Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007 | 1:21 a.m.
Who doesn't know about toys made in China?
There was a column last week in the International Herald Tribune written by Elizabeth Graver. It was one mother's experience cleaning out her house - with her 4- and 7-year-old girls - of recalled toys made in China.
The author expressed a pleasant surprise that there was a minimum of tears when the charm bracelets, SpongeBob SquarePants address books and myriad other leadened objects made to please young children were tossed following the latest in an ever-growing list of recalls.
The author's lament was : What are we going to do with the millions and billions of recalled toxic throwaways for which we paid not very much because they were made in China and not in the United States ?
The idea of tossing them into our landfills, knowing they would take forever to decompose and remain poisonous the entire time, did not seem particularly palatable, although the irony could not be ignored that lead and other toxins from China - for which Americans paid dearly - would now cost billions more to get rid of in our effort to protect our families from our own actions.
There was one line in the column, though, that caught my eye and caused me to ask who doesn't know about the Chinese-made toys. It was a concern for all the children whose recalled toys would be thrown away and, more particularly, concern for those families who don't even know to check.
I have been on the road quite a bit this summer. Newspapers, television, the Internet - the normal methods I use to gather information - have been spotty because of my travel schedule , but even I knew about the recalled toys made in China. And if I knew, so the saying goes, who doesn't?
In short, what parent in the United States could have possibly missed the front page headlines and blaring television stories scaring Americans right where they sleep ? Or, more precisely, where their children sleep?
It is that question that provides a proper return to column writing after I took a few weeks off to think about something other than what I usually think about.
For who is to blame in this great country of ours if people, our neighbors, do not know about something so vital to the pursuit of life as toxic toys we are buying for our most precious little ones? Is it my fault that people have chosen not to read newspapers? Is it my fault that the younger generation chooses to ignore even 10 minutes of television news in favor of entertainment shows that are fun to watch but add very little to the common knowledge base? And is it my fault that the youngest generation tailors its computer front pages to give it only the news it wants and not the news it necessarily needs?
The answer is clearly "no," but that doesn't help when thousands or millions of children may still be exposed to life-altering poisons just because their parents don't know any better. As a taxpayer I know there will be a price to pay down the road when this country will have to accept the burdens imposed by what we do to our children today. As a parent and grandparent, I find it unthinkable that we inflict these pains on our children because we choose not to know about these dangers .
So, who doesn't know about the toxic toys made in China? Ask around. The answers may shock you.
And speaking of being shocked, I can't let this opportunity go by without mentioning Bob Herbert's column in The New York Times and the resulting aftershocks in the Las Vegas community. I can't improve on Jon Ralston's recent effort - I agree completely with his message - but I can add another perspective.
What do you think people in every state of the union and most civilized countries were talking about last week when the subject of Las Vegas came up? You guessed it. And, as much as there are some in the community who revel at the thought that Las Vegas is uppermost on people's minds because of the way we "treat women, " the real question has to be whether that is the way we want the world to think of us, and is that the way we want to think of ourselves.
This is not about being prudish, at least not from me, but it is hard enough for parents to answer the inevitable questions of life, sex and relationships that come from maturing young people. It is harder still, and shouldn't be necessary, when the questions come from 7-year-olds, prompted by an advertising billboard replete with tantalizing pictures that doesn't grace the Strip corridor but leads the way down a residential street on the back of a taxi!
The very least we can expect is that our community leaders are cognizant of this dichotomy and act accordingly. The very least we can expect is that our community leaders think of a better community life and not a lesser one. And the very least we can expect is that our community leaders do all that they can to make Las Vegas look good in the eyes of the world and not like something of which none of us can or should be proud.
That's the very least we can expect. How about it Oscar? Do we expect too much?
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