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Show Sun Advocate a OPINION August 29, 1996 6A-Thur- sday, EDITORIAL Reactivating personal attentiveness Observe for yourself what you do in I find myself quick to check out what someone is reading. I am the best face and action scanner so that I can quickly and accurately compile instant personality profiles. My attention darts from one perception to another, looking for anything that is ripe for spectating. But what do we do when we observe someone in need in these situations? It usually doesn't take but a second for my head to drop, a half a second of thought as iny conscience gives some direction that is ignored and my eyes start scanning in a new direction. Schmitt points out in his observations that these symptoms of scatterimiinitis impacts every aspect of our lives. Journalists have to compete for readers' attention with bigger, better headlines. media stations. Look at the to have been forced shout, They jump up and down and, too often, copy the jazzier, shallow er competition in order to compete. More airtime is spent on promos of upcoming sexy features than on the story itself. Inattentiv eness also produces other toxic problems: carelessness, apathy, short attention spans, poor listening skills, bad service, shoddy work, indifference. Schmitt feels it's risky for society to start segregating and professonalizing the taskof pay ing attention to details, leav ing it in the hands of intellectuals, lawyers, doctors and accountants. Have you noticed that our scatterbrain syndrome makes it more difficult for indi-iduals and communities to understand and solve problems and to bring meaning to public. By KEVIN ASHBY Sun Advocate publisher May 1 have jour attention for a few minutes? These days, that's a lot to ask. Have you noticed that we are becoming a disengaged populace? Largely by our own choice, we seem to be transforming ourselves into a bunch of scatterbrains so claims Bill Schmitt, news editor at American Metal Market. And I agree. Need proof.' Just follow me around some day. Even with a big fancy Franklin day planner my control over life seems to be shrinking daily. Just walk around our streets, or at least the Wasatch Front streets and chaos seems to becoming the norm. Drivers and pedestrians ignoring signs, cars parked illegally, while some motorists react with loud shouts calling upon deity to intervene while other sit stone faced without a look of concern. Sif down and watch TV without your remote control and see how antsy vou get without the power to surf blithely away from this channel to that channel. Go to a movie and notice how many people are talking, not whispering, giving the show only part of their attention and paying no heed to their neighbor's desire for quiet. How about the last conversation you had with your spouse or children? I find my mind wandering like a misdirected ant. About halfway through, mv thoughts cross the conversation's line of travel, I catch up on where it is going and then off I go again. big-tow- n v life? Mario Cumo has asserted that today's cornucopia of media alternatives has made Americans better informed than ever, but not smarter because we don't take time to digest the information or to discuss it meaningfully with others. I think you will agree that traditional values and beliefs have lost much of their unifying force in today's society. Goals and priorities should be emphasized rather than making life simpler by reducing our overall attentiveness. So what is the solution? Many people are searching for ways to live in a more harmonious relationship, uniting themselves to others. To accomplish this, it appears they must get to know themselves and others more fully and they must become more comfortable with things as they truly are. This requires attentiveness explains Schmitt. We know from our own experience that people are more focused on the moment when others around them are paying attention, thereby offering less opportunity for distraction. If we want our society to be more mindful of responsibility, standards, the common good and greater goods that give meaning and direction to life, then we have to incorporate these same ideals in our own lives. We need to become experts in putting our attentiveness into action. And my mind is absolutely running in circles trying to look out the window and get on to bigger and better things than this editorial. So! Good luck in drawing your own conclusions. GUEST EDITORIAL Overcoming hardships to prosper By RICHARD LESHER U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Television personality Kathie Lee Gifford was shocked, appalled and embarrassed to learn that the popular clothing line that bears her name is sewed in Honduran sweatshops where men, women and children work long hours in rough conditions for pay that is, at least by United States standards, minimal. Gifford assured her fans, no doubt truthfully, that she had not known the clothing that bears her name was produced in such conditions and that she would henceforth have no more to do with it. She even testified before Congress in support of legislation to discourage such apparent exploitation of Third World workers. Nor surprisingly, Giffords views were vigorously seconded by labor unions. The d National Labor Committee, a New critithat originally organization cized Gifford for her role in the business, has criticized the apparel assembly plants in Honduras as monstrous sweatshops of the New World Order. But before we all storm the barricades demanding a law prohibiting commerce with such exploitation, we would do well to pause and consider the issue from the perspective of the Honduran workers who are being ex ploited. A follow-- p investigation of their situation by the New York York-base- u Times, published in the wake of the Gifford brouhaha, shed a bit of uncomfortable but overdue light on a somewhat murky issue. The stark truth is that the sweatshop jobs so lamented by Gifford and the unions are seen as beacons of hope and opportunity by the people of Honduras, where the per capita annual income is $600 and unemployment is 40 percent. Amid such dire poverty, hopelessness and desperation, a factory job that pays 40 cents per hour and offers real benefits is generally deemed an opportunity, not exploitation. One apparel worker interviewed by the New York Times reporter spoke for thousands of others who were quick to jump to their employers defense and who are in fearful that misguided Washington, D.C., might snatch from them their only reasonably hope for a betrs ter life. This has been an enormous advance for me, said Eber Orellana Vasquez, one of 450 Hondurans who work for the King Star Garment assembly plant south of San Pedro Sula. Vasquez is 26, a union member, and has been working for King Star for three years. My monthly income is seven times what I made in the countryside, and Ive gained 30 pounds since I started working here. I hasten to point out that Vasquez was not boasting about getting fat, but rather DRUGS eat. Before he got his job at the apparel plant, he worked for a dairy ranch and lived in a rented shack.. Now he lives in a solid house of brick with access to electricity and running water. He has been able to obtain jobs at the plant for friends and relatives who, like him, are eager to be victimized by such of having enough to TURN IN A PUSHER The information gathered as a result of the following is confidential and will not be divulged to anyone outside the Carbon Emery Drug Task Force. Any information you may provide, even if only a partial description, will be evaluated and placed into a composite file of all other information gathered hopefully to provide a full picture of the problem as it exists. Action will be taken on every submission. Thank you for your cooperation. exploitation. We Americans are among the Worlds most fortunate people. We enjoy a bounty of material possessions and political freedom that is the envy of the world. It is natural and right that we should want to share our good fortune with others and be reluctant to exploit those Tess fortunate than we are. But prosperity does not occur naturally or quickly. Our ancestors labored in unspeakable conditions and hardships during the industrial revolution forging the prosperous economy which we enjoy today. The people of Honduras like the people of Japan, Korea and many other are following our historic examplaces ple. In time, they will force a prosperous economy in which ordinary people can aspire to live well and to help for a better future for their children, just as our Name of suspected drug dealer: Nickname: Associates of Dealer Method of dealing: Location of dealing Drug(s) being dealt: Price: Amount: Main purchasers: (i.e. school kids, truckers, etc.,) List any other suspected Illegal activities: Code name you wish to be known by ancestors did. Giffords marketing of the clothes they make served the Honduran workers well; her pious indignation serves them not at May we contact you? YES If yes, then how: by mail or by phone When If we may contact you all. by mail, what is your NO . address? not, then will you contact us again using the same code name should NO you have further information? YES If call yes Please take a few minutes and invest 32 cents in a stamp. You can help in the fight against drugs. Take a stand and get involved! The life you save be may your child's. Please mail to: TIPS Sun Advocate Box 870, Price, Utah 84501. If 637-847- I . I I i I ' Sun Advocate of Carbon County since 1892 Voice Subscription Rates: 50 cents per Copy: $35 per year delivered by carrier in Carbon and Emery counties: $38inUtah, $42 out of Utah per year by mail. Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8 30 a m to 5:00 pm at 76 West Main, Price, Utah. 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