Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
JeffZeleny.Editor, 472-1766
Jeff Robb..Managing Editor
Matt Woody .Opinion Page Editor
DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor
Rainbow Rowell.Arts & Entertainment Editor
James Mehsling.Cartoonist
Chris Hain.Senior Reporter
Invincible
Youth guarantees no automatic safety
At times, adolescents feel they are not susceptible to the dangers
of society. One’s youth breeds a safety net-like arrogance that many
feel can’t be broken.
Two separate accidents in Nebraska this weekend are sobering
reminders of our mortality.
A 19-year-old Grand Island man was killed Saturday when the
car he was driving collided with a motor home on the city’s west
side.
A 18-year-old Walthill woman was killed Friday when the car
she was riding in hit an oncoming garbage truck.
The circumstances of both accidents were different. But the trag
edies are related in one way — neither teen was wearing a safety
belt.
Students, as summer approaches and classes wind down, take
notice of these two weekend accidents. Take notice of everyone’s
vulnerability.
Remember — you have a lot to live for.
Declining Dollar
Currency crisis may cause recession
As summer approaches, college students traveling abroad will
come face-to-face with one of the United States’ growing economic
problems — the falling dollar.
Travelers who haven’t paid much
attention to the sickly dollar will
raise an eyebrow when their after
noon snack at a German cafe costs
more than a full meal back home.
But the pale U.S. currency is po
tentially a bigger problem than sim
ply buying cookies in Europe.
The dollar has fallen to its lowest
point against the German deutsche
mark since World War II.
| And a dollar that continues to de
cline will mean increasing inflation
and a resulting raise in interest rates,
f As America’s economic recoveiy
Amy Schmidt/DN sped up last year, the Federal Re
serve and its chairman, Alan Greenspan, continually pushed up in
terest rates — much to the dismay of the American public. Now
that the U.S. economy has slowed down, Greenspan has quit fuel
ing the flame underneath interest rates.
But Greenspan and his Fed cronies are now confronted with a
problem they have nearly ignored up to now.
Coupled with the Unites State’s commitment to a $50 million
bailout of the Mexican peso, this crisis in currency could poten
tially cause a recession, should the dollar plunge even further.
The dollar’s decline right now Is not much more than a problem
for the world’s currency markets and investors. But if Greenspan
and U.S. policy makers continue to ignore the dollar’s decline, the
American economy could be headed down with it.
So while lounging streetside across the Atlantic this summer,
complain all you want about American currency because you might
have to get used to it upon returning home.
Editorial policy
Staff editorials represent the official
policy of the Spring 1995. Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editori
als do not necessarily reflectthe views
of the university, its employees, the
students or the NU Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent the opin
ion of the author. The regents publish
the Daily Nebraskan. They establish
the UNL Publications Board to su
pervise the daily production of the
paper. According to policy set by the
regents, responsibility for the edito
rial content of the newspaper lies
solely in the hands of its students.
Latter 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,
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Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all mate
rial submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit
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Requests to withhold names will not be granted.
Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebnuka
Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
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Father imparts legacy of life
My mother and I talk about the
misguided attitude people often
show when they tell us how “sorry”
they are about my father haying
Alzheimer’s disease. We lament for
them when they tell us how “ter
rible” it is that he “isn’t himself’
anymore. They don’t know him like
we do. They think the things he
can’t do anymore are all that made
him who he was. He still is who he
was. He’s never stopped giving, and
we haven’t stopped benefiting from
what he gives.
There are lots of things that make
him who he is that have nothing to
do with whether he can tie his shoes,
which he can no longer do. These
are some of the things that makeme
who I am. Things I couldn’t give
myself. Simple things.
I’ve probably spent more time
thinking about things he’s given me
and is still giving than what I might
have lost. He’s given me a lot.
There are four things that stick
out in my mind:
• Style: When I wear a hat, I
wear it his way.
• A name: I have a name that
only he could’ve given to me.
• Freedom: He gave me a special
kind of freedom that only he
could have given.
• Fighting: He taught how me to
fight.
He used to tilt his hat a certain
way. His own characteristic tilt
(now mine) was as flashy as he
ever got. I used to love the way he
did that. It was all he needed, too.
No frills. He still tilts it the same
way now.
Each morning that I take him to
adult day care, I tilt his hat for him a
second time. It has become a kind of
joke with some of the more lucid
clients, who laugh when I do it, and
with some of the day-care staff.
While leading him to his seat, I push
his hat forward. Much more than he
ever did himself. They think I’m
poking fun at him when I do that.
They don’t understand. He will
always correct it with the precise tilt
I remember as a boy. And that gives
mejoy.
Since he already leaves the house
in the morning with his hat tilted, I
could just leave it alone. But I don’t.
By re-tilting it so he has to do it
again, I get to see that characteristic
E. Hughes Shanks
tilt done twice. It’s a double dose of
a special style of his that he gives
me.
I gained a kind of freedom when
I looked into his family tree. My
father’s first name is also my middle
name. I always liked having it, even
before it had any real meaning to
me. The name not only gave me my
own personal freedom, it gave me
strength far beyond what I could’ve
gained on my own.
The Hughes family name is the
only part of our family tree that I’ve
looked up on my own. After doing
that, I’m even more glad to have
been given the name. It gave me
concrete proof that my people were
more than just the descendants of
freed slaves. As is the case with all
African Americans, slavery is only a
part of who we are.
I knew my father acted differ
ently, but I didn’t know why. I
realize now that he knew he was
special, but he just didn’t go around
saying it. In his mind he was free
from the slave mentality. Learning
this has helped me feel stronger. His
people’s people owned land and
went to college. They were truly
free. I gain strength from that.
When I dropped my first name
and started using my middle name, I
was screaming loud and high, “Hey,
we ain’t all just a bunch of expatri
ated Africans! We’re landed and
educated, too!” That’s something
more to be proud of.
I learned how to fight from
watching my father go through life.
He fought many battles, large and
small. They seemed to give him
headaches, which he welcomed as
part of the deal. I thought he was so
cool because he never stopped
fighting. He never quit trying.
I used his example when I
decided to quit coffee. Caffeine
would be my last chemical addiction
—knock on wood. It seemed simple
enough. Looking back, that’s
probably how I quit other things that
weren’t good for me.
He quit cigarettes cold turkey,-,;.-, ■,
That’s the only way. But quitting
coffee causes some painful head
aches from caffeine withdrawal.
They crushed in on my head from
my temples. I felt small and help
less.
I knew it was going to be a hard
fight. I knew that if I could make it
through, I could stand and watch as
a world of addicts passed me by.
But I felt weak. I suppose my father
felt weak at times, too. He wasn’t
addicted to alcohol or drugs (except
nicotine.), but I bet he knew just how
to fight them.
In addiction, there isn’t any
winning outright. There is only
fighting. Even when you’ve stopped,
the fighting continues. When people
say they’ve won a battle against
addiction, they’re lying. Winning is
too close-ended a concept for that.
Just like my father having
Alzheimer’s disease—he’s winning
because he alive. Whether he can
hold a conversation or not doesn’t
mean squat.
Wanting to quit caffeine is
actually bigger than whether I
actually quit it or not, just like the
valuable things I’ve learned from
my father. They didn’t stop being
valuable because he has
Alzheimer’s. In fact, they became
more valuable. It’s because I wanted
to quit that the headaches came. I
knew that. But then I got mad. I
remembered that the fight is the real
victory.
“Who’s stronger, me or the
caffeine?” I asked. The caffeine
said, “I am!” Pound, pound, pound.
I said, “No you’re not!” Yet still,
the headaches came. Pound, pound,
pound. The pounding may make me
feel small and weak now, but it can
make me feel bigger and stronger
later.
“There is no progress without
struggle,” someone said. And that
person was right. Wanting to quit
and having the headaches are part of
that struggle. Having Alzheimer’s is
part of the same struggle. I bet my
father would agree.
Shanks Is a graduate student and Daily
Nebraskan colnmaist.
