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Show PAGE 16 THE ZEPHYR APRIL 1993 lists of goals, reasons, justifications. I know that building discussing, lists of things to do, he feds that every possible disastrous scenario has been considered supervisor won't rest until and the proper safety net implemented. Hell get that building ready to withstand an earthquake, a hurricane, and 5 bomb all at the same time. Millions of dollars will be at his fingertips for structural blasts harkim mienton. and more security in the underground and a 1,4 - Somewhere left of Right by Jane S. Jones SOME IMPORTANT THINGS YOU JUST KNOW ...like when splitting firewood, you'd better stand perpendicular to the splitting maul when you hit it with file sledge hammer. ..like you always light some newspaper first, end THEN throw on the diesel fuel to get that wood fire going quickly. ...and you know that you don't want to have to change a flat when the last thing that touched the lug bolts was an air wrench. floor levels of the buildings. As soon as file building supervisor's face faded from my TV screen, I imagined the scene at that moment a few miles away from the scene of the disaster. I could see another street in New York Gty, with skyscrapers and shops and cars and trucks and faceless bodies surging along, hurrying somewhere. Any ordinary street will do, because any city street will have a back comer, an alley, where I could see another faceless body, sleeping under a cardboard scrap, suffering a more quiet, personal disaster. This body isn't hurrying, and its intolerable life may be almost over. There is no safety net for this individual human being. His or her needs are not met by any bureaucracy, any social program. There is no check-o- ff list of Tilings to do" on Bill Clinton's desk with the description: "dignified social niche for all human beings has been provided for." PATTERNS OF SOCIAL CHANGE All of our Individual and uniquely important acts are lost when you take the long But we all contribute and make a social statement by our separate actions. When a few view. million of us begin to think the same general'sort of way, the trend becomes important. Long ago, there used to be a general concept of governing, that someone with an excess of common sense looked over the whole and said, "Here are our priorities. When they are done, if funds remain, well get on with the rest" Because until basic survival needs are available to all, like a home, a job, doctoring, education, hope for the future all the rest is only frosting. Important frosting, to be sure, but still extras, nonessentials in maintaining human dignity. But now, those understandings seem to be lost Our collective actions these days are to solve our problems through a concept known as "planning." And we hire and elect people who daim to be experts in the field. We can avoid those mistakes of the past. We just have to give up a little of our freedom to act as individuals. It sounds so right, so logical, so American to "plan now for the future." Never mind that NO one can predict that future. Never mind that low income people are always discriminated against when planners take control. And never mind the worst impact of planning when it becomes a priority: that die really essential human needs get set aside. It's easy to overlook the concerns of your average low income person when you're not one. Most people placed in positions erf authority these days do have the basics. They can afford a nice home and car and clothes. They can afford to pay most medical doctor and dental bills in cash. They can afford high premiums every month for medical insurance. Or they're very busy pretending they can afford those things, looking the part, while they work to make the image real. .Thrifty means cheap. They have no interest in making basic human survival easier. They can't relate to that anymore. They're too busy making progress. We've placed these people in control. They're not humanitarians, they are bureaucrats. They are an administration of individuals "doing their job," and spending our money faster and faster each year. Individuals in a bureaucracy don't look at the big picture. They don't have to sit down and decide what is more important what is fair to society as a whole. No one sits down to decide if backup generators for an accident that may never happen is more important than a meaningful future for a teenager. AND SO IT JUST HAPPENS that a frontline people-helpin- g like Seekhaven can program barely find enough money to keep its doors open. And their are no legal in town. And there is no affordable housing. And nationwide, the budgets for homeless programs, for for drug rehab funding, for youth and senior - And in the funny and frivolous arena of politics, you just know: ...that control of our local Republican Party is up for grabs. ...that the Salt Lake Silly news media is going to try to convince everyone that the environmentalists have now taken over Grand County ...that the reason for attempting to turn the position of Mayor of Moab into a figurehead position is file pursuit of Money, Power, and Control (MPQ. All Moabites should watch this one closely. The outcome will determine whether Moab does become another Park Gty (if a city administrator comes) or whether it remains a fairly nice town for all erf us, with a local resident Mayor retaining administrative control. Another thing you just know is that the World Trade Center bombing brought the basics back to a lot of New Yorkers. Although many were scared silly and received some injuries, just a handful were killed. Amazing. Hie TV shots of the interior, the wreckage how could you look at the demolished underpinnings and not wonder, "I low dose is that filing to just toppling right on over?" It was a day to remember what was really important, like making it through tbs day in (me piece. I expected to hear some of the survivors say "Jez, I'm glad to get out of that smoky hell. d I'm counting my lucky stars to even be alive." Maybe that's what some of the ones would have said if they could have stopped sobbing. I expected to hear these words from someone, a reporter, a public official, "No one could have prepared for this situation. You simply cannot plan for every contingency. We couldn't have built a safety system to deal with this kind of emergency." Or, "Nobody can protect us from a basic reality: we all live on the edge. People who were in the building need to count their blessings that most of them made it A lot of families will be holding each other tight tonight." Instead, what I heard was people grabbing a breath between their wailing to looking for someone to blame. They said things like "Nobody knew what to da No one was in charge. Someone would say do this, or go that way, and they were wrong." And, "Someone should have protected us from this kind of thing. No one should have to go through this kind of horror." Within a day or two, the building supervisor of the Trade Center was talking to the camera. In case you missed it, this is the gist of what he was saying. I didn't get his exact words down. (I ley. I'm no reporter.) "We thought we were ready for almost anything, but we weren't prepared for this. Now I've got to look at everything again. We need a different system of backup generators, 'cause the set up we had didn't do the job.' We've got to separate filings more, spread them out so everything isn't likely to get damaged at the same time when something like this happens. There's a lot of work to do." I lore is no doubt a conscientious, hard working fellow, doing his job to the best of his It's his responsibility to ensure that the building is as safe as it can be. You can bet hell ability. all the get funding he needs for planning a better safety program, money for new studies, for new designs, for new contingency plans. Endless paperwork will be generated: planning, - sooty-face- mid-wiv- es self-hel- p, Springtime in oab COME TRY OUR NEW SANDWICH ITEMS: VEGIE SANDWICH STEAK SANDWICH PATTY MELT The Open Daily 6AM to 10PM state liquor license Over-the-Cou- nter UAL-- 1 f'Ji Ganq in HMiMriKi |