Friday, April 26, 1935
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Columnist predicts Nebraska 'pre-nostalgia'
I have three major compulsions: food, food and
nostalgia. I am slowly learning to control the
first two, but I have given up on the third. I
am a man with a curse. I am a sucker for situa
tion comedy reruns, old love letters, and the 50
greatest hits of anyone who sang before 1970.
S
Jame
Sennett
Nostalgia buffs are especially susceptible to
certain times of the year, of which Christmas is
by far the worst and the end of the school year is
a respectable second. So here it is, April again,
and I have the irresistible urge to look back.
In obedience to a force far greater than I, I
hereby present the first annual "There's One
Born Every Minute" Awards in appreciation of all
those people who made 1984-85 a year worth
remembering only by future nostalgia sickies.
The "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Fan
tasy Award goes to the Nebraska State Legisla
ture, which continues to demonstrate a remark
able faith that quality education doesn't cost
anything. The current encore performance may
lead many exceptional faculty, staff and stu
dents this fall to utter those immortal words, "I
don't think we're in Nebraska anymore." .
O The "Emily Post Never Got Elected to
Nuthin' " Hospitality Award goes to State Sen.
Ernie Chambers, who is once again proving at
every opportunity that you don't have to be
uncouth to make headlines, but it sure helps.
O The "Much Ado About Nothing" Award for
Compassionate Comic Relief goes to all the stu
dents and others who participated in the Daily
Nebraskan's "Great Weight Debate" last fall. In
the midst of an election year, which also wit
nessed crucial issues concerning local, national
and foreign policy, we were able to spend our
time arguing the great theological question,
"Can fat people get into heaven?"
O The "Hell Hath No Fury" Award for Feather
Ruffling above and beyond the call of duty goes
to ASUN (would somebody get Bill Allen a
tissue?) for its adept handling of the WRC inci
dent. It's not every legislative body that can vote
for a resolution overwhelmingly, then breathe a
collective sigh of relief when it is vetoed by the
higher-ups.
Supporting Actor Award in this category goes
to UNL Chancellor Martin Massengale, who with
one stroke of a pen nullified a week-long con
troversy and proved to us all once again just how
much power our student government really has.
The "My Heroes Have Always Been Vig
ilantes" Award for Creative Cowardice goes to
our old friend Bernhard Goetz, who gave new
meaning to the expression, "Take two; they're
small."
Finally, the Award for Best Performance in
a Non-existent Post-Election Role goes to former
vice president Walter Mondale, for his excep
tional portrayal in "If You Can't Beat 'Em and
You Don't Want to Join 'Em, At Least Stay Out Of
Their Way." Class act, Fritz. Not one "I told you
so" from a man who has plenty of opportunities.
(It is rumored that, on election night, Mondale
consoled his family and friends in the wake of
one of the most devastating presidential land
slides in history with the words, "At least we got
the Daily Nebraskan endorsement.")
Well, there's the year for you. I have much
more, but I want to rush this into print before
People magazine steals my exclusive. If anything
can be learned from such a survey, it is just how
transitory our interests really are. Matters that
were urgent just weeks ago are now fodder for yet
another "Where Are They Now?" column. So the
next time something seems urgent or vital, do a
little "pre-nostalgia." Will people be laughing at
this in 10 weeks, or 10 months or lOyears? If it is
really important, really worth our time and
effort, it will still be an issue when the smoke
has cleared. Shalom. Have a wonderful summer.
Don't take any wooden Class I school districts.
'Disguised murder' an easy answer
Opinion by Susan Kisicki
Staff Reporter
In the April 11 issue of the Daily Nebraskan,
James A. Fussell wrote an editorial, column
about murder. This article was about the "civ
ilized" murder we as a society commit through
the death penalty.
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Fussell told us how we "salve our conscience
by calling it justice," and how we mask the fact
that it is murder by using clean, polite words like
"execute," when we could use matter-of-fact
words like "kill."
Killing criminals is not the only murder our
society commits.
Fussell said: "Nothing cheapens our humanity
like the death penalty."
But I can think of a worse crime. The number
of lives lost because of the death penalty are few,
especially when compared to the millions of
lives lost because of abortion.
Some people say that abortion is OK because
we are not destroying human lives. But there is
an irony in that statement. When we allow abor
tion, suddenly other laws don't make "sense.
There is a pro-life advertisement with a pic
ture of an unborn eagle and an unborn human
that asks which of the two is more valuable. It
further explains how society fines a person for
killing the unborn eagle, but pays someone to
kill the unborn human. Something is wrong with
a society that values and protects an unborn
eagle, but not an unborn human.
It also is ironic when in one part of a hospital,
we could put so much effort, money and technol
ogy toward saving a premature baby's life, and in
another part of that hospital we destroy the life
of a child the same age.
Birth is just a change in location. Often a fcius
is viable before birth.
The real miracle happens at conception. Life
begins the moment the sperm and egg unite.
Technology won't change that fact. When we
apply that fact to our lives, the irony ceases.
Our society loves easy answers. When a seg
ment of society presents a problem, an easy
answer is to simply eliminate, dispose of, exe
cute, abort kill them. We ease our con
science by giving a non-human status to the
unborn, the handicapped, the criminals, the sick
and the elderly those who pose a problem to
society.
There are no easy answers to complex social
problems. We probably will always have unwanted
children and untimely pregnancies, but abortion
is not a solution.
Abortion is carefully disguised murder, and
we are responsible for it.
Letter
Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters
to the editor from all readers and interested
others.
Letters will be selected for publication on
the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and
space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains
the right to edit all material submitted.
Readers also are welcome to submit mate
rial as guest opinions. Whether material should
run as a letter or guest opinion, or not run, is
left to the editor's discretion.
Letters and guest opinions sent to the
newspaper become property of the Daily
Nebraskan and cannot be returned.
Anonymous submissions will not be consi
dered for publication. Letters should include
the author's name, year in school, major and
group affiliation, if any. Requests to withhold
names from publication will not be granted.
Submit material to the Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb.
68588-0448.
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April 26, 1985 12:30-5:00 PM
UNL East Campus
Cornstock Meadows
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ADMISSION:
Can of food for the Lincoln Food Bank
SPONSORED BY:
Vb, Sa DANCES & CORNSTOCK
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