4 -— Sunday, October 15, 1989 - North Shore News EVERY ONCE in a while. you have to put things into perspective. This is especially true for writers, who tend to live too much of their existence with their psyches stuck like a wad of gum to the top of their craniums. Putting words down on paper is an abstract task at best. At worst, it gets you so far removed from the “real’’ world that you start suf- fering from the serious mental utterances public. We also wind up putting forth our best wild guesses about what is happening to us, as opposed to crawling off to 2 cor- ner to make tentative notes for posterity. This has to do with the time- honored observation that the unexamined life is not worth liv- ing. Writing is one solid way to examine the events of your life — better than talking, which is mostly an exercise in flashing your latest cute, witty notion, as opposed to reflecting deepiy upon anything. ; f, ndividual death, caused by individuals, makes no sense that I can see at all, other than the groaningly bleak point that life may, after ail, be futile and bizarre, rather than meaningful. ”’ problem of thinking that things are true simply because you write about them that way. I write too much —- have all my adult life. I'm addicted to it. Writing is a wonderful hit. It forces you to compose your thoughts. It requires concentra- tion. These are good disciplines. I think that everyone should write something down every day. The diary was a great invention. In the age of recording devices and telephones, diary writing seems to have more or less gone the way of the Dodo. Which is a tragedy, I think. We have traded deeply thought-out communication for instantaneous communication. It’s too easy now to communicate. The value of the exercise has been eroded. We tend now to commu- nicate what comes off the top of our heads about things that hap- pened today. And as we get more in- stantaneous, we lose the chance to re-think things before we make our ~ QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE FRIDAY, CCTOBER 27 6:30 & 9:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 5:00 & 8:00 P.M. Tickets available at oi! TICKETMASTER locations, and HOGARTH s Eaton's & Woodward's ntores, InfoCentres in major mais (CHARGE BY PHONE: 260-4044 Broughl to you by 4 weesetes Crteeen se AE Owes Serf San), CaaNanaa Maybe it’s t.e fact that we’ve just had Thanksgiving, the most reflective time of time, but 1 find myself pausing to wonder, one more time, what is life all about? The world seems genuinely to be going to hell in a handbasket. ’Twas ever thus, you say. And I agree, from a human perspective, calamity was always only a twitch away. If it wasn’t sabre-toothed tigers prowling outside the cave, it was hostile armies at the gates, earthquakes, floods, pestilence, you name it. And always the certainty of in- dividual death. I will cease to be. You will cease to be. Our children, parents, rela- tives, friends —- everyone is doom- ed. “A man,”’ as my old skipper friend, John Cormack, used to say, “‘is born to die.”” Not so, I challenged him: ‘A man is born to live!”’ Live, die — probably two sides of the same coin, and we can only see it frora one side so long as we are alive. Afterwards... weil, you tell me. If I ever knew, I don’t zemember. As to whether I ever wiil know, ! don’t know, although I trust. Whatever the case, our time is noticeably different from other times in human history. We are flirting with true apocalypse, which just means not just the destruction of the individual, but possibly of the entire race, along with every other species in ex- istence on this planet. Individual death is one thing. Planetary death is another. Individual death, caused by in- dividuals, makes no sense that i can see at all, other than the groaningly bleak point that life may, after all, be futile and bizarre, rather thar meaningful. Against the unfolding mega- event of the ecological razing of Planet Earth, what does modern life come down to? As far as I can see, the answer, if there cana be said to be a single rough answer, is to be found in the mystery of each day as it comes. Certainly, while there zre a few events in the world that I can judge with any real degree of certainty, except for what I read (put down by other writers, you'll note), there is one arena in which I am in- credibly knowledgeable — and that is the realm of my own private life with my family and friends. Somehow, despite the great issues of our time, I am sure that it is at this level that 1 do my real learning. This is where ! find cut about the real world. Africa and the ozone layer are necessarily matters of conjecture and data flow. It is at home, or with my friends, that I get to deal intimate- ly with life. Who do I have my deepest conversations with? My brother, my wife, a friend or two. What do we discuss? Family. Other friends. Personal trivia, Past affairs. Present traumas and triumphs. Personai stuff. Stuff we actually have a hope of under- standing, because it is at a level that engages our emotions and memories, the inner voyages of our souls, as opposed to merely our in- tellect. @ ¢ STOP SMOKING e WEIGHT CONTROL Includes Follow-up Program CALL US NOW 922-4266 LASER LIFE THERAPY CENTRE 350-1425 MARINE DRIVE WEST VANCOUVER VILLAGE SQUARE sicirs) (up YOU HAVE A STRONG VOICE | IN PATRICK BRUSKIEWICH There is no more important issue facing us today than the Protection of the { Environment. | am_working to better protect the Quailty of Life and the Natural vironment inthe District of North Vancouver.. On your behalf | have taken an active part in efforts to preserve the following impor- tant community resources. © Lynn Canyoniinter-River * Deep Covelindian Arm * Maplewood Mudflats More needs to be done to build a better future. With this in mind ! have worked to esiablish the Task Force on Environment issues. With your help the Task Force will prepare an Environmental Pro- | tection Strategy and an Environment Protection Bylaw to bet- ter preserve the Quality of Life in the District of North Vancouver. tfook forward to your comments and suggestions on what we need to do as a community. Do give me a call (925-0600) with your ideas and concerns. What we do together today to better Protect the Environ- ; ment will make a better tomorrow. - Are You Getting Your Share of the North Shore's Booming Retail Trade? Business has increased 14% in the last 2 years. ccording to Statistics Canada, the North Shore's retail trade has skyrocketed from $893 million in , 1986 to a whopping $1.34 billion in 1988. That means that in excess of $141 million more was spent in 1988 than in 1986. Is your business showing this same kind of growth? If not, talk to one of our Advertising Consultants — they can show you how to increase your share of this rich and expanding market. THE VONCE OF NONTH AED WHEST VANCOUVER Call Display Advertising gaara sea 980-0511 Tne Sources: Statistics Canada, Communications Management Inc.