called my wife a name, unless you consider The Old Battleaxe or The Old Lady to be peâ€" jorative. You should hear what some men call their wives. The editor was fair. He added: "Columns, other than familyâ€"related, are good and have received favorable comment from our readers."" Thanks. It‘s extremely difficult, as any columnist knows, to please all of the people all of the time. In fact, if this column had done so, it would be extinct. Half my readers get so mad at me that they can‘t wait to read the next column, so they can get madder. The other half sort of enjoys it, forgives my lapses and looks forward to what the silly twit is going to say next week. The following commentary is writâ€" ten by I.A. Menon, Ph.D, of the Cliniâ€" cal Science Division, University of Toronto, as a contribution to Brotherâ€" bood/Sisterhood Week, Feb. 15 to 22, sponsored by the Canadian Council of Christians â€"and Jews. There are two prominent reasons for this hesitation to assert such a conâ€" cept. Firstly, there is the selfish asâ€" sertion: "Why should I not make the maximum out of the available enâ€" vironments, instead of caring for others?" Secondly, we come across a halfâ€" hearted acceptance that it is a good concept, but in this world it is not practical. The first objection is based upon a desire to obtain the maximum posâ€" sible pleasure from this world. Naâ€" turally, when one thinks of considerâ€" ing all people as oné‘s brothers and sisters, there is a fear that one is made to sacrifice some of this hapâ€" piness. However, a closer look at the human psychology shows that our higher enjoyments are derived from the expansion of our consciousness from a limited individual consciousâ€" ness to wider and wider circles. In the last couple of weeks, I‘ve had some letters from both sides. A Manitoba editor is thinking of cancelling the column. Reason? *‘Too many columns dealing with personal matters." I quote bits from his letter: *‘While it is understandable that family members are dear to Bill Smiley ... I feel our readers might tire of too much wife nameâ€" calling and how the grandboys are behaving. Once or twice a year would be sufficient.‘"‘ And from Vancouver, a young mother writes to say, ‘"Keep on writing about your family and grandboys. L love these coâ€" lumns." The concept of universal brotherâ€" hood/sisterhood is often approached apologetically. When we compare the different livâ€" ing beings throughout the evoluâ€" tionary ladder, we find two parallel lines of progress, viz. an increasing inâ€" tellectual ability and an expanding consciousness. We find the maximum manifestation of these two factors in the human life. In no animal we find such intellecâ€" Unity brings greater happiness BILL SMILEY Regarding the question whether such an attitude is practical, it is up to each one of us to make it as practical as possible in our own life. If, instead of looking at oneself as the subject and all others, living and nonâ€"living, as objects â€" this is our crude unrefined outlook â€" if we are able to look at others too as subjects, our own brothers and sisters, and train the mind to feel as they feel, enjoy as they enjoy, sympathize if they suffer, the result would be a manâ€" ifold multiplication of our own hapâ€" piness. tual power and no animal is so happy in the happiness of another being as the human being can be. Just as we develop our intellectual faculty by education and training, we should train and refine our ernotional faculty, our feeling of love. Such trainâ€" ing will increase our enjoyment. We should also think ‘of developing educational systems, for adults and children, which would aim at the training and development of all human faculties. When we consider the educational systems we have successfully deveâ€" loped for the training of the intellect and the use of our intellectual abilities for the advancement of scientific knowledge and technological advanâ€" cements it is reasonable to hope that our attempts to develop a comprehenâ€" sive educational system to bring out the best of human nature will be sucâ€" cessful. I would like to conclude with the last message of a woman saint of this cenâ€" tury: ‘"Learn to make the world your own. Nobody is a stranger, my dear; the world is yours." [ Â¥."*~: ..‘ I get letters from Tories who accuse me of being a Liberal because I don‘t think Joe Clark is the Second Coming (there I go again.) And I get letters from Liberals who swear that I‘m a blatant Tory simply beâ€" cause I don‘t believe the Second Coming has already come, in the form of Petit Pierre. But on the whole, it is not exactly a dog‘s life. 1 remember receiving a fairly vicious editorial blow from a weekly editor who said I wrote too much about teenagers, because I am a school teacher. I retorted with a bit of tongue in cheek. In high dudgeon, he cancelled the column. It‘s still going. I wonder if he‘s still editor of that paper, deciding what his readers can read. (Had a number of letters from his subscribers supporting me, none supporting him.) I get letters from religious people who acâ€" cuse me of being the rightâ€"hand man of the Devil, when I jestingly remark that God must have been out to lunch when he was drawing up the menu for this year‘s winter. I receive letters from places like Baker Lake, N.W.T., excoriating me for talking I get letters from other religious people who send me dreary tracts and letters full of Biblical references, with the hope that I will print the lot. And I get letters from still other religious people, mostly clergy, who enjoy quibbling with me over a point but urge me to continue writing as I do, to make people think. Can‘t please all the people Home insulation has been the focus of a number of calls and letters to my Waterloo Square Office during the past few weeks. © Many have expressed their concern about the possible health hazards resulting from the use of Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation (UFFI) The potential harm will therefore increase as the weather warms up. Last week the Minister‘s office suggested that concerned homeâ€"owners carry out this simple test: if they are experiencâ€" ing a reaction that they believe is connected to UFFI, check to see if the symptom improves after they have been away from the house for a period of time. In a statement on December 17, 1980, Hon. Monique Begin, Minister of National Health and Welfare, announced a temporary ban on the use of Urea Formaldehyde Foam Insulation (UFFI) because of the potentially serious threat it posed to health. _ The foam is now in some 60,000 Canaâ€" dian homes. Approximately 2,000 of these installaâ€" tions were subsidized under the Canadian Home Insulation Program (CHIP}. The health threat is posed by the formaldehyde vapour that can be released from the insulation as it is warmed by home heating systems. The Dept. of Health and Welfare is sending a description of formaldehyde reaction to General Practitioners and to Health Units across the country. _ If the reaction seems to reâ€"occur regularly upon returning to the house, then consult the faâ€" mily doctor. _ ___ _ o â€" â€" Once the condition has been.examined by a qualified physician, residents of the Kâ€"W area should contact the Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources. ‘‘Though obviously a man of sound comâ€" thon sense, I wonder how, in your youth, you got involved in flying a fighter plane, let alone risking combat in one. (Ed. note: me too!) I remember during those war years, watching a young fellow land his old Avro Anson like a wounded pelican in the middle of our freight yard and walk away from the wreck looking a little sheepish. Soon after. and nearby, another boy flew his Harvard trainer at full speed into a grove of trees one foggy morning. He didn‘t walk away from that one." Speaking of education, he says he attended five different schools and doesn‘t think much Problems with home insulation On the whole, the letters I get are delightâ€" ful. A typical example came in the other day from Bill Francis, Moncton, B.C. He says such nice things about the column that I blush even to read them, and would never put them in print. And I get a letter from my kid brother, reâ€" tired and living in Florida, with pictures of the house, flowers, pool and an outline of his day: coffee and morning paper, walk down the beach with the dog, etc. The swine. Wait till the Florida flies get to him in July and he wants to come north and visit for a morith. No room at the Smiley inn, little Smiley. But more to the point, his letter is witty, informative, alive. He‘s no chicken, a W.W. 1 infantry private. I‘ll quote a bit. about the tough winters down here, which to them is almost the deep south. WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1981 â€" PAGE 7 WALTER McLEAN There may be a small additional travel charge â€"for homes outside a ten mile radius from the uniâ€" versity. Meanwhile, the University of Waterloo should be applauded for stepping in and offering their services â€" an action they are not required to take. While awaiting the decision of the Minister of National Health and Welfare, (promised for early in March), Members of all parties will conâ€" tinue to press the Government to provide assisâ€" tance to affected homeâ€"owners. Surely the Corporation must assume both the moral and financial responsibility for the deciâ€" sion! The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporaâ€" tion had approved UFFI for use in Canadian homes. It has subsidized its installation through the CHIP scheme. The University of Waterloo is. however, graâ€" ciously offering a similar service to residents of our area. It will be provided by the university‘s Centre for Occupational Health Safety, under the direction of Dr. T.M. Fraser and the Assistant Director, Dr. Peter Pityn. They can be contacted at (519) 885â€"1211, extenâ€" sion 2581. As a service to the community, they will come to your home and take an air sample for less than $100.00. They have established an ENERSAVE Hot Line tollâ€"free telephone number: 1â€"800â€"267â€"9563. This will shortly be advertised in the local media Callers will be provided with a factâ€"sheet on UFFIL They will also receive a list of private commercial analytical labs in the area. These labs could test the level of formaldehyde vapour They will also be warned that this service can cost upwards of $200 ‘‘Just a little light upstairs, they said; a handicap I‘ve learned to live with. the loon and the caw of the crows and the wind whistles by so dreary and cold, in chillâ€" ing disdain of ways that are old. But this feckless old fellow just putters around and heeds not the wind nor its desolate sound. Cares not a whit for what the winds say ; just listens for echoes of things far away." **Now, some seventy years later and a litâ€" tle wiser, I have become just an old fellow round whom the wind blows in the laugh of of today‘s big schools. Of the new permisâ€" siveness: *‘Antiâ€"social behaviour today may be blamed on everything from sun spots to Grandpa‘s weakness for women and hard liquor, which all agree is a vast improveâ€" ment on the old concept.‘‘ A strapping at school and another at home for being strapped at school. Bill Francis says: ‘"The school‘s rather good record was due not only to excellent inâ€" struction, but also to drawing, from a radius of five miles around, those whose eyes were fixed on distant goals and whose legs were equal to hoofing it back and forth. There was nothing wrong with my legs and I lived nearby. I think that is wise and honest and real. May I feel the same. I‘ll be in touch, Bill Francis. You‘re a literate man with some brains in your head. An unusual phenomenon.