4 July 17,1900 Summer Nebraskan
Perspectives
Friend remembered on bus trip
By Kim Wilt
On the bus to visit a friend. The air
conditioner is working at a minimal level,
high enough to make you aware of the
heat, not so high that you are allowed to
open the windows. The passengers don t
seem to mind; they're mostly drowsing,
with their children or an unopened book
in their laps, staring unseeing out the
window at the wheat and the faroff irri
gation systems.
He sits down, and lights a cigarette.
We make small talk about the weather,
the scenery (or lack of it), and our re
spective destinations. It's not hard to
talk to seatmates on buses, if you know
what they're looking for a chance to
tell someone their story, a chance to get a
stranger's perspective.
The man in front of us is finishing the
Omaha World-Herald, folding it and put
ting it away. My seatmate leans forward
and asks for a section. I lean forward and
ask for the rest of the paper. He motions
tome.
"Look." Points at an obituary. "This
was my partner." I'm not sure what he
means he had spoken of going to Has
tings to do some construction work for a
few weeks. A work partner?
The obituary lists a young Omaha
man, 19, many relatives. Services that
day at 2 p.m.
"He died July 4th. He was riding a
motorcycle, got caught between a van
and a car. Went into a coma, died at the
hospital."
An answer required? A question?
"He and I were like brothers. Just like
that," holding up two intertwined fin
gers. "We'd go messing around ... I was
from St. Louis, he was from Kansas City
met in Omaha." He shakes his head.
"All his girlfriends were calling that
night 'Where is he? Have you seen
him?"
What did you say?
"I told them he was in the hospital. I
didn't tell them ... the guy told me
when I called, he said he was in a coma.
Probably wouldn't make it. They didn't
know."
No, he's not going to the funeral. He
was called back to work at Hastings after
a two-month layoff, and he's glad.
"He was telling me, about a week be
fore, that he wanted to be cremated."
Was he?
"No, he was buried. I told him, 'Man,
don't expect me to come to your funeral.
And don't come to mine."'
He points out the window, at clumps
of trees and groups of buildings, as we
come near Hastings. They'd party out
there, he says, late at night. Bread-loaf
shaped structures rise up on the left side
of the bus.
"They stored bombs there during the
war. We'd play war games out there, run
ning around, down the hills."
The bus wheeling into the depot,
sleepy passengers waking children, pull
ing down suitcases and backpacks. He
stands up and reaches for his Jiat, pulls it
down over his eyes. It's a hundred de
grees outside, Hastings shimmers emptily
in the heat. No one is on the streets.
Don't you want the paper?
"No, take it, keep it. Nice talking to
you," he says and walks down the aisle,
off the bus.
. I give the paper to a young mother,
wait for the bus to reach the town where
my friend is waiting.
Richard Qoaeem's release
by Iranians is confosing
By Randy Essex
The release by the Iranians last week
of hostage Richard Queen is confusing,
just as the last 257 days have been.
It is, of course, encouraging that
Queen was released for medical reasons
an apparently humane act by a regime
that allows and supports blackmail and
terrorism. Even more encouraging, as
pointed out by a spokesman for the re
maining hostage families, is that Ayatol
lah Ruholla Khomeini still has the power
to order a release, and that Iranian au
thorities were able to get Queen out of
the country unharmed.
Although apparently inspired by
Queen's deteriorating neurological condi
tion, it could be that the Islamic regime
was practicing a bit of one-upmanship on
the United States, which failed to return
an Iranian, Bijan Ashtiani, to his home
land alive.
Ashtiani died in the Lincoln Regional
Center in April, and the body returned to
Iran was that of a martyr. Surprisingly,
the Iranian government did not level its
standard attacks on the United States
when Ashtiani died, nor did it immedi
ately question the stated cause of death
an epileptic seizure even though
some Nebraska doctors questioned that
pathological finding. An attorney is seek
ing Ashtiani's medical records, and the
incident may resurface in a most unpleas
ant way for American and Nebraskan of
ficials. If the Iranians want to make an issue
of Ashtiani's death at a later date, they
certainly could not take the chance of
Richard Queen's death while under the
care of their doctors.
, That simply is speculation it is not
known how the Iranians feel about Ash
tiani's death, but their uncharacteristic
silence should not be assumed to mean
they were and are pleased.
Parallels esist that could help explain
Iran's sudden bolt toward "Islamic hu
maneness," as Khomeini called it. First,
Queen, in the eyes of the Iranians, was
accused of a crime. It never was sug
gested in their rhetoric that Richard
Queen was not among the spies and
"agents of the devil" captured in the
Nov. 4 raid on the U.S. mbassy.
Ashtiani also was accused of a crime
assault, in connection with a Decem
ber knife attack on Ms Omaha landlord.
Iranian doctors, as Queen was
released, suggested that he had psycho
logical problems, which has been denied
by the State Department.
Americans probably would like to
think the release was a truly humane act,
but the basis for the embassy takeover
suggests otherwise. Way back in the fall,
when oil company profits were the top
news every day, when Edward Kennedy
was leading Jimmy Carter, when Ronald
Reagan was "unelectable," inflation was
running at a 15 percent annual rate and
Soviet troops were only preparing to in
vade Afghanistan, the hostages were
taken with a demand that the ailing de
posed shah be returned to Iran.
It angered the Iranians that a bit of
Yankee humanitarianism was permitting
the shah to get some of the world's finest
medical treatment. The United States
perhaps had other than altruistic mo
tives, but Mohammed R Pahlavi was ad
mitted to the country for medical treat
ment, which seems terribly humane.
And Queen's release is the first hint of
"Islamic humaneness" since Khomeini
and his band of mullahs seized power.
Hundreds have been executed in barbaric
fashion, including firing squads, stonings
and hangings. Some Iranian executions
almost make the electric chair seem
humane. Almost, but that's another
issue.
Ashtiani did not stand trial because he
was undergoing psychological treatment
a.route his lawyers told him they
thought was his best way back to Iran.
And the deliberate stalling of debate
on the remaining hostages' fates is partic
ularly cruel, considering Queen's non
shocking revelation that the Americans
are blindfolded whenever they are moved
from room to room. If Queen did not
have psychological problems, as the Ira
nians alleged, he is a very, very amazing
man. But only physical problems evoked
what the Iranians called sympathy.
After the aborted hostage rescue mis
sion, some thought at least hostages
would be killed to discourage further
military ventures. They were not, and it
seemed almost crystal clear that the Ira
nians do not want to suffer the conse
quences of Americans dying at their
hands.
In fact, the militants and officials
have quite a dilema on their hands. They
cannot be sure what the United States
will do if the hostages are released; re
prisal may be in order even if they are
unharmed. The Iranians can make a very
educated guess as to what will happen if
the hostages are killed. But if the hos
tages aren't killed, the Iranian people
may well start a second revolution.
So resolution of the matter is delayed.
It seems more and more clear that
Iran does not want Americans to die at
its hands. Perhaps President Carter's
warning that Khomeini and his hench
men are responsible for the Americans'
safety led to Queen's release.
Through all the confusion, however, a
few things are certain. One more Amer
ican is home. Fifty-two more still are
held under the threat of trial. And, final
ly, Iran must resolve the issue soon, or
the health and age of some of the hos
tages will further deepen the grave Iran
has dug for its future, both domestically
and internationally.
The hostages must be kept alive be
cause the political lives of many Iranians
Richard Queen's release especially
considering Bijan Ashtiani's death
was not a bad idea, but I seriously doubt
its humane intent.
Letter to the editor
Another opinion
on abortion issue
In regard to Randy Essex's article,
"Pro-life supporters exaggerate issue," it
is necessary to clarify a few points about
the pro-life movement. First of all, Mr.
Essex believes that abortion shouldn't be
a pressing issue because there are more
important issues such as possibilities of
wars and inflation. The reason all these
issues are important is that society is
concerned about sustaining life. Why are
we concerned about sustaining life? The
very first and last reason for respecting
life is that life is there. The constitution
guarantees "life, liberty, and pursuit of
happiness," life being the most impor
tant. Therefore, the most important
value in this society should be the respect
for life -including unborn life. Our soci
ety is becoming so inhuman because they
are advocating the killing of the unborn
child. If it is a crime to take an eagle's
egg from a nest, then why is it not a
crime when it comes to the killing of an
unborn child? Is life so cheap that the act
of sex is more important than the life
that results from it?
It was stated in the article that "They
(pro-lifers) are far more concerned with
forcing their morals on society then they
are about the welfare of unwanted chil
dren." This is a great misconception,
however. Pro-lifers show much concern
for the welfare of unwanted children
through various agencies. In Lincoln
there are several agencies that will help a
mother either with the cost of her preg
nancy or find good parents through
adoption agencies.
The subject of abortion is not a moral
toughie; it is as black and white as the
print on a page. The issue is life or death.
What do the people of our society value
most? It should be the dignity and pre
ciousness of each individual human life.
Vanessa Streff, Junior Journalism
Theresa Weins, Junior Elementary
Education