Editorial and Letters

The announcement by Alberta Hockey last week that body checking would be banned in the Peewee division was great news. For many long-time advocates, it had been too long coming but, on matters that are as divisive as this one has been, nothing changes until public opinion eventually swings enough to change the balance. That has finally happened.

Last week we were shocked by the Bangladesh tragedy in which over 600 garment factory workers were killed and many more injured when the building in which they worked collapsed. It was appalling to learn that the factory owner knew the building had been condemned because it was structurally unsafe and yet he ordered his employees to continue to work in it.

It is common for any of us to get messages on our telephones from people we do not know. They are often from telemarketers and we tend to regard them as irritating nuisance calls.

We find it almost meaningless to be told that in Canada there are 13.3 million people engaged in volunteering their time and talents - with no promise of personal gain - for the good of their neighbours, their communities, and even strangers that may live close to home or anywhere in the world.

In recent years my email has consisted of an increasing number of jokes about seniors. The last one was about a man peacefully puttering in his front yard flower beds when a car crashed through the hedge and stopped in the middle of his lawn. A wrinkled, white-haired 94-year-old woman with a colorful hat emerged.

Throughout last week, accolades for bravery continued to pour in for both Adam Shaw and his dog Rocky. They were being recognized for their unhesitant courage and innovative teamwork in the miraculous rescue of two little girls who had fallen into the Saskatchewan River.

I took 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit off my book shelf and it flipped open at a short essay entitled "Signed by Hand." I started to read it and couldn't stop until I had read it all. It was thought-provoking and a well-spent investment of about ten minutes of my time.

Dr.

More than seventy years ago, I fell in love with a travelling salesman. He was smitten, too. Camrose was his home town and we had both graduated from Camrose High School the same year as well as from the Camrose Lutheran College business diploma course the following year.