WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1985, PAGE 5 I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson THE I CROW'S NEST by Michael Knell A man to call friend Don Warne stopped me on the street the other day for another of our frequent, but usually all-too-brief philosophical discussions. If you don't know Don, I feel sorry for you for he's a good human being to know. A former Anglican minister, Don now teaches English to some very fortunate students at Anderson Collegiate. Every time our paths cross, we engage in highly enlightening, insightful banter about practically everything from the state of Canadian politics to world peace. Talking with Don always leaves me thinking - enough to wish that I had been fortunate enough to have been one of his charges when I was a high school student trying to figure out the meaning of life and the purpose of the universe. (I still haven't.) I suppose the best way to describe Don is that he is a loyal member of the human race. He has no time for the reckless and foolish pronouncements of power crazed politics such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Even Canada's Brian Mulroney comes under Don's watchful eye and sharp, in- telligent criticism. The last time we met, the topic of conversation was the possibility of Ar- megedon in our own time. His sympathies are with the peaceniks. As far as he is concerned, the thought of global genocide is something to be fought at all costs. But he brings to his opinion something that leaders of the peace movement don't have. You see, Don is a veteran. He fought in the last World War, which was, he believes, the last war on earth that could be fought to a successful con- clusion without the risk of nuclear winter. He discounts as foolish those who believe that nuclear war is winable or even desirable on a small scale. Don knows the horror of conventional war. That gives an insight into how truly lethal the other kind of war will be. Don is a gentle, civilized human being. The quiet softness of his spoken word doesn't hide the forceful impact of his thoughts or the deep felt conviction from which they sprang. This conviction spills over into other areas. Don is, I suppose, a social democrat - a member of the New Democratic Party. I'm not one and never in- tend to be one but I'm firmly convinced that Don represents everything that good, wise and just about the N.D.P. and the ideals for which it fights. He's no raving lunatic - preaching union solidarity forever, even at the risk of destroying the livelihoods of its members. Don has pointed out to me on several occassions that politics is people and the system must be a way in which people can work together for the benefit of all. He's scornful of the multi-national corporations and ridicules Canadian com- panies for failing to do their part in cleaning up the environment and or forget- ting to bring a more compassionate, human outlook to the dog-eat-dog business ?world. To Don, life isn't a profit and loss statement. There has to be more to living -than the bottom Une. The bottom Une doesn't tell us if we're happy, if we're loved or if we have loved. The bottom line doesn't move our hearts and spirits the way that a good book or truly great symphony will. One thing we've never discussed - and probably never will discuss - is why he gave up his work in the Anglican Church. I suspect that it has something to do with how he views people and how he cares for them. And that has always been the recurring theme in all our chats. People. Are their lives made better by the actions of their leaders? Are they truly at the heart of governmental action? Is world peace really the aim of the disar- mament talks between the Americans and the Soviets? During our last conversation, I reminded Don of something the great American patriot, Patrick Henry, once said: "Is life so sweet, peace so dear to be purchased at the price of chains andslavery? Almighty God, I know not what course others may choose. But as for me, give me liberty or give me death!. It is precisely that attitude, Don says, that will lead us to Armegedon. During that conversation, he taught me something. Blind adherance tothose noble words isn't enough to guarantee my children that Mother Earth will still provide a playground for their children in the early days of the next century. Patrick Henry's great sentiment must be tempered with nuclear realities of the 20th century. It would be far to easy for a madman to push a button and bring about a winter that will last for at least 100 years. I've never seen Don at work in the classroom and I have to ask myself whether or not his students really appreciate the man as a teacher. He has the best quality of a teacher - be he a teacher in the classroom or a teacher in the pulpit -he makes you think. He makes you examine what's in your heart and your mind. Don strikes me as a man who isn't afraid of ideas. Whether they are born in the fertile gentleness of his own mind or in wellspring of another's.wHe welcomes them with an open mind. Compares them to the known facts and with the basic goodness of his own nature. If they pass muster, they become part of the encyclopedia he carries around between his ears. If they dont, he'll heap well informed, compassionate scorn on them. And now that I think of it - he even looks that part of sage teacher and clergyman. The mass of gray-white hair surrounds a face that projects the good and simple wisdom of this truly decent human being. Despite these conversations, I don't know Don Warne well enough to call him friend. And you know something, that's my loss. He's the kind of man everyone who knows him should call friend. WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan A lette r t the I Dear Mr. Mulroney: First let me disentangle myself, lest you think that this letter belongs on the junk pile with all those others written by twits and hung-over columnists. I realize you are right now up to your chin with free trade arguments, freer trade benefits, and diapers. The diapers we both have been through before, but this offer would take you off the free trade hook, boost Canada's balance of payment accounts, and solve Canada's unemployment problem. Okay, okay. Right now you're beginning to crinkle the paper and line up the distance to the wastebasket in the corner. But hesitate. Suppose that Canada were discovered to be rich in a natural resource the world pants for. And all we have to do, with some government help. is market the idea. The marketing with government help I know you don't go for. But in aviation we were once a quarter century ahead of the rest of the world (remember the Avro Arrow) and your party that blew that one. So pay attention. History beckons. What we're talking about is good old plain Canadian inefficiency. With government help, we've made it into a national art form. Employment is the big problem, right? As com- puters take over the world, fewer and fewer people are needed to do the real work. The way things are going, pretty soon we'Il have only five employed people in the whole country and four of those five will be auditing the performance of the one who does the industrial production. Now if you can hire two klutzs to do the job that one normal person could do, you've cut the unem- ployment of the country in half, right? And hire four klutzs to do the job that the two are botching, and presto! We have cut the unemployment in half again. And then if we hire eight more even clumsy klutz t,... Surely you get the drift. leti unn think this irtea belonEs in the loony bin, 'rime Ministe r give some thought. The unemployed in this country would number many times more than now they do if it not were the application of this principle. Look at government departments. Or the post office. Why even the unemployment insurance offices have hundreds of people employed across the coun- try returning applications from clients who mail in their weekly reports too early. Think of the multiplier effect. For each report mailed back, two stamps are required. (What was mailed back has to be mailed in again.) Postal clerks must sort this, going both ways. With some ingenuity, genuine dunderheads could be hired to foul up the automatic sorting machines and employ even more people. The number of seats in Parliament could be doubled, and doubled again, opening up many more jobs until we reach the point where the institution is unable to do anything. (Notice, Brian, how neatly was sidestepped the concept that maybe Parliament is at that point now?) Sorry for the digression. To continue: we could give tax breaks to com- panies who hire more and more people to do less and less. Educational institutions could hire more ad- ministrators. The armed forces could hire more people to go out in the virgin forests of this country and play Rambo games. We could send the virgins of this nation to the forests and...oh, skip it. On the international scene, Canada could export, on two-year lend-lease options, enough Eddie Shacks of industry to dominate the world market. The real joy of the whole operation would be that in addition to putting Canada in its rightful place, we would rescue the western world from icy hands of people with masters degree in business ad- ministration. Please, Mr. Prime Minister, don't blow this chan- ce to rescue Canada. We all know the reputation of CONT'D ON PG. 12 Lest yuu tiiiiu%. Lilla &uý«