EF

Dear Editor:

1 cleaned owt my son's room
recently, and I threw out a number
of things — broken pieces, dead
batteries, bubble gum wrappers,
ripped posters. Anybody would
have thrown these out.

Everyone may not have thrown
out a perfectly good smallish post-
er, laminated. This picture showsd
a cute little boy around seven years
old, I'd say, with a tough look on
his face, sneakers undone, sweater
ripped, dirty — all the clements to
stir a mother’s heart. Underneath
the picture was the caption: I
PLAY TO WIN.

I threw it out in a fit of firey. Pd

MAILBOX

tried to get rid of it a couple of
weeks earlier when my son first
showed it to me. I'd wanted to cut
off the words and keep the picture,
but the accursed thing found its
way back into Alex's room to hang
on the door. Who knows what it
represented to him,

Now, in light of the heartache of
the Ben Johnson story, | think
again of that poster that irked me.
I guess Ben was one of those who
played to win. And had we been in
Johnson’s shoes 1’m sure we would
have made the same choices, The
rewards were just too tempting.

The rewards for being the win-
ner, that is. There are no reco,,niz-

Let parents do

firework

Dear Editor:

Halloween brings firecrackers
and fireworks in the hands of ado-
lescent pranksters.

I am a mother of a 6%-month-
old daughter and have already had
a firecracker go off near us by a
prankster. Needless to say, they
were dealt with. But I feel that was
not my last encounter.

Many years ago some friends
and myself did some experiments
on the destructiveness of
firecrackers and fireworks. For
example, a Ladyfinger firecracker
was able to blow apart a small piz-
za box and a Roman Candle was
able to burn the paint off cars.

Could you imagine what they
could do if somebody threw or
fired one of those into a baby
buggy or stroller? If they could do
that much damage to a car or a
box, think of what it could do toa
baby or somebody fooling around
with these dangerous toys.

& Trish Vickery welcomes ail
# her clients to her new &
8 location. :

displays

Please kids, for your safety as
well as mine, my daughter’s and all
the other children’s, let your
parents or your legal guardians
shew you the safe way, or better
yet, let them do the firework
displays.

Antoinette and Chera Oakley
North Vancouver

. ie yee

aying to win
downfall of

sen

ed rewards in our society for being
an “alse-can."

The way we play now does a
great disservice to us all. Only the
winner wins, and he wins all —
money, fame, recognition and all
the chances, All doors open. The
other competitors vanish. They
disappear in the glow of the win-
ner.

No wonder, then, people make
decisions to cheat, What other
rewards are there for your efforts?
I know, we all know, that there
really are benefits to participating,
to striving, to being part of a
group, a team. Mothers tell their
children this every day.

But this knowledge doesn’t sur-
vive the home. When we lift our
eyes to the dominant culture, none
of this is evident out there. We on-
ly applaud and reward the winners.

But how does a winner win
without his fellow competitors? He
needs them to provide the heap he
has to climb, they need him to
provide the apex.

It was a loss and embarrassment
for Ben Johnson and Canada. It
was a victory for those who have
been striving and working and
resisting the temptation to use
drugs to enhance their perfor-
mances, Cheating lost.

Patricia Fraser
West Vancouver

988-6321

Kenmeth J. Baxter

Lawyer

310 - 145 Chadwick Court, North Vancouver
. (just south of the market — next to the Seabus)
Lonsdaie Quay Plaza
i Rid Caen

EET kt ae

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A @ Reading
;° Math

7 - Sunday, October 23, 1988 — North Shore News
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