Do we really need the lotteries? By THE REV. STANLEY ISHERWOOD Rector St. John's Anglican Church The Lottery Land Fairy Tale "Here is the stuff of which fairy tales are made." So said the Archbishop of Canterbury at last week's glorlous royal wedding. And so it was: a prince, heir to the throne, and his beautiful bride who had captured the hearts of her people. But, as Arch- bishop Runcie pointed out, it is usually here that the fairy tale ends - "and they lived happily ever after. " Charles and Diana must know that for them the tale is just beginning. They know, too, that there are no fairy godmothers to wave magie wands; rather there are terrorists who throw deadly bom- bs. There are no magic kisses to awaken someone else's sleeping love; rather there are years of trying to express one's own lazy love. Fairy tales appear in every culture and have a part to play in differentiating dreams and reality. Sometimes it happens that these fairy tales instead of clarifying dreams -and reality -confuse them. Recently in our Canadian culture we have been fooled into accepting for fact the lottery fairy tale. According to this fairy tale there is a land where financial gain has nothing to do with a person's con- tribution to that land or with others' estimate of what he deserves. In fact, in that land things are planned in such a way that to predict financial gain is, as nearly as possible, impossible. Occasionally it is revealed to whom the greater and lesser rewards will go (and who shail get nothing) and alI live hap- Classi*fied Ads Seli Cali 668-6111 pily ever after (untd the next such revelation>. But once again, we learn that in real life the "ever after" is not sa easy or so happy. What we seem to have forgotten is that where the fairy tale ends real life continues. In the Real Life Lottery Land of Canada gambling does not characteristically con- tribute to happine;;s either for the winner or the loser. This is hardy surprising since lotteries such founded upon the following principles: 1) Reward shouid not be based upon either need or menit; 2) Charity is best encouraged by an appeal to greed; 3) It is good to encourage dreF'ms which can neyer be fulfilled. Lotteries are becoming more and more an accep- table part of Canadian life. We need to ask whether these are the sort of principles upon which we wish to build; whether caprice, avarice and day dreams are suitable building blocks for our nation. Recognition of any one of these pninciples alone should be enough to convince us of the danger inherent in lotteries. To allow their growth in the face of all three seems to be an invitation to disaster. Whether that disaster will corne through a tragic Iowering of moral standards, an opening for organized crime, or in some other unexpected way remains to be seen. Perhaps we can head the disaster off. Perhaps I'm an alarmist. Perhaps someone can show me how our lotteries are a posi- tive contribution to our national welfare. Until then, I must ask again whether the pnin- ciples which underly these lotteries are the sort of principles upon which we wish to build our nation. If not, then let us as consumers, as merchants, as fin- anciers, as parents set standards which say "No!" to lotteries. MfeetiA R E Servicing: * DISC BRA * CONSTAN SHAFT, POW ER Se COMPLI DRI VI 1< tTIZ Z 1W- WHITBY FREE PRESS, WLDNL SDAY, AUGUST 5, 1981, PAGE 9 $8,OOO for harbor Whitby Town Council wil spend $8,000 to con- struct an enclosed boat storage area for the Whitby Marina. The enclosed area will be constructed at the south end of Front Street and wil be paid f or out of revenues raised from the rentaI of slips in the marina, According to assistant administrator Forbes McEwen, the marina's 200 slips bave been ren- ted for this season - 30 more than was budget- ted for. The move to build the storage wss prompted by the marina's popu- larity. "This year, the marina has rented its total 200 slips, and we can therefore expeet to have need for winter storage 0f about 150 boats," McEwen said in his report. "The existing parking lot will accommodate this number because we have purchased a trail lift which bas the capa- bility of parking boats very close. It won't se- commodate our ultimate capacity." The 94-foot by 290-foot enclosed area will be constructed to respond to boaters' concerns about security, he ad- ded. The construction of the ares wlll also allow for a 10-foot wide strlp abutting the water front which wIll be seeded for use by the public. 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