DEB MC ADAMS
The secret of success: tenacity
The caps and gowns don’t even
cool offbefore they come back
outofstorage. Right now, there
arc 130 candidates for juris doctor,
518 candidates for master’s degrees
and 1,517 candidates for undergradu
ate degrees. If all of them have paid
their parking tickets and library fines,
they will comprise the largest group of
May graduates ever.
Some will go on to realize their
wildest dreams. A few will sell Hush
Puppies. Others will go back to the
farm with yet another land-manage
ment technique. Some will be hope
ful, and some will be cynical, but all of
them will possess something that 78.5
percent of the 158.6 million Ameri
cans older than 25 don’t have: a col
lege education.
All kinds of statistics indicate that
college graduates enjoy a better qual
ity of life than nongraduates. They
earn more, smoke less and travel far
ther. They have fewer children, who
are less likely todic in infancy, than do
undereducated and marginally edu
cated people. They arc more likely to
own a house and have health insur
ance than nongraduates. Yet every
adviser, professor and journalist has
reminded these graduates that life is
tough “out there.” and good jobs are
becoming harder to find.
The job market is more competi
tive than it was 30 years ago, when the
government was pouring money into
the economy and many useless,
midlevcl bureaucratic jobs were creat
ed. Now companies are hiring more
temporary employees to reduce lay
offs and to avoid paying benefits.
F inding a good job may take a lot of
hustling, but hustling for a job is no
hardship. Hardship was three days of
total darkness caused by dust blowing
on the Great Plains. Dispossession
based on race and relocation to reser
vations and internment camps was
hardship. Life may be tough “out
The difference between people
who realize their dreams and
those who don’t isn’t necessarily
money, good looks or
connections. It’s a way of
thinking.
there,” but it was a lot tougher in the
past. Sending out a few hundred
resumes doesn’t constitute hardship.
It constitutes tenacity.
Tenacity is one of the first determi
nants of getting anything, including a
job. People who arc discouraged by
rejection and settle for less than they
hoped for often complain that life has
somehow cheated them. Theodore S.
Gciscl, Dr. Scuss to some, called them
“... people just waiting, waiting for a
yes or no, or waiting for their hair to
grow, or a string of pearls or a pair of
pants or a wig with curls or Another
Chance.”
Sometimes people don’t succeed
because it’s easier not to. The differ
ence between people who realize their
dreams and those who don’t isn’t
necessarily money, good looksor con
nections. It’s a way of thinking. It’s
“I'll just keep trying,” instead of
“What’s the use of trying?” Another
Chance is more likely to materialize
for people who look for one.
AnotherChance is also more likely
when bridges haven’t been burned.
The world is starved for common cour
tesy. There’s no shortage of arrogance
and self-interest on the market today.
Everyone is sick of people who are
obsessed with their image to the ex
clusion of simple good manners.
“Please” and “thank you” are a couple
of potent keys to success.
Feel ing successful depends on one ’ s
capacity to be satisfied in a given
moment. The desire to improve isn’t
the same as the pursuit of status gym
bols. I f money brought happiness, Kurt
Cobain’s little girl would still have a
daddy.
Fitness expert Frank Butterfield
suggests, “If you do one thing, be the
best that you can be, not better than
someone else. We are all simply dif
ferent from each other, not better than
one another. We compete against our
selves, our insecurities, to create our
own excellence.”
Accumulating minivans and elec
tronic gadgets doesn’t ensure security
or satisfaction. A tremendous amount
of security comes from knowing what
one can do without. The United States
is the third most populous nation in
the world and its largest consumer of
resources. One-third of the oil pro
duced annually is used in the United
States with obvious consequences.
Diseases of overconsumption, espe
cially heart disease, are the nation’s
most common killers. One of the most
important contributions anyone can
make today is to tread more softly on
this earth.
A college degree is not a ticket. It’s
a powerful tool people can use to
determine the direction of their lives.
Only one-fifth of Americans older
than 25 will obtain that tool, and only
a fraction of them will have the persis
tence, the patience and the character
to fulfill their expectations. May the
next 2,165 UNL graduates be among
those who do.
McAdanu is a junior news-editorial ma
jor and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
KlMBKRLY SPl RL()( K
Color of messenger irrelevant
Iwas sitting in a broadcast jour
nalism class the other day, and
we were critiquing video projects.
We began to review one five-minute
project about racism at the University
of Ncbraska-Lincoln, which was pro
duced by another UNL student.
The project talked about how UNL
students deal with this problem. The
producer/reportcr, who is white, had
interviewed several black UNL stu
dents and asked them to talk about
theircxpcrienccs with racism at UNL.
The black students gave their hon
est feelings about racism and held
nothing back. At the end of the piece,
the producer/reportcr appeared and
gave a final analysis about racism at
UNL.
The project was well-constructed
and would help many people under
stand how a lot of black students on
this campus feel.
At the conclusion of this video
project, our professor asked for our
opinions on the project. All of the
students responding liked the project,
more or less, gave their views and
commented on how truthful it was.
Another student, who is white,
expressed a similar opinion. Howev
er, he said that it was good that this
project was produced by a white per
son, because it made the project seem
more real or valid. Had it been pro
duced by a black person, he said, the
piece would have lost some authentic
ity.
In other words, a while person
speaking on racism is more believable
than a black person. Some people
would see the black person as only
complaining or reaffirming his or her
own beliefs.
This response upset me very much.
There 1 was, sitting in a broadcast
journalism class with only white stu
dents in my presence, and 1 hear an
other student say that when I become
If anyone is turned off by the
message that I bring because I’m
black, they have already made a
decision about my writings before
reading them.
a professional journal ist, I should com
promise myself or my work for the
sake of those who won’t believe me
because I’m black.
There I was listening to someone
tell me,a black journalism major, who
lives, talks and writes about racism
every day, that what I say is not as
powerful or as important or as credi
ble as when a white person says it.
I have no problem with white peo
ple, or anyone else for that matter,
shedding a little light on racism, dis
crimination or whatever. It’s many of
those white people who need to write
and report these injustices in America
anyway, so that they know it exists.
But when I sit down at a computer
terminal, and I write a story on racism,
or I decide to write a column about
racism, I don’t take time to ponder
how others will feel about the truth. I
can’t alter my writing for a particular
segment of society. 1 will not compro
mise my work to satisfy certain indi
viduals.
When I write my columns, I write
my truths (as well as a heck of a lot of
other people’s truths). You may not
like my truths, but they are still that.
This student in my broadcast jour
nalism class said he would still have
found the video project bcl ievablc even
if it were a black person who produced
it. He was only considering the other
white people in the audience who
would probably only find the story
credible if it was a white person pro
ducing il.
As my professor told this student in
class, if those individuals in the audi
ence are turned offby the person (mes
senger) who is sending the story (mes
sage), then they were never turned on
in the first place.
I know many people may not agree
with all of my columns, but l also
know that I cannot please everyone.
And ifl compromise what I feel needs
to be said for the sake of individuals
who may be offended, then I’m selling
myself out as a journalist and as a
person.
My columns arc written from my
perspective — from my truths. If
anyone is turned off by the message
that I bring because I’m black, they
have already made a decision about
my writings before reading them.
I am angered by a lot of columns
that 1 read in the newspaper. But
sometimes (not all the time) those
same people who have offended me
have agreed with me on other issues.
Ifl was dying of AIDS and I came
to UNL to talk about the disease,
would you refuse to listen to my story
because I am black? If your answer is
yes, 1 suggest you dig your own grave,
because you arc already dead and need
to lie in it.
Spurlock li a senior broadcasting, news
editorial and English major and a Dally Ne
braskan columnist.
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