4 - Wednesday, August 6, 1986 - North Shore News Bob Hunter @ strictly personal ® IN THE WAKE of the Socred leadership contest, I find myself puzzling over that little word ‘‘ambi- tion.”’ Ambition and politics: the two are virtually the same. In fact, the root of the word ambition is ambire, which was the practice of Roman candidates for office go- ing out in the streets and hustling votes, like common whores. Yet ambition, as a stirring in the psyche, had ta be around a Jong time before the Romans started voting. One presumes it goes back to, well, maybe the very beginning of humanness. In the search for ways to distinguish ourselves from the animals, we put a lot of emphasis on those large frontal lobes of ours. The human brain is what makes us great, we smile. Yet whales have larger brains, larger even in relative size to our bodies, and it is we who rule the seas, obviously, not them. Of course, there’s that word ‘trie,’ a word that iakes up more space in the effort to define it in the dictionary than any almost any other word we have. It is possibly the supreme act, to have control over others. Basicaily, the people who am- bired did so in order to rule. So between ambition and rulership we see a tight, tight connection. It is possible to sugpest, in fact, that the person who does not seek power is simply lacking ambition. We can seek wealth and fame and almost any other kind of ego gratification, but if we don’t grab for the golden ring of political power, we are essentially drones, no matter how successful. I ran across a comment by a person working for a political party a while ago to the effect that politics was the ultimate game. All the other games amounted to dithering. Sex. Making money. Art. Science. Sports. Religion. As meaningful activities, none of them ran more than a distant second compared to the action of tuling or at least helping someone to rule, and therefore ruling through a surrogate. So maybe it is not just that power is addicting and corrup- ting, maybe, worse than that, the lust for it is so elemental it could be catled our basic drive. You have to wonder about art and wealth and even happiness. | Do they matter, compared? Peo- ple get bored, after a while, with just having things and going places, so wealth is never quite an 4 end in itself. Artists are always restless. They are also very often afraid to mess with the real world, and while they might want to make the great movie, they'd just as soon have their stunt men, i.e., the politicians, do the work for them. Artists are too smari for their own good, in other words. It makes them lazy. Athletes? Come on. virtual slaves. In the flashfire of power vs. love, I notice the burn-out rate of marriages in the political arena is fairly awesome. Who's got time for a relationship? A few make it, obviously, but it has to be one ego allowing itself to be totally eclipsed by another, which sounds pretty dreary to me. This doesn’t diminish the aphrodisiacal quality of power, I'm sure. [t’s just that when | look at the majority of people in power, it bids fair to boggle the mind anybody finding any of them sexy. Like sex itself, the exercise of power tends to make even the good-lcoking ones comical after a while, the example of John- Turner leaping immediately to mind. Given all this, the people in power are the ones with that mysterious, brutal, essential quality of ambition. The rest of us either ain’t got it or we ain’t got the talent, kid. I know the limits of my own ambition. Beyond a certain point — say, two committee meetings — I lose my drive. I just want to go off and do my thing. I's no deal that a guy like me lacks ambition. | mean, obvious- ly. But it was interesting to learn that Jimmy Pattison pondered for a couple of days before shak- ing off the lure of the premier- ship, which could have been his on a platter. Although it would have been a cruel process, he would have wrought a revolution in this pro- vince, 1 am sure, maybe this country. Of course, he might just as easily have blown it. But there you are. Even mighty Jimmy Pattison, it turns out, lacks ambition. They're W. Vancouver man jailed for breaking probation FAILURE to comply with condi- tions of his probation has landed a West Vancouver man in jail. David Lauder, 19, was sentenced to 45 days in jai! after he pleaded guilty to failing to keep his proba- tion officer advised of changes in employment. Charges of failing to make scheduled reports to his probation terms officer, failure to notify the officer of a change in Lauder’s address and failure to complete designated hours of community work that were also laid against Lauder, were stayed by the Crown, Lauder was sentenced Friday by North Vancouver provincial court Judge J.B. Paradis. Man charged with assault A MAN OF no fixed address will appear in North Vancouver pro- vincial court Aug. 8 to face a charge of assault causing bodily harm. Bryan Bollo, 23, following a July 31 which he is alleged to assaulted another male. Appearing before North Van- couver provincial court Judge J.B. Paradis on Aug. 1, Bollo had his case adjourned for a week. was charged incident in have Interior Flat Latex @ Washabfe © Many pastel colours ® No salle: spatter #3350 After sale regular price will be 29.98 SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY A i OFFER. ONLY 1/2 PRICE Gloss Latex Exterior Semi- #7100 White only REG. 26.98 SALE 1344 S Tater BOW! 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