WHUTTY FREE PRESS'. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5.1986, PAGE 5 "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility again8t every form of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson Adv ise and Dissen A well-planned tour *Last,à unday morning, 7 a.m. The air'is crisp with the tem- perature hovering slightly abvove freezIng. The sky ls mostly overcast but the sun f 1Ilters through at times. On any other Sunday morning the streets would be deserted but last Sunday a couple of hundred peopie huddled In smaii groupe to witness and participate ln the triumph of one man,, Rick Hansen. In a time when most of uswiil get Into our cars to drive two blocks to the corner store, the sight of a "cripple" who has wheel-chaired his way around the world ls Indeed something to remember. Strange marathons are becoming almost a symbol of the Canadian psyche. When Terry Fox dIpped his artificiai leg ln. the Atlantic Ocean to begin his cross-Canada run, the media was there to dutifuly record what most believed.was an iii- conceived and hoeplessly doomed effort to draw attention to the need for cancer research. When, againet ail odds, Fox kept -on going, the doubt turned to amazement and then to adulation. No longer would the Canadian people regard anythIng-less as worthy of attention. Steve Fonyo suffered from Terry's shadow through most of his run and only ln completing the cross-country trek did he emerge as a cuit hero In his own right. Terry's and Steve's runs were such a hard act to follow that anot *her Canadian, Richard Beecroft of Toronto recentiy com- pieted a world tour on a tricycle ln relative obscurity. Beecroft, a victim of multiple scierosis may unfortunately have ieft a very wrong Impression about a very debilitatIng disease. Given the footsteps that he rode ln, Rick Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour could have been the biggest flop since the Edsel; but instead, the tour ls one of the best planned and or- chestrated operations ever laid down for charity. To begin with, Hansen ls a publicIst's dream-handsome, well groomed, well built (from the waist up), polite, weil- spoken, modest, ... and dedIcated to a cause (spinal cord research> which may not be quite as emotionai as cancer but measures up very weli nonetheless. The World Tour has been planned with military precision to achieve a particular goal-$1O miliion-whIch should be easily achieved. Rick's other goalr-to make people aware of the potential of the disabled-is aiso achievable, but oniy If more of the disabied come out of the woodwork and utilize their potentials. The Free Press has received three packages of advance pubiicity material on the Hansen tour in the iast two mon- tha-not Just press releases but glossy foiders with bifographical materiai, photographs, itineraries, background -material, etc.-the kInd of high quality (expensive) materiai that precedes a new movie release or major professional sports event. The people around Rick Hansen are professionais- they know that you have to spend money to make money and that principle applies just as mmich to charity as it does tQ business. The "World" part of the World Tour was oniy a prelude for the triumphal Canadian finish. The tours through the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zeaiand, China and Japan were wel pianned to provide good exposure, good copy and numerous photo opportunities so that when Hansen returned to Canada, he returned as a known and respected personality. Furthermore the clockwork precision with which the tour has been executed (his date ln Whitby was set up more than six weeks ago- he arrived rIght on schedule) has given It a rare sense of Immediacy. By setting up his own management team and his own trust fund, Hansen has avoided the dIstracting squabbles (with the Cancer Foundation) that plagued both Terry Fox and Steve Fonyo. Hansen's teamn has attracted major corporate spon- See page 8 WITH OUR FEET UP By Bill Swan Let mie telyou about Bill Rennick. Every yhear on Nov, il I think about hlm, about how he bas influenced part of my life. 1 think about what hennight have become and ito.makes me sad. I think of hlm skating up and down the streets of our smail village during an ice storm I neyer knew. And I see hlm stickhandling ln and out of opposing teams: he shoots!1 he scores!1 I also picture hlm flying high above the clouds ln Europe as heflew yet another mission. I picture his youtbful hands on the controls of bis Spitfire, and see the same co-ordIilffon Utfitarew tbe attentroon of hockey scouts steer the fleet machine. I neyer met Biily Rennick. He was the village hero for bis athletics the year I was born. He was 18. He joined the air force. But niy pre-school years were filled with stories of war. But most poignant of ail is a scene I do remember. I amn five years old. I had accompanied my best friend, Gai!, to visit Mrs. Rennick. This gave me an ideal opportunity to once more view the picture wbicb sat on top of ber upright piano. 1"Is that your boy?" one of us asked. The boyisb face looked out from under the blue wedge air force bat. The face looked out pink. Mrs. Rennick froze and ber eyes drifted to the photograph she must have seen unbidden many tinies each day. She was sulent, one band on Gail's bead, the other holding a plate of date-filled cookies. "Yes, " she said, finally. 1 bad been bursting to ask more questions about this hero, this hockey player, tis figbter pilot. But I looked up as she placed the cookies on the piano bench. A tear dropped to thecarpet at my feet. We ate the cookies in silence. 1 tbink of Mrs. Rennick, and of ber son Bilwbom I neyer met, every Nov. il. I tbink of how we honor the dead ini tis annual ritual, as though it washes the burden from us the rest of tbe year. And a burden it is. Oh, we can look back in retrospect and plead necessity. And the war veterans among us would be the first to concede that, yes, certain wars are necessary. To right that war we did wbat most societies do: 'we pusb our finest, fittest, bealthiest young men at the peak of their physical prow ess off to be killed, maimed and mutilated. It ain'tni'ce. Wben tbey carne back'we gave some tbougbt to retraining tbemn for their sacrifice. But reaily notbing we could then offer could quite make up for the years-and comrades-we had taken fromn theni. Perhaps we didn't even try bard enough. The most obvious cases were those witb visible wounds. Worse is happening now. As the veterans get older-it is now 46 years since the war's end, mind-more and more health problems emerge. We sent bealthy young men to live in abnormal conditions in abnormal stress for undetermined years. Wbat effect that stress had on the body, no one knows. Many wbo were mustered out of the service witb a clean bil of health now find it wasn't that simple. Modernniedicine now admits that aIl stress leaves its mark. The stress of war undoubtediy bas scarred men now in their sixties, seventies. Heart disease? Cardiovascular disease? Liver disease? Psychological problems& A growing number of veterans are finding reasons to ask the Department of Veterans Affairs to reevaluate their pension status. But veterans and their widows bave little clout. Politicians ignore tbem, bureaucrats give theni the run-around. Next Tuesday, remember not only those wbo fell. Victinis of war walk aniong us. Perbaps it Is tume we paid our dues. It may lie tume for the bureaucracy, the politicians, to give veterans the benefit of the doubt. Bill Rennick would have been 65 this year. What kind of a pension would we beoffering im? (For more information write to: Lou Ouellette, Suffering Veterans, 30r7.371 Lakeshore Rd. W. Mississauga, Ont.