European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ sidelights Don t despair Over issues but Don t ignore them by Katharine Whitehorn London observer if i Promise to worry about Haiti next week can i let myself off Bosnia for a Day or two if listen to every word about Rwanda can i be excused Young suicides in prison for a bit is there any limit i suppose i am asking to what i m supposed to worry about9, and if so where on Earth is it a Friend came to supper recently who had buried a beloved husband six weeks before and was just Fin Ishing radiotherapy for breast cancer. I forget which dismal bit of the global scene came up for discussion but her comments were Sharp and concerned. At the end of it she said in passing How fed up she got with friends who seemed quite Content to let their mental horizon end at their front Gate if she with so much to put up with still Felt she should care about the world s troubles i thought How much More should the rest of us but this brought me slap up against the old conundrum. True we ought to worry about other people s anguish we have a duty to be aware. Yet anyone who thought actively the  about the world s miseries would not be Able to function. What Good does it do you keep asking yourself. You cannot even have a sponsored worry in favor of a Good cause so when you feel you must care about China or nuclear smuggling homelessness or child abuse it is usually As pointless As that supreme Idi Ocy John Lennon and Yoko Ono staying in bed for  most of the time All it does is Deaden the nerve until we simply want to switch off. We May not be As helpless As we think. Amnesty International regularly gets letters saying i am still alive because there is someone out there  confining one s concern to outfits where you can actually get involved seems to make sense but it does t always work like that. People who care about onv0  wow one sort of suffering Aren t generally deaf to another whereas those who shrug it All off with after All we have got our own lives to Lead May not put much Effort into any Good cause except maybe buying the Flowers for the cocktail party to launch the Ball to raise funds for the destitute puppies of Blind dogs. It is those events on which we seem to have no direct effect that present the real dilemma. Every Christmas some Charity or another flanks a picture of a wasted Granny in a wheel chair or an african child with enormous eyes with the words can you be Happy when she s not but if you feel you be no right to be Happy while there is such appalling suffering that would mean logically that no one had Ever had any right to Hap piness. There has certainly never been a moment in history when some of the species has not been famished and wretched and oppressed. You May not have seen it on television in those Days but you saw it in the gutters and on the Gallows instead. And in that Case what is the Point of any of it in Nicolas Freeling s dressing of Diamond a Doc Tor says that when someone tells him that the world is so full of brutality and betrayal that it s not Worth living in it i treat him As a sick Man. He is right of course and sees things clearly but he is deficient in an immunological sense he lacks the mechanisms to fight off such thoughts sufficiently to keep on living. You cannot care about everything and stay sane you cannot care about nothing and stay human. But perhaps forcing ourselves to think about these miseries is not completely pointless. For one thing looking at such a Mountain of unhappiness should Stop you making too much fuss about the molehills that Are currently wrecking the Lawn it puts our own grievances in perspective. For another thing it can make a difference. What the French thought about Algeria mattered. World opinion affected South Africa. The British were eventually won Over for better or worse to the idea of joining Europe. Americans seems to have insoluble problems in spite of All their vaunted democracy if rather More of them Ever bothered to use their cherished vote they might get further toward solving them. Scrippa Howard news Sonvico Clarence Page is on Sabbath Cal. A world of difference at Disney Andy Rodney recently i was invited to speak at a Tele vision Academy award ceremony in Florida and Margie and i flew to Orlan do and drove to Disney world. I took notes somehow i never have a. Notebook when i want to make a note. My notes Are on bits and pieces of paper everywhere. People should Stop asking travellers did you have a Good flight the Best a flight can be these Days is tolerable. None o f them Are Good. When i Fly from new York to Florida i m Al ways surprised it s still the same time zone. The worst note i make is a phone number i Jot Down on a scrap of paper without bothering to note on the note whose number it is. We stayed at the grand floridian a Good Dis Ney hotel and saturday morning we ordered toasted English muffins for breakfast in our room. The Muf fins came unto asted but with a toaster. Now that s Classy Golf courses take up a lot of space in Good neighbourhoods in Florida just like everywhere else. Golf courses should be put on the endangered Spe cies list so no one can buy the land and build condominiums on them. I Don t play Golf but i like Golf courses. /.  " on the Way to Florida i did t eat but i sat next to a woman who was served some italian dish by the flight attendant. I m italian she said. Whoever made this spa Ghetti sauce was t italian. We never put Green Pep pers in  i did t know that. F everywhere i go where there s water in Florida there Are people fishing. I think there Are More fish Ermen than fish. Disney world has some of the worst dressed americans i be Ever seen wandering around. Here was this great hotel with a Bathtub that was almost impossible to get into. If you got into it it was hard to get out of. How does that happen you had to get out of bed to turn the lamp on the table next to the bed on or off. Did the same per son design that who did the Bathtub the kind of contrived entertainment for kids that Disney provides does t Appeal to me but you have to be impressed with How Well the Disney organization docs things. I talked to a Young Man who works at Disney world As a Locksmith. He says he has o get into about 30 cars a Day that people have locked them selves out of. Walter Cronkite was at Disney with his grand children. The most trusted Man in America likes the amusement Park rides better than they do. Money s going out of style. I had Only $174 in Cash with me but i went Home with about $160. Except for a few tips i charged everything on a Disney card they gave me that also served As a room key. I wish i could Start my car and open my office with my credit card Back Home. The party for the awards ceremony at Disney world started at 7 . There were a lot of speakers. I was one of the last at almost 11 . It s. No. Fun. Speaking to a room full of people who finished eat ing and drinking two hours  Are tired and have to go to the bathroom. All in All i was impressed with the Disney operation. I was wondering if they could take Over one of our depressed cities and make it As clean and As Well run As one of their amusement Parks. I guess there would t be much Money i n it for  Tribune Media services Andy Rooney is a former mrs and St pos  sch 10, 10,74. Age 9