Former starship commander
wants to be student forever
I have a dilemma.
I graduated last May and I’ve
spent my summer being lazy and
piddling around as the Daily Ne
braskan editor.
Oh sure, it was a good experi
ence and I got my cartoonist thrown
in jail, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t
accomplishing anything, but I was
just delaying the inevitable.
Summer is almost over and now
it’s time for me to get serious. I
need to think about the future. I’m
an adult now and I need to find my
place in society (or outside of it).
There’s just one problem. I’ve
found out that I’m afraid ofthe real
world.
No, not that show on MTV, al
though a fourth season of that happy
crappy is pretty terrifying. I’m
scared of getting an 8 to 5 job and
working 5 days a week.
A lot of my friends are signing
upforfall classes and makingplans
to shift their part-time hours to co
incide with their school schedule.
They’re thinking about party
ing, skipping classes, football
games — all the things that go
along with a quality education.
Meanwhile, I’m applying at dif
ferent school districts, hoping to
land a job in a flooded market.
I’m thinking about paying back
student loans, finding a long-term
vocation, screwing the system —
all the things that go along with
post-education life.
it s iair. i spent my :> years nere
at the university and now I’m done.
I need to step aside so the next
generation can step in.
But I’m James T. Kirk. I don’t
want to give up my Captain’s chair
to some bald guy just because he
doesn’t have a gut and can act a
whole lot better.
Maybe that’s a bad analogy, but
I’m trying to make a point here. I
want to be an undergraduate stu
dent forever. If there was any way
that I could get at least minimum
wage for it, I’d be taking classes
until the Simpson trial ended (or I
died of natural causes, whichever
came first).
So now I’m in this transition
Joel Strauch
"Maybe I’m more like
Macauley Culkin. I
want to be a cute little
kid forever, but now my
voice is cracking and
everybody’s starting to
realize how ugly those
features look on a
teenage kid. ”
phase. Maybe I’m more like Macauley
Culkin. I want to be a cute little kid
forever, but now my voice is cracking
and everybody’s starting to realize
how ugly those features look on a
teenage kid.
It’s getting harder to convince
people that I’m still too immature for
full integration into our society.
I need to make a decision and I
need to make it soon.
Tjust wait iomy nieceand nephew’s
baptism. And just like at every func
tion where more than my immediate
family is around, I got asked the same
question over and over.
“So, do you have a job yet?”
What’s this big thing about having
a job? I had a job in high school. I
carried out groceries at the granddaddy
of all food stores — Skagway — but
nobody seemed that interested in
where I was working then.
Don’t those people at Skagway
serve a purpose in society? Wasn’t I
making a contribution then? Well, I
guess probably not.
But what’s the hurry to jump right
in and start plowing away at a job I
might hate. A job that might not be as
easy to escape from as a retail
position.
Maybe I’m lazy. Or paranoid.
Or both.
I think I’m just a little scared of
facing the big picture. If I get a
serious job and work forty hours a
week, I’ll be just like everybody
else — another face in the crowd
who’s getting older and less fun.
But there is a solution. There’s
this wonderful thing called gradu
ate school. They set it up just for
people like me. People who aren’t
quite ready to let go of university
life. People who have become in
stitutionalized.
It’s just like Morgan Freeman
said in “The Shawshank Redemp
tion:” “First you hate it here. Then
you learn to tolerate it. And finally,
you can’t live without it.”
Not that I’m comparing UNL to
a state prison (although I’ve had a
couple professors who make the
Shawshank warden look like
Tinkerbell), but I think the state
ment fits.
I had some problems adjusting
to college life and it took me a
while before I really buckled down
and enjoyed the studying and learn
ing. And there was always that
point during each semester where
I’d pray that it would just be over.
But now that I’m out of it, I’m
having very bad withdrawal symp
toms. I’ve talked to some other
friends who have graduated, and
we’ve all been having similar
dreams about signing up for classes
and other college memorabilia.
I just want to make sure and let
those students who just started or
still have a long way to go. Don’t
let people push you into doing
something you don’t want to do.
The only people who graduate in
four years (or less!) are those over
excited workaholics who can’t wait
to get out in the real world.
Live it up. The real world will
still be just as corrupt and competi
tive in a year or two.
Strauch is a graduate of UNL and the
editor of the Dally Nebraskan.
Daily
Nebraskan
readers say:
_— ——: _j
Send your brief letters to:
Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.,
Lincoln, Neb. 68588. Or fax
to: (402) 472-1761. Letters
must be signed and include a
phone number for
.verification.
Smith’s sentence
I find the judgmental attitudes pro
death penalty supporters display re
garding Susan Smith’s sentence to live
with the memories and consequences
of her own actions interesting.
Newsweek magazine asks who de
serves to dies and wonders why since
we are a country that supports capital
punishment, so few people are put to
death.
It reports that no one wants to ac
cept blame for the current stalemate.
Prosecutors blame j udges, who blame
courts, who blame the law, which gets
passed down by Supreme Court jus
tices, who don’t speak.
Maybe when it comes down to it,
society is made up of people created
in the image of God.
We may get angry and feel venge
ful with capital punishment looking
like a great scapegoat to vent our own
anger as God did with Noah and the
flood.
But we can’t escape the image of
our creator who is adorned as a loving,
merciful being who admitted toleam
ing from his mistakes and promised
never to send another flood but sent us
a teacher who would grant us eternal
life.
Maybe our society puts so few
people to death because we are made
up of creatures created after the like
ness of God, and from Jesus Christ we
learn that God condemns no one to
death, but an eternal lifeof living with
the consequences of our own actions.
God is not going to put anyone to
death, why should we?
Vicki Claassen
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1_^
Those of us who knew Kit will remember the many ways
he touched our lives. He was a man of quiet boldness.
He had a big heart. We will miss him and feel a great loss.
We want to thank each one of Kit's friends and
classmates, the Malaysian students, the international
community, and various University departments and
officials that helped Kit's family during this challenging
time. The support and care you gave to Kit's family and to
us was wonderful. Thank you.
NU Life Students and
Harvest Community Church
