Do a lot of living, my little sister
<J J
A my>
I can’t believe you’re al
x ready graduating from high
school. Well, I still can’t believe that
you’re already driving — much less
burning up the door panel in Mom’s
car with your cigarettes.
Missed a few things in the last four
years, didn’t I? Band performances.
Homecomings. Proms.
But I was hoping to change all that
with this little note. I was hoping to
write this to welcome you to the Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln. To tell
you all the things we would share next
semester. Your first. My last.
I wanted to help you avoid making
all the mistakes I made as a freshman.
To make sure you were one step ahead
of everybody else. To give you an
edge.
Of course I wanted to make sure
you were happy at school here. I
wanted you to meet all my friends. I
wanted you to work at the Daily Ne
braskan.
1 had other motives loo. More im
portant ones. • -5.
I wanted to have a few good times
with you before we both go our sepa
rate ways and never come back. I
wanted to gel to know you- again
before we can only reacquaint our
selves every Christmas that we can
both manage to find our way home.
I wanted us to become close like
Mom and Uncle Bill arc. Lord knows
we were never that light when 1 lived
at home. One of the most important
lessons I learned in college is how
important family is—even if my two
or three phone calls a month don’t
back that up.
But you had other plans. And you
slipped out of stale on me. I know
nothing about Kansas Stale, Amy.
Nothing, other than it has a parachut
ing club and it turned out one of the
But one of the most
important lessons I
learned in college is
how important
family is — even if
my two or three
phone calls a month
don’t back that up.
most vile people in the world.
1 don T want you to be any thing like
Sam Kcpficld in four or five years,
Amy.
Looking back, I wonder sometimes
why I argued so hard for you to come
to school in Lincoln. UNL is far from
the perfect place to go to col lege. This
school, this state, is mired in conser
vatism so deeply it stifles everything
that going to college is about.
Col lege is supposed to be 1 i beral iz -
ing, Amy. It is the point in your life
when you will have next to nothing.
When you sec how important it is to
help and be helped.
You can be as conservative as you
want 20 years from now. After you
actually have something to hoard like
a greedy old miser.
Maybe leaving Nebraska is the
best move you can make. For all of
your own reasons as well.
Please believe that I support your
decision, Amy. I was a little hurt that
you didn’t want to come here because
of me. But I understand.
I was always the older brother. At
home I made things a little easier for
you. Broke Mom and Dad in a little
bit. But in high school I guess I blazed
a trail that teachers expected you to
follow.
Even though I don’t think it would
be a problem here. You shouldn’t
have to put up with the same thing in
college.
So you arc off to blaze your own
trail.
Don’t be afraid of anything, Amy
— not that you ever have been. Your
fierce independence will take you
miles; but always remember that I am
here for you. Even if I can only offer
you distant telephone advice.
You’re going places, little sister.
You accomplished more than I did in
high school. I’m sure you will do the
same in college; - —- —
I envy you, Amy. You’re standing
on the verge of the best few years of
your life -— if you make them that.
1 Get involved. Make friends that
will last you a lifetime. Join the para
chute club. Work at the Collegian.
Get drunk. Take off on wild trips in
the middle of the night. Run for stu
dent government. Meet new people.
And stay in touch.
You arc going to college to learn,
Amy. Remember that. Keep your
mind open to new ideas, new solu
tions. This is you(r time to embrace
hope and your chance to make the
world a little bit better.
Dream a little, little sister. Live a
lot.
Love,
. Chris
Hopfcnsperger is a senior news-editorial
major and the Dally Nebraskan copy desk
chief.
Addicted to golf? Just say yes
The first time I swung a golf
club, I missed the ball. I’ve
been missing it—in a manner
of speaking — ever since.
Golf can be very frustrating. Mad
dening would be a belter word. Some
times I would compare it lo continu
ally running into a brick wall.
That might seem like a good rea
son to try another hobby—especially
lo someone who’s never played. What
they don’t realize is that golf is a dru'g
as addicting as any other.
Thb hot sun beating down, the
crisp green grass and those rare mo
ments when you crush a drive or sink
an impossible pull combine to keep
you coming back. It’s an irresistible
force.
It’s the challenge of gol f that hooks
people. You can always do better
tomorrow than you did today. No
matter how good of a shot you hit, you
can somehow hit it better. The game
is sort of a drive for perfection.
Golfing could be a good metaphor
for life. It’s doing the same th ing over
and over, but always falling a little
short. Still, you keep trying.
It can be preuy frustrating some
times. But there arc also those great
moments that keep you coming back.
The truly memorable shots might
come few and far between, but they
arc enough. And if you didn’t play,
you wouldn’t even have them.
The biggest complaint I often hear
about golf is that people think it’s
boring. Especially if they’ve only
watched it on TV. People can view it
as a long, boring process that really
doesn’t make a lot of sense.
But they fail lo sec the drama they
arc often watching. Pro tournaments
bring together gigantic figures like
Jack N icklaus —the greatest player in
the history of the sport — to clashes
on surreal environments like The
Golfing could be a
good metaphor for
life. It’s doing the
same thing over and
over, but always
falling a little short.
Still, you keep
trying.
Masters at Augusta, Ga.
The great dramas unfold with in
credible clarity. If the match is close,
it will come down to the final hole.
Who will blink and falter? Who will
make the critical error or take the right
risk?
When it’s over, you don’t have to
wonder who succeeded and whocame
up short. It is easy to see who had the
longer drive. The ball either falls into
the hole with that familiar sound or
rolls by. The leader board doesn’t lie.
It is in these moments that careers
and fortunes arc made or broken with
one swing of a club or one miss-hit
ball. Ordinary life is never so black
and while.
The players who participate in this
drama are not constrained by the laws
of reality that make the rest of us fall
short. If you are aware of the incred
ible difficulty in what they make look
so easy, you cannot fail to be amazed.
Watching films of Nicklaus when
he was in his prime is like viewing
perfection. If anyone ever came close
to doing something perfectly. Jack
Nicklaus did it with golf.
And he still could have done bet
ter. Even he faced the test of driving
farther, pulling better and scoring
lower.
Even he was challenged to do bel
ter.
I’ve been sick lately, so I haven’t
had the chance to play my first round
this spring. I probably won’t gel out
until finals are over.
I know my first lime out will be the
same mix of frustration and happiness
(hat makes golf irresistible. Itwouldn’t
be interesting if it weren’t so chal
lenging.
At limes this summer I’m sure I’ll
be so frustrated I’ll waniioquiL Then
I’ll have a great round that will sustain
me through slices, hooks and missed
putts.
It’s hard to explain, but a perfectly
played hole just makes a lot of things
right in the world. You can’t evaluate
it later and find out you really didn’t
do so well. A par is a par, forever
recorded on the scorecard.
I’ve been playing with a friend
since high school. He makes golf look
a lot easier than it feels for me.
Even ordinary people like us can
play out the drama of a golf match —
if only for quarters, not millions. Un
fortunately , il’sonly ever been a drama
for about three or four holes.
This year I'm going to beat him.
I’ll put together that perfect game and
leave him behind in a cloud of dust.
*■ Well, probably not, but struggling
against impossibility is what golf is
all about.
Fitzpatrick la a junior political science
major and the editor of the Dally Nebraakan.
I
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