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Pap THE HERALD OUTLOOK December IS It Environmental committment More and more Canadians are becoming environmentally con scious and for two main reasons Simply put the main reason is out of necessity Mankind is slow ly killing this planet and something had to be done to slow the deadly process Procedures are now being implemented to clean up the mess we have collec tively made The second reason we are becoming more environmentally conscious might best fall under the heading aesthetic concern What kind of legacy would be left to future generations Our children their children and their childrens children Locally we have a number of groups and individuals who are attempting to raise the banner of the environment on high It is doubtful however these groups and individuals could come close to the committment to the en vironment a British Columbia couple and their children have made Kerry Banks wrote about the environment feats of Michael and Michelle and their two young daughters and in the Nov Dec issue of the magazine The family combined produced only oneandahalf bags of garbage in 1989 Thats no typo thats cor rect oneandahalf bags of gar bage in one whole year They became strict adherents to the three Rs reduce reuse and recycle after returning to Canada from a threeyear teaching mission in Zimbabwe Returning to a land of plenty after time spent in a poverty- stricken land imprinted on the Tomichichs how wasteful and selfish North American society really was They began participating in a community recycling program and strictly adhered to it Food scraps are used as compost They buy their groceries in bulk and take along recycled plastic bags for produce plastic containers for fish and their own cloth bags Their homelife has undergone a change Only quarterinch dabs of toothpaste are used and they use soap bars to wash their hair rather than shampoo Shaving soap rather than shaving foam is CoRn Gibson Edltors- Notebook used and disposable razors are never purchased The family washes dishes with soap flakes which contain no phosphates Homemade salad dressing ket chup etc purchased in bulk is stored either in recyclable glass bottles or refutable plastic con tainers Old clothing is donated to the needy they write on both sides of a piece of paper and reuse envelopes whenever possible Egg cartons are returned to the store A sign is posted on their front door that reads We do riot ac cept any flyers ad mail or junk mall We dont discuss religion or politics and we dont want to buy anything The keep a list of what they must throw into their oneandahalf bags of garbage a year and are still looking at ways to cut down even more Into the garbage goes light bulbs nonrechargeable bat teries toothpaste containers Tips frozen juice containers cereal box lining wax paper and rubber gloves Also and drinking glasses and their childrens refuse including stickers gum and candy wrappers shiny paper clear cellophane paper and punctured balloons The Tomichichs have a basic philosophy Do what you can Look at what you bring into your house Look at your basic needs Michael Tomichich adds I think youll find that a lot of your needs are just wants Pretty high standards to live up to However our environment will reap the benefits of the sacrifices being made by families like the in making our world a better place in which to live Editorial The Halton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Halton Hills Established 1 866 A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited 45 Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 K ROBERT MALCOLMSON Publisher and General Manager 8772201 CLASSIFIED Joan CIRCULATION Maria Shad Doll ACCOUNTING Jennla Hsplchuk Accountanl and Inga Shier SUBSCRIPTION HATES SO The claim copyright on ill original and malarial craatad by Ha employee and In newspaper Adirertlifng Tho agrees thai shell not for damages arising of In advorliso- beyond paid tor space actually occupied by thai portion of lha advarlliamont In which lha error occurred whether such la to Of Ma tenants or otherwise and hot thill ba no liability lor Insertion any beyond the amount paid for such Japanese god of underwear Poets Corner PEEKING THROUGH THE KEYHOLE There I was In my After mommy tucked me in to sleep I new Santa was coming Down the stairway I did creep With my dolly in my arms Tightly held so mommy wont hear Step by step and 0 so lightly Through the key hole I did peer There was Santa in his redcoat He was holding mommy near And I seen him kiss my mommy And I heard him call her dear There were parcels and more gifts Strewn neath the Christmas tree There was Santa stealing mommy Leaving daddy and little me And I seen them holding hands As they dance around the tree He was calling her his darling While his reindeer waited patiently Why didnt daddy come In soon Then ole Santa he would leave Wouldnt take my mommy And leave little me to grieve Mommy didnt know what I seen As through the keyhole as I peep She thought her little baby Was upstairs and fast asleep My eyes are filled with tears And my wee heart It is broke For Santas taking mommy To the North Pole thats no joke Clasping dolly to my pink I tread away upstairs Crawled Into my little bed And I cried out all my cares It was early in the morning I awoke just to see If old Santa had stole mommy Prom beneath our Christmas tree There lay mommy safely sleeping Holding daddy by the hand Santa hadnt taken mommy I was the gladdest baby in the land And I never lole my mommy Through the key hole I was peeking And I seen her dancing And with Santa Claus as peaking Hazel Acton At long last one of the sensa tional secrets of Japans success is revealed It seems part of Japans amaz ing economic achievement can be attributed to the tact that it has a god of underwear I am not making this up This fact is passed along to us by non other than The London Daily Telegraph a newspaper so dry and respectable that it comes off the presses coated in two inches of dust The Telegraph has not been amused since Queen Victoria ut tered her one and only witticism and it would certainly not stoop to tomfoolery now According to The Telegraph Japanese capitalists continue to pay homage to guardian spirits and local deities For instance Ebisu and Inari the foremost gods of money in the Shinto religion have shrines in commer cial districts and miniature shrines in shops The paper adds Many cor porations have their own guar dian deities For example Wacoal the countrys top manufacturer of womens lingerie has a shrine to the underwear deity located next to its headquarters Well At this point the Western mind is permitted to boggle brief- ly Just for starters lets ponder the question What does the underwear deity look like Is this a gentle goddess of lacey frilly things or a nononsense deity in corsets and supportstockings Is this deity truly unique in the annals of world religion Or have scholars of comparative religion already posited a connection with Ian Weir the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Before we get carried away of course its probably best to pause and consider the possibility that reverence for the underwear deity may be a lighthearted hob by rather than a religious obses sion among Japans lingerie manufacturers In other words its quite possi ble the Wacoal Corporation erected this shrine out of fond ness for tradition and not because it is run by men who are prone to crying Profits are down this quarter Sacrifice an accountant to the wrathful goddess Still it makes you wonder if the Japanese arent on to something here The plain fact is that Canada is singularly lacking in local deities We naturally have lots of people who think they are but this isnt quite the same thing And you have to wonder if this isnt a major loss After all believing in a pantheon of minor gods and goddesses is a wonderfully reassuring way of making sense of all the vagaries and misfortunes of life Back in my days as a reporter I used to play pool with a col league who decided to start believing in Racchus god of snooker As games grew tense Sam was wont to pour libations on the floor and call loudly upon to shield him against sewering This got us kicked out of a few pool halls But it opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing the world Im not necessarily suggesting that we all get religious about everything we find mysterious and troubling Youd look pretty silly offering incense to a malfunctioning computer or cry ing 0 Great Instabank Machine pray disgorge my card which you in your wrath have swallow ed But there are certainly times when a religious approach would help We might feel better about the looming recession for instance if the Prime Minister were able to stand beside a small but Wasteful shrine and explain The god of interest rates is angry but we shall appease him This is why Michael Wilson is wearing garlands of flowers and trying to look like a virgin In fact Im starting to per suade myself that part of our pro blem as Canadians is that theres far too little pagan religion in our everyday lives It may seem bizarre but it clearly works just witness Japan mighty and prosperous home of the underwear dcily In deed this casts a whole new light on abject in ability with the Japanese juggernaut What hope exists for a society which lacks so much as a Patron Saint of Boxer Shorts