Starting NYONE feeling a little blue today? Not hungover from whatever millennial celebra- tion attended but just discomforted, unsatisfied or, let's face up to it, downright depressed. There’s a good chance that parents who have made their extended family the focus of the holiday season won't know what we are talking about. But for many others, the end of an extended season of partying made heartier by the inflated expectations of the millennium will leave only a stack of empties and a hollow feeling inside. Easy enough to ignore or down- play for some. More parties can be created, there might actually be some- thing worth watching on TV, or a movie that lives up to its advance hype. ‘you Said it | over But really, how many of these events and activities we create for our- selves are distractions rather than attractions? How many are activities” designed to divert potential energy and thought to mindless gratifica- tion? Sports activities that challenge heart, lung and brain are their own worthwhile reward. In contrast, spec- tator sports grown from a gladiator spectacle mentality offer secondhand excitement as a substitute for first- hand experience. We mostly define ourselves in terms of our own goals. So if we are to find that rosy glow of achievement from accoriplishing something worthwhile in the new century then it behooves all of us to spend some time in con- templation of the reason for our exis- tence and to ensure we challenge our- selves with goals that are worthwhile. 1 DIDN'T ORDER THAT 63 AND 85 TODA, CAN You Give ME “>) THE EXCHANGE RATE OF THE 15TH ON THE “What was most intriguing was when the hostess of the ~ party held up a piece o moni ead . shrimp and said, ‘Show me the “Pet columnist Joan Klucha ponders the mysteries of feline training. (Fram Joan Kischa’s Dec. 26 Canine Connection cal- umn). * r= t=)" “The only thing that might be in short supply after * New Year’s Eve 1999 is chanipagne and if you can’t man- /age without that for a while then you have more things to “ worry about than Y2K.” "Fear not, says our Real Estate columnist Trent Appelbe, we will survive. (From Appelbe’s Dec, 31 column.) “os OG Bay es goa: “The only world they could possibly take over would “be Fan . their capatsilities to the limit.” . Garden World and that would be stretching : ‘Appelbe assures readers that the North Shore will not be a prime target fora UN takeover. (From the sanie Dee. 31 col- eter) : n= {16 “with their firstborn.” ‘7 ¢:Brewmaster Benjamin Schottle of Victoria’s ne spend more time with iy beers than some people do newest brew tb, Hugd’s, on the way he babies his beers. (From a Dee. 26 Neville Judd, travel column.) F* ing monkeys! If he’s making $380,000 a f** *ing yeas, then pi lown to 260! Start at the . Anonymous BC Rail worker at a protest rally, top!” decrying the ‘salary of company boss Paul McEtigon. (From a Jan.2 News so Moot oe. 8 dome want to rely on the province. 1f we did that, _ we'd actually believe that the Fast Cat ferries. are fast and “cheap,” _. West Vancouver councillor Victor Durman commenting on “the lifting of a provincial development restriction *: Douglas firs «(From a Dec, 31 News story.) - around some at have:been used as nesting sites by eagles. Newth Shore Hews, founded in 1969 2s an independent subyrban newspaper and qualifies + under Schediute 111, Paragraya 14% of the ., Excise Tax Act, is cublished each Wednesday, “CENA RE he . <§ f Risremcqer corte, ae oe m0 Distribution Manager 986-1327 (124) - 61,582 (avesege cieculation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday} Creative Services Director - 985-2131 (127) WORRYING about over-popu- lation since the world total recently hit six bil- lion? Forget it — there’s already a much bigger worry looming: UNDER-population. The root of the | problem — especially, though not solely, for developed countries — lies in aging popula- tions with insufficient new births. The magic figure is 2.1. That’s the number of children the average woman must bear for a population to remain stable, neither growing nor shrinking. Starting right here at home, the average Canadian woman in the mid- 1960s gave birth to three offspring. Today the birthrate in Canada is a total- ly inadequate 1.5. ‘In Europe the overall figure is still: low2r, at 1.4. And even major Third World populations are lagging. In China — with its one-child-only policy — the birthrate is down to 1.8, and elsewhere in East Asia, home to nearly one-quar- ter of humanity, Mongolia alone exceeds the target 2.1 figure. True, total world population is still growing by some 78 million a year. But that’s down from a 90 million annual increase as recently as 1989, and from now onward the forecast is for a rapid decline in the rate of increase. . The United Nations predicts world population will peak at 7.7 billion around 2040 and then begin to steadily decrease, so that within a mere century SPECK Publisher 985-2137 (101) Photography Manager 385-2131 (160) Valerie Stephenson Classified Manager Entire contents © 1999 HCN Publications Company. All rights reserved, ompany,. Publisher Peter Speck, from.1139.Lonsdale Avanue North Vancou " DEPRESS! and a half — by about 2150 — the globe’s inhabitants could well be reduced to under four billion and con- tinue to drop steadily. The crisis aspect of all this lies in the age fac- tor. Births well below the magic 2.1 replacement rate and life spans lengthening all the time, in the Third World as well as in developed countries, mean populations everywhere will become more and more unbalanced. With the number of retired (or would-be retired) seniors soaring, there will be an ever shrinking number of younger working people to provide the former with pensions, health care and other social services needed by the aging. ' A global projection for the next quarter century tells it in a nutshell: by 2025 the world’s over-65s are expected .-” to double, while the number of under-: 15s will increase by a mere 6%. Today, seniors aged 65-plus total nearly 12% of Canada’s population, each : supported by around 5.7 working-age © Canadians. In 16 years the forecast is for seniors to rise to 16% of the popula- tion, meaning only four working-age people per retiree. Nine to 10 years ; later, when the youngest baby boomers -- -hit 65, the ratio could be getting uncomfortably close to a mere two workers per senior: : - Elsewhere, the situation looks still grimmer. In Germany and Japan the over-60s are already 22% of the popula- ~ =" f COO) Sture ACCEPTANC tion. In Italy; 24%. And by 2025 they’re = forecast to reach 25% even in China and India. : As ever more seniors demand ever | ~ more dollars from ever fewer workers,’ inter-gencrational relations could ‘sour’ into all kinds of vicious social strife. |. ~' Clearly, the only solution is MORE BABIES ! And if Canadians are no longer pre- . pared to use the bedroom as they did in the 1960s, they’d better tling the gates ~~ open even wider to healthy young ; immigrants and refugees ready to do it: for them. Ma Bee {n Canada the truth is that such new, taxpaying workers are already doing |” much to postpone. the day when poor. old grandpa and grandma are left to.” shiver and starve in the cold and the. - dark! Teel eget 000. : POLITICS IN BC will be analyzed by. guest speaker Chris Delariey, President. of Reform BC, at the West Van =.” Chamber cf Commerce 7:15 a.m breakfast meeting Tuesday, Jan.11;° Himie.Xoshevoy . 3 birthday wishes tc year-old Trixie Snelgrove; a foundin: member of St.David’s Churc : J» G00 WRIGHT OR WRONG: It’s the that stops most people: a ary npright@uniserve.com Letters must include your name, a full address & telephone number. : * VIA e-mail: trenshaw@nsnews.com Display Advertising Manager ~ 986-0511 (317)... "986-2131 (114) intemei- kttp://wesd! eanews.com