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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1994)
IUI \n l l I /V VI UK k ■ Photo shows reality in Bosnia The war in Bosnia became real for me when I saw the picture of a small, dead boy in Time magazine. The boy, killed by a shell in Sarajevo, stared lifelessly into space. He couldn’t nave been 10 years old. The picture of the boy crystallized what had before been an endless and confusing series of reports on Serbs, Croats and Muslims. I have read count less stories on the war and still do not completely understand what is hap pening there. Does anyone really understand the conflict? Would the boy have lived if the United States and NATO had decided earlier to threaten airstrikcs if the Serbs didn’t stop bombing Sarajevo? Now that the ultimatum has been is sued, the shelling has stopped. But hindsight is easy. Making de cisions about a conflict most people cannot understand is much more dif ficult. President Clinton’s hesitancy to involve the United States in the war is wise, considering the considerable danger U.S. forces would confront in Bosnia. Still, I wonder if the parents of the slain boy have a bitterness toward the United States for not acting sooner. Many people in the former Yugosla via must believe the United States could end the slaughter if it really wanted to. And it probably could, although the cost in U.S. lives would be high. The question becomes how much responsibility we have to help people who are struggling in places like the former Yugoslavia. How much re sponsibility did we have to do some thing to protect the boy pictured in Time? There is no absolute answer to the question, except that it is up to us to make that decision. We will decide to put ourselves at risk in Bosnia or stay But the boy’s face will not fade from my mind. He was a real person who must have just wanted to be able to play and get away from the shells and bombs and killing. at home and remain safe. The United States is no longer directly threatened by most conflicts in the world. Our decision to intervene in Bosnia was largely a decision to help people. Our national security was not threatened. Now that the Cold War is over and Russia and the United States are not maintaining a world order through competition, countries can fight each other w ithout much worry of interven tion. As long as the wars don’t threat en Russian or American interests, they can continue. The new peace with Russia has made people in Lincoln and every where else in the United States safer. Now that Russia is no longer our adversary, we are protected from a major conflict. But that peace means people in Sarajevo and other cities around the world face greater danger. Our securi ty comes at the price of the stability in their lives. Because the world has been so great ly transformed in the last several years, our generation will probably enjoy greater peace — as well as more re quests from other countries for help. As regional conflicts grow, more peo ple will die. More countries will ex pect the United States to live up to its promise of protecting human rights. * As we are seeing in Bosnia, the promise is difficult to keep when it comes at the expense of American lives. And there is a real question about how far we should go to protect other countries. Should American lives be placed at risk to end wars started by other people? We have more than enough strug gles to deal with at home. We cannot afford to be the answer to the world’s problems any longer. But the picture of the boy stares out at us. He was a human being who was undoubtedly worth fighting for. To ignore the problem in Bosnia is to ignore many people like him. There are unfortunately no easy answers. To send in ground troops will likely mean many Americans will die. To do nothing will mean many innocent people will continue to die. Writing about the issue in Lincoln is easy. If we fight in Bosnia, I will not have to go. If we do not, I am half a world away and can choose to ignore the reality of what is happening there. But the boy’s face will not fade from my mind. He was a real person who must have just wanted to be able to play and get away from the shells and bombs and killing. Fitzpatrick is a senior political science major and the editor of the Daily Nebraskan. i;. in (,m;s sm \\ks It takes effort to combat faults Not long ago I spent more time noticing what was wrong with everybody else than looking at what was wrong with me. Eventually I remembered one of our family mottos: In order todiscover my weaknesses, I need only to look at what I criticize in others. Whatever irks me about another person inevitably will be some quirk of my own. If I’m going to grow as a person, I have to accept those quirks. If I don’t accept myself, how can I accept others? How can I grow? For most of myadult life I’ve worked at being less biased about people. I’ve learned that bias shuts people out of my life. It causes me to take them for granted. I find the years I spent mak ing fun of people a part of my past I’d prefer to forget. Lately I’ve been trying hard to stop being so critical of particular stereo types. This pursuit has occupied my mind for some time. I’m not proud of being secretively critical. I find no value in despising someone because of what they appear to be like. 111 tell you what bugs me the most, middle-class males who at 35 years old or so have failed to realize their full potential and seem to be econom ically just a half step behind less en lightened, more successful sellouts who are probably stupid, anyway. There, I said it. It’s amazing the similarities I find between myself and that type of person. Why can I say the bad characteris tics I notice and despise in others are characteristics of my own? Because that is the only reason I do notice them. It is much easier to recognize fa miliar habits and idiosyncrasies than things that are different or foreign. So, it stands to reason that if we're con stantly critical of a certain group of people, we recognize specific things in them. If we’re not like them, how do we know what they are like? Every year I narrow down who I hate to a smaller segment of society. Being human means facing new things. So, if you’re going to play the game of life, put on a helmet. I’ve made progress. But I’ll never improve enough. The road to self-improvement is long and never-ending. I feel good about myself for a while, able to face any new challenge with ease. Eventually, however, I find my ela tion is a passing moment in the time continuum called life. Something new comes up. I’ll meet someone who drives me crazy. At this point, I do one of two things — retreat or advance. If I advance, I must make some effort toward changing myself a little further. If 1 retreat, even temporarily, just to take a short “break,” I withdraw from an opportunity to grow a little. The key is to string together as many moments of personal growth as you can without long breaks between them, because during those breaks you aren’t improving yourself. You’re just a stump. A rock. Maybe a nice rock, but you’re still a rock. When I ’ m taking a break from self improvement, I rely on the quality of myself as it stands, which in many cases is OK. This may work well for a while but not forever. To quote the dear and departed Gilda Radner, “It’s always something...” Around every comer, 1 find a new challenge. I’ve often heard people say in des peration, “I just don’t want to change right now,” or “I need a break from reality.” We all need breaks, but don’t take a break from reality on my time. Do it at home, in private. Because tomor row, when you get up, the world awaits and it’s ever-changing. If you don’t like it, stay at home. Stay out of the way. No attitude is better than a bad attitude. Being human means facing new things. So, if you’re going to play the game of life, put on a helmet. As we face new challenges, we can either use old thinking or find new ways of thinking. If we don’t, we’ll be stale and dull. At some time or another we’ve all complained about people we know who won’t change their ways. In our families, for example, there’s always one member who is notoriously rigid. Their predictability makes them the object of jokes. Other times, their refusal to change isolates them. Once identified as unchangeable, people give up on them. II you perceive yourself as un changeable, you give up on yourself. When this happens, the chance for improvement is lost. Once you stop improving, you simply can’t face new challenges with continued success. If you lose hope in yourself, what the hell good are you to the rest of the world? I’m glad I meet horrible people. And annoying people. And hateful people. Because without them, I may not find in myself troublesome areas in need of changing. Shub b i graduate itudeat aad a Daily Nebraakaa columatit. BUY IT. SELL IT. FIND IT. Nebraskan CLASSIFIED 472-2588 DEADLINE 2:00 P.M. Dance To The Music Of...' ■ -VW Alternative dance music from the 80s & 90s Friday, February 25th & Saturday the 26th; 9-lam Cover only $3.00 W.C.’s 1477-4006_Downtown 1228 *P' St. J AMERICAN PROGRAM BUREAU Presents a UVING THE DREAM. INC. Productions of: 1dkat fllout If lack plomyn 7 1 February 27, 1994 7:30pm Nebraska Union Ballroom UNL Students - Free Public - $3 THE DOCTOR IS COMING LIVE to U.N.O. DR. RUTH! Milo Bail Student Center 2nd Floor - Ballroom WEDNESDAY, March 9th, 7:30pm UNL Students: $2.00 General Public: $5.00 Tickets available: UNO Box Office and at the door, if space is available sponsored by: For more info call: 554-2623 < The University Program Council invites you to experience ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR HAIRDRESSER'S HIIS R A N D A film by Potrict letonte The HAIRDRESSER'S HUSBAND Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater February 27, 1994 Times: 2:30p.m. $3 UNL Students 4:45p.m. $5 General Public 7:00p.m. International Films Series 9:15p.m. For more information call 472-8146 or call The UPC Even®