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i; - Orono Weekly limes. Wednesday, January 30, 2002 Arthur Black Have ! mentioned ray aversion to Bed and Breakfasts? Nothing rational. The accommodations at most B&B's are infinitely superior to what you get at your average average Super 88 or Holiday Inn. God knows the meals (albeit only breakfast) are invariably better than the India rubber omelets and cardboard fruit plates you get in most hotels. It's not the board or bed that puts me off B&B's. It's the...forced camaraderie. I am not, by nature, a joyous joyous morning person. Given my druthers; I would grumble and gripe at that miserable sonuvagun who lives in my bathroom mirror until at least my second cup of morning coffee. Nothing, for me, is more tying than to attempt to act like a civilized human before, say, 11 AM. And yet. . .and yet. Consider my predicament. I am in Calgary on a nippy December evening to assist in a public reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The group organizing the event has put me up in a Bed and Breakfast twenty-minutes from downtown. My flight is late, thanks to intensified security at my check-in in Vancouver (And a good thing too - an eighty-year old grandmother in front of me almost got on the plane with a pair of toenail clippers in her vanity bag). At any rate, my taxi lets me off at the B&B at close tp midnight. Will anyone anyone be up? Will I have to knock? As it turns out, no. The door opens ere I press the buzzer. I stare into the flinty eyes of a man with a pistol on his belt: Behind him, another man, also packing hip heat. "Helluva security system , you've ! got here" I murmur nervously, suppressing an urge to drop to my knees, sob and throw my arms in the air. Turns out they're Mounties. I ask them if they've perhaps mistaken me for my less fortunate cousin, Conrad, but it turns out their presence has nothing to do with me. They're on 24-hour guard duty, watching . over ' another guest at the Bed and Breakfast. "Who is it?" I ask. "Dick Cheney? Ralph Klein? Madonna?" "It's Doctor Sima Samar", the owner of the B&B tells me. And in Have you suffered enough yet? response to my blank stare, explains that Doctor Simar is the just-named deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan. Oh, yeah. That Doctor Sima Samar. And she's sleeping across the hall from me in a Bed and Breakfast in Calgary. Which is as close as ' I'll ever get to (you'll excuse the theological cross-dressing) a saint-in-the-making. Doctor Samar is on the cusp of what will surely be the most important important assignment of her life - to cobble that sad, cripple- backed, punched-up and beaten beaten down piece of earthly real estate known as Afghanistan - - back together again. And she just might pull it off. Already Doctor Samar has accomplished more than any ten people I know, against unimaginable odds. Afghanistan has been at war for-what? A quarter of a century? More than half the doctor's life. And for all of her adult years, Doctor Samar has been doing everything she could to all,eviate the ravages of war on her fellow Afghanis. Especially the female ones. Under the Taliban, women were, slaves -- school children, children, even worse. Canadian schoolkids take ft as a matter of course that they will have computer labs, gym equipment, te^t books. Schools in Afghanistan are lucky to have blackboards or chalk. Under the Taliban, girls didn't get to go to school at all. Doctor Samar opened schools for rural Afghani children. children. The Taliban closed them. She opened non-profit hospitals and clinics. The Taliban closed them too: But Doctor Samar wouldn't quit. Finally, the Taliban decreed that the schools could re-open - provided no girls were educated educated beyond Grade Six. "Fine" said Doctor Samar. She then reclassified the grading grading system. Grade Twelve was re-named Grade Six. She's paid her dues. Her husband of.four years was picked up for questioning enuring enuring the Russian occupation. He never came home. Doctor Samar received death threats and was eventually hounded out of her country. She was on a speaking tour of Canadian'cities to raise interest interest in the plight of Afghanis There are many different ways to look at a problem, says Dr. Matthew Stewart, who sees himself as a highly creative problem solver. "When you do what your heart wants you to do, great things can happen," stated the Peterborough doctor in a recent interview with Orono Weekly Times. "A lot of people people have the answers to their questions in their heart, they 1 just need help accessing them." Dr. Matthew Stewart, Ph.D. Stewart will be leading two seminars next month at Terrens Wellness Centre in Orono, "An invitation to kick around some fresh ideas with someone who is trustworthy and has credentials," says the the doctor. "A forum for people people to bring their struggle to a safe place." when the new government named her deputy prime minister minister in charge of women's affairs. That's how she came to be in the room across the hall from me, softly Snoring, in a Calgary B&B. Did I talk to her? Did I take this once-in-a-lifetime chance to connect to one of the most important people presently walking the earth? I wish. But I came down for breakfast that next morning to find Simar Samar and her RCMP entourage had gone. On to another engagement in Saskatoon or Thunder Bay. My loss. My advice: Never pass up a chance to stay in a B&B. Spirituality and Sexuality will be the topic of the first seminar to : be held on Wednesday evening, February 6, 2002/ The seminar will deal with topics such as sex as forgiveness, forgiveness, primitive sex, sacred sex, resistance to sex and sex a prayer "Very few adults can have an open hearted discussion discussion about sex and spirituality," spirituality," says Stewart, "you can't just call up your mom or the priest and have this discussion," discussion," he added. Stewart invites you to bring your questions, laugh and learn; because this seminar seminar will be light-hearted, respectful and honest. Stewart, who takes on the role of a teacher, says he gives people choices, which often leads to them making a series of small changes in their lives.: 'Let sucCess grab you!' is the title of the* second seminar. seminar. Many people . have accumulated accumulated a lifetime of experience experience on what doesn't work. "That makes them an expert on what doesn't wofk," said Stewart "They consider themselves t a. failure. However, an expert i§ not a failure," says Stewart, "and people ate so afraid of being a failure." . • At the beginning of a new year, people often want to find out how to be more successful, successful, says the Dr. "It's the definition of success that's important." Stewart/says his seminar will help people be more alive. "It's amazing how many people are afraid of success success because they feel their Hfe would change," stated Stewart. "But success won't grab you by itself; you have to invite it." The Dr. invites you to turn frustration into liberation and to stop seeking approval. "Have you. suffered enough yet?" he asks. It's like when you're leam r ing to walk, says Stewart, it's the letting go that's important. "People are afraid of letting go of something familiar." The Success seminar will be held on Wednesday, February 27, 2002. Both seminars will begin at 7:00 p.m. and cost $30. Seating is limited. To reserve a space, call Terrens Wellness Centre at 905-983-5000. IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE IN THE ORONO WEEKLY TIMES 983-5301 UP-COMING SEMINAR Wed., February 6th, 7pm- 9pm <6 & Sexuality" hosted by Dr. Matthew Stewart • Cost: $30 Winter Cloth i ns Clearance Additional 10% Off With this Coupon 5324 Main Street, Orono • (905) 983^5000 E5u rger $^69 and Fries with coupon \, pne pdp FREE SUB Hwq 115, north of the 3rd Concession, Newcastle -