@ -— Wednesday, December 23, 1992 - North Shore News

oan

ome re A

irq ws

AN THEN, AFTER NAFTA, SANTA MOVED THE ENTIRE WORKSHOP

"TO TISUANA ...

NEWS VIEWPOINT Be merry; be wary

also the season for making wary.

As in road wary; as in not mixing merriment with personal transportation; as in not drinking aad driving.

The message is an annual tradition. But it is also one that many people make an annual tradition of ignoring. For some it is a fatal mistake.

While the drinking and driving message continues to make inroads in the public consciousness, its repetition is invaluable. For many memories are short, and many ears are thick.

Last year, for example, 180 people in B.C. were killed and nearly 5,300 were in- jured in 6,800 traffic accidents caused by drinking drivers.

T HE SEASON of making merry is

They weren’t listening properly last year.

The cest to repair the damage caused by those accidents took about 21¢ of every premium dollar paid to ICBC.

Drinking drivers cost B.C.’s economy more than $130 million annually. But the cost to repair the psychological scars caus- ed by drinking and driving accidents can- not be so easily quantified. Some never heal.

This yenr’s Christmas CounterAttack period runs to Jan. 3.

Extra precautions are in order to avoid becoming another tragic statistic.

You might have heard this before, but this time listen: don’t drink and drive. it could spare you much more than an un- pleasant brush with the law.

LETTER OF THE DAY

Many happy memories of heritage home

Dear Editor:

My late father was a good

I always enjoy your North Shore Heritage column.

1 was particularly interested in the item about 343 West 16th, a house I know well,

However, I would like to cor- rect an error and provide some additional information for your columnist.

The ‘‘Darling family’? mention- ed were of American ancestry and this particular branch were centred in Montreal.

Harold Darling came to Van-

Publisher . Managing Editor . Associate Editor

Peter Speck . . Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright

couver shortly after World War I and established Harold Darling & Co. (general insurance) and Brit- ish-American Securities (financial and insurance services).

Mr. Darling bought 343 West 16th St. from a Mr. King(?) in 1936. The Darlings previously liv- ed at 404 Somerset Cr.

They were responsible for an addition and renovations to the subject house.

The house was sold after Mr. Darling’s death in 1943.

Display Advertising 960-0511 Real Estate Advertising 985-6982

Classified Advertising 986-6222 Fax

Distribution Subscriptions 986-1337

friend of Mr. Darling’s. He joined Mr. Darling’s firm as secretary- treasurer in 1923 and later became office manager.

After Mr. Darling’s death he became general manager, remain- ing with the firm until its sale and dissolution in 1952.

As a result of that friendship, I have happy memories of time spent at this house.

Jan F. Morrison North Vancouver

986-1337 +8 Printed on

85-3227 10% recycled

INSIGHTS -

| Don't ruin the |magic day with expectations!

AROUND 11 p.m. every Dec. 25 the same thought always hits me — what was all the fuss really about?

Be honest. Has the same thought never hit YOU, as you prepare for a sound night's sleep before battling with the Boxing Day sales?

Or maybe you're ashamed ta admit that Christmas — which cost you a bundle — could have been anything less than a roaring success,

Problem denial, the shrinks call it.

“What problem?” you ask in- dignantly. ‘‘Wright’s middle name must be Scrooge,”’ you mutter to yourself. Sorry to disappoint you.

I happen to think Christmas is a simply wonderful idea. But it’s not the first wonderful idea to de- velop a problem that needs fixing.

The symptoms of the problem are known to a lot of people. Not least to the stores -- saved an- nually from bankruptcy only by the four or five Christmas weeks that bring 30%-40% of their total sales.

They are known even better to the Sally Ann’s turkey dinner servers. To Food Bank workers. And to Christmas Bureau yolun- teers. But the problem is much wider than handouts to the needy.

{ts many other forms are all too familiar to the staffs of hospital emergency wards — packed every Christmas Day with victims of drunk driving, over-indulgence, anxiety stress, blood pressure and heart trouble, and dangerous depression resulting from loneliness.

And to learn about its starkest form, talk to the phone operators at the C:isis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre, to whom calls for help soar by 20% every Christmas. Not much ho- ho-ho here.

So what IS this modern Christmas problem at the season expected to be nothing but giving and goodwill alf round?

Quite simply, it’s caused by EXPECTING outstripping GIV- ING — with goodwill often finishing a poor third.

On the one hand, giving often falls far short of the very modest expectations of the needy. On the other, the kid given a Nintendo when he wanted a Super Nintendo -~ the girlfriend eager for gems who gets costume jewelry instead — can find Christmas a rotten letdown.

These are crude examples, though not uncommon — given

Noel

HITHER AND YON

our modern focus on the material. But lots of non-material expecta- tions also bite the dust. In par- ticular, the crazy notion that Christmas will make everyone and everything wonderful and perfect.

No way, of course. The danger is that the stresses of the buildup weeks will make them even LESS . wonderfu! and perfect than on the other 362 days of the year. Result: letdown again. Pius GUILT.

The solution? First, expect ab- solutely nothing -— you'll never be disappointed and may even have quite a few happy surprises.

Second, give generously to the less fortunate. You never know if, one day, you too...

Third, give most generously of all to YOURSELF — in time, help and companionship. That gift will last long after the material baubles that nearly bankrupt you end up in the recycling bin.

Above all, RELAX. Christmas isn’t a cordon bleu or a homes beautiful contest, or any other perfection exercise. And the surest way to ruin it is by trying to make it into any of those things.

You haven’t a hope of suc- ceeding. So why not just settle for a couple of expectation-less, go- with-the-flow days — and the many raagic moments they can produce all on their own?

WRIGHT OR WRONG: The Peace on Earth of Christmas comes to parents of the young on- ly after all the batteries have worn out.

Sales & Marketing Director. Linda Stewart newsprint

Comptroller Doug Foot

North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualhed under Schedule 111, Paragraph 31 of the Excise Taa Act, is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sumiay by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Second Class Mad Registration Number 3885 Subscriptions Nanh and West Vancouver. $25 per year. Mailing rales available on request Subnussions are welcome bul we cannot accep! responsibility for unsolicited maternal inctuding manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope.

Newsroom 985-2131 Administration 985-2131

NEWS photo Mike Waketietd

CUB SCOUTS (left to right) Mark Speed and James Green (with James’ beaver brother Kevin) helped deliver 150 poinsettias to Seymour-area shut-ins. The festive plants were donated by Cap College’ 's landscape and horticultural program.

SUNDAY + WEDNRSOAY + FRIDAY

1139 Lonsdale Avenue, SDA DIVISION North Vancouver, B.C.

V7M 2Ha

Entire contents © 1992 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)