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j p4 weekender november 4 1987 weekender is regional government working the big three in york re gion are hanging tough on their bid for more tax dollars mayors bell jackson and duffy say they simply cant run their respective municipa lities without more money the trio will petition the pro vince to take a responsible look at the way tax dollars are proportioned and send more to those who are paying a lions share urban services such as roads schools sewers and so cial services are lagging be hind while taxgenerating growth in housing and indus try escalates something is wrong if the plea to the province is unsuc cessful perhaps we should ask some serious questions about regional government does it serve us well should we be asking our elected representa tives to consider the pros and cons of pulling out what about starting with a public referendum on building a multimillion dollar regional headquarters in newmarket jo ann stevenson no loneliness in strifestruck lebanon bob burkholder the mennonite missionary who became a news item because of his being kidnap ped and briefly detained several years ago in lebanon has two rather noteworthy impressions of that strife ridden country in an interview conducted at wideman mennonite church on highway 48 last sunday night bob chose to downplay the abduc tion issue as aninnocuous inci dent at the hands of people who really couldnt be classified as ev ery day terrorists what really stuck with him was the radical difference between the lebanese people and our soci ety with regard to the seemingly unrelated issues of violence and loneliness lebanon has much of the former but very little of the latter it would appear the constant state of siege and uncertainty that has come to characterize that part of the world has served the from where i live biuc jbtafilzij purpose of bringing about great unity and interdependence among the people there loneliness reports bob is almost nonexistent the lebanese tend to live life a day at a time preferring to share experi ences and activities with others for all they know torn morrow may never come world war three the ultimate nuclear horror is an idea they rarely have time to consider let alone fear for them every day sees them exposed to good old fashioned conventional warfare along with the high tech terrorist approach to combat the constant confusion fear and confrontation by the unex pected is for them a way of life that they have gotten used to compared to that a global con flagration would at least bring with it a sense of finality contrast that with the north american approach to life the preoccupation with tomorrow and what it may bring whether well have enough money to continue to live in the manner we have be come accustomed it would appear that in many respects we have become a socie ty of individuals bent upon per sonal growth and the accumula tion of as much stuff as is possi ble like the bumper sticker says he who has the most toys at the end wins and the price that has been paid for this obsession with the furth- urence of self is loneliness the inevitable isolation that accom panies the seeking of ones own personal betterment and security has become a trademark of our society the north american male we are told by analysts is a friendless being the result of years spent trying to get ahead only time will tell if women long seen as being much better than men in terms of maintaining samesex friendships will be able to continue this tendency in light of their becoming more a part of the corporate scene bob burkholder claims that his kids developed a real understand ing of the nature of violence in lebanon in canada he says kids see the a team and violence is almost glamourized over in the middle east his chil dren came to realize that when the guns started blazing there would inevitably be dead bodies in the aftermath and that the vic tims were gone forever it was suggested in a conversa tion after the interview that it would probably require a major catastrophe of some sort to both alter our perceptions of violence and to help dispel so much of the loneliness in our society calamity tends to bring people together to force them to rely on one another as is the case in lebanon and any disruption of a violent nature tends to produce a much more realistic understand ing of violence in a society bob burkholder feels that we shouldnt let the lessons of leba non go unheeded food for thought if nothing more economists sun the tribune ski weekender bruce annan publisher 9 heritage rd markham l3p1m3 2942200 4959440 6402100 6492292 published every saturday by meiroland printing publishing and distributing at 9 heritage rd mar kham ontario l3p 1m3 tel 2942200 second class mail registration number 1247 the markham economist and sun published every wednesday and saturday at 9 heritage rd markham is one of the metroland printing publishing and distributing group of suburban newspapers which includes the acton free press ajaxpickenng news 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