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Literacy is the root of strong world nations ept. 8 is International Literacy Sl)ay‘ â€" a day we celebrate because literacy is at the very root of creating strong nations. Attaining literacy worldwide remains a huge challenge. More than 100 million children have no access to school. This is equivalent to all the primary school children in Europe and North America comâ€" bined. And 875 million adults, most of them women, cannot read or write. Continued from page 8 from retirement and take it to the corner store instead of being lazy and driving down the street. We need to see more effort put into conserving our gas, which will help set back the high cost because of the demand there is for fuel. Enough is enough at the gas pumps Even though there‘s so many other factors that relate to the risâ€" ing gas prices, it‘s still obvious that demand remains a contributing factor to why the prices continue to stand where they are today. For the first time in 22 years.....there‘s only one kid in our house. The oldest one has been out. for the most part, for about five years. She‘s in Japan now, and although she is coming back in December, it won‘t be for very long. Now the youngest one is out as well, living on her own in a townhouse in Lonâ€" don as she starts her college life. When I think back to the busiest of those years, from 1986, when our vyoungest was born, to about 1998, when our oldest got her driver‘s license, how did we do it? Oh, the noise! Three boisterous and outgoing young girls, and, as my wife will tell you, a father whose idea of bonding was to see which one of them he could get to make the most racket! Now [ understand what people mean when they say the silence is deafening. Sure. it was loud, but it was the kind of loud you don‘t realize you‘re going to miss until you don‘t hear it anymore. When home is almost too quiet I miss the earlyâ€"morning sound of footsteps coming to our room and asking for help, and later, the less satisfying sound of one‘s first attempt to make breakfast "Hi guys, why are you bouncing?" one of them asked in a perfectly innocent moment, which reduced the two of us, engaged in another moment, to puddles of laughter I miss what one of them thought was a quiet whisper as she discussed her greatest secrets with the cat. I miss the giggles as they share inane jokes. 1 miss the stomping off in anger as yet another one declares that I like the other ane best. Putting more thought into the They never figured it out. I like all of them "best".. just at different times! I even miss the yelling from one floor to the And in just five years, the world population‘s illiteracy rate has fallâ€" en from 22.4 to 20.3 per cent. Families with illiterate mothers are generally larger, have poorer nutriâ€" tion, poorer health and poorer eduâ€" cation levels. There is hope, however. Collecâ€" tive efforts to improve literacy rates have brought about change, espeâ€" cially for women and girls. Almost 80 per cent of the world‘s population aged 15 years and over is now literate, including more women than ever before. If current trends continue, by 2010 the rate should be 16.5 per cent. destination routes you may take in a day, even for running errands, can help in conserving gas by not having to backtrack as much. This is a topic everybody has heard enough nagging about, but there has to be a point in the near future when gas consumers begin to truly realize when enough is enough. Or if it was to hit three bucks, would anybody bother thinking more carefully or would we just sit Prices soaring past a loonie didâ€" n‘t help â€" will two bucks a litre deter people? 3 > A nonâ€"governmental organizaâ€" BRIAN BOURKE COMMENT other. and the arguments over who "stole" someone else‘s clothes. I‘m sure there are great joys in raising just one child. I‘m glad we had three though. Each one so different, yet, at the same time, you‘re able to see the similarities in each one. They‘ll be back again, of course, for weekends, special occasions, Christmas, or maybe even just to save a few dollars between periods of their life excursion. We‘ll have lost control of the madhouse again, and then realize... we never really had control anyâ€" way! image I‘ll tell them they can‘t come back, and they‘ll just pretend to be offended as they pat me on the head and run back in. Once again, they will fill this house with the cacophony which proves we are a family. * Hear more of Brian‘s thoughts on life with the KOOL Morning Crew every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a m. on Waterloo radio station 105.3 KOOL FM Similarities they might share with their mom or dad, or even with each other. And we get to see those things from the unique perspective of parâ€" ents. It‘s like watching a favourite movie, with an updated ending. It gets better all the time. My wife,. of course, cries every time one of them leaves. Then she comes back home and remarks on how much easier it is to keep clean with just one child at home. I only cry when there‘s no one else around. Wouldn‘t want to ruin the She cries when she looks at old pictures too. She‘s a big saftie. Teachers and students across Canada know about Progresso. Around each Valentine‘s Day, schools devote many hours to CODE‘s Project Love, putting together packages of pencils, erasers, rulers and notebooks for children in developing countries. tion, Progresso, emphasizes local culture and languages in all its learning materials. Literacy changes lives â€" for the better. Reading and writing isn‘t a luxury. It‘s a weapon against poverâ€" ty, hunger and disease. back and think "Well, at least it‘s not five bucks!" There has to be some sort of line drawn when consumers truly realâ€" ize that enough is enough. _ They need to put more thought into how much they‘re spending on fuel and what they can do to fix the problem. _ Complaining to the gas attenâ€" dant at the pumps isn‘t going to fix anything. â€" â€" They may change the signs but they have no say in what the cost will be. But you do Â¥vonne Appiah Executive director, CODE CHRONICLE [§ ¢ all are guilty of either telling a city worker joke or lisâ€" Wlening in on one and not rising to the maligned city workers‘ defense. It seems that they are an easy target for derision and ridicule. Hopefully the following examples of how our beleaguered city workers go above and beyond the call of duty may help change some of these negative stereotypical views. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the irresponsible deciâ€" sion to place convicted child molester Mark Youlten in a roomâ€" ing house adjacent to a public park and swimming area, not to mention the senior public school around the corner. In that column I criticized the local authorities for that move and hoped that they would be as vigilant in monitoring the sitâ€" uation as they said they would be. s It seems that not even a day later it was reported that Youlâ€" ten was spotted by a city worker while he was talking to a mothâ€" er and child. Once the city worker recognized Youlten the police were called and Youlten was whisked away back to prison for breakâ€" ing the terms of his probation. â€" > â€" _ Congratulations to the city workers and citizens who were involved in what was essentially a citiâ€" es zen‘s arrest. This type of awareness ‘ 10 | and action of those involved is a role (MMMINMIARS ‘ model for us all. | Msig . City workers are always willing to lend a hand Another example of exemplary City of Waterloo employee performance happened last winter. s While driving down Erb Street, my wife noticed an elderly lady slip and fall on the ice and was unable to get back on her feet. My wife, the good soul that she is, pulled over, got out of the van and proâ€" ceeded to assess the situation. City employees deserve more respect As my wife started to take her own coat off, a city employee pulled up to the curb in his truck. _ The man promptly put his flashers on and proceeded to make the injured woman more comfortable including placing his big winter parka over top of her to help keep her warm. It turns out that the lady NEEUABEA | lz medical attention and she also had a mental health condition that made if difficult to communicate, To complicate matters, it was minusâ€"15 degrees outside and the lady was inappropriately attired in slippers, a nightie and a thin overcoat. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later and the woman was safely taken to the hospital. I‘m sure city workers are involved in many situations like this every year, and I am also sure, just like in this example, they lend a hand quietly and professionally. Just recently I also had an experience with City of Waterloo employees that is worth sharing. One day after arriving home from work this past July, my children were eager to tell me about the "big holes" they discovâ€" ered in the road and wanted me to go see them right away. The next day a city employee was out checking all the sewer grates on the street and found that more than one of them had been compromised and were unsafe. The employee marked each sewer grate with a pylon, and less than a week later crews were out to patch them all up. It is not often that you get that kind of service anywhere, from any business, and the speed and thoroughness of the public works department in this situation was simply outstanding. Of course my trip to the "big hole" involved several other neighbourhood kids, and our crowd also attracted some adults, ane of whom quickly phoned the local public works departâ€" ment. Obligingly, I accompanied them across the street and sure enough there was a big hole next to a sewer grate. It looked like the pavement had collapsed and left a hole big enough for the front wheel of a car to disappear. The next time you hear someone crack off about city workâ€" ers, you may want to remember the vast majority of City of Waterloo employees care deeply about our community and the people who live here. We just don‘t hear about it every day. In each of these examples Waterloo employees were there to improve our city and to look out for the best interests of our citâ€" izens. They are paid to keep our city working; the caring part comes for free. Eâ€"mail your sean@seanstrickland.com questions/comments STRICKLAND to