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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1997)
EDITOR Paula Lavigne OPINION EDITOR Jessica Kennedy EDITORIAL BOARD Erin Gibson Joshua Gillin Jeff Randall Jul^Sobczyk Ryan Soderlin Quotes o£the WEEK “A promise made is a promise kept.” - City Councilman Jerry Shoecraft on voting for the sale of Lincoln General Hospital to Bryan Memorial Hospital “Mr. (Grant) Wistrom and his defen sive friends really picked up the pace in the second half. They were like crazed dogs out there.” - University of Central Florida quarterback Daunte Culpepper after last Saturday s 38-24 loss to the Huskers “Certainly it was a great loss for the university and a significant loss for the scientific community. His contributions are going to be sorely missed.” - UNL professor Don Weeks on the loss of UNL chemistry professor Naba Gupta this week to cancer “We don’t want to promote mass con sumption of beer.” - Todd Mausbach, co-owner of Mouse s Library, on the bar’s ‘Sneak a Leak’ promotion “I was just like, ‘Well geez, I suck.”’ - Nebraska volleyball player Jaime Krondak on hitting below .220 in the Huskers ’first four games “It is still very difficult for people to admit they’re HIV-positive in this part of the country.” - Derric Field during the sixth annual AIDS Walk Nebraska “We have to sell permits to fund the department, and we have to enforce the rules and our fines. That doesn’t make us popular with the students.” - Tad McDowell, Parking Services manager, on meeting the goals of his depart ment “You wind up with a sports section for jocks and coaches, not readers. Sports is news.” - UNL professor Dick Thien on how he, a news editor, got the job to design USA Today s sports page 15 years ago “It’s nice to write a song and get a response like people actually ‘get it.’” - Wally Pleasant “A&M for my money is in the top five teams in the country. There are no weak nesses.” - Nebraska soccer coach John Walker before last Sunday’s 1-0 loss to A&M “This is a huge morale booster for every UCF fan. I am just happy we all have a chance to talk about this. I don’t think we would be here if the score was 70-6.” - UCF coach Gene McDowell, whose team had a 17-14 lead on Nebraska at halftime before losing 38-24 “For having the medalist and seventh place finisher we should have done better as a team.” - Nebraska golf coach Larry Romjue on his team’s fifth-place perfor mance in the Falcon/Cross Creek Invitational “We play option football, and we feel it is very important that Frankie at least feels fairly confident, if he has to shoulder the whole load, that he can do it.” - Nebraska coach Tom Osborne on his decision to play Frankie London in the second quarter of the Huskers game with UCF Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serve as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in ] the hands of its student employees. letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl.edu. Haney’s VIEW Speak out Cowardice, hypocrisy root of evil xJSfc „ . JIM VANCE is a senior physical and health education major and a Daily Nebraskan colum nist. I’ll be honest. I’m outspoken, stubborn and so self-confident I sometimes appear stuck up. And I never hold a grudge, and always do my best to get along with everyone. Nor do I improve my self-confidence by bashing the confidence of others. Yet I often have difficulties with people. WHY? Do I say certain things that make people mad? Yes I do. But as far as I can tell, everything I say is true and honest - from my perspective. I hate politics, I don’t pull punches, and I call things how I see them. Hypocrisy, not money, is the root of all evil. It takes your soul: strangling, molesting and sodomizing it without pity until you cease to have a pointful existence. Why subject yourself to that? Are we so cowardly about who we are and what we stand for that we even begin to con ourselves about what we see with our own two eyes? There is nothing worse, it seems, than standing up for what you believe in, and getting no support because those who share your beliefs are just too damn weak to stand up as well. In a country with freedom of speech, why must we hold back? I do understand there is a limit, but I’m not talking about telling Johnny his girlfriend is an ugly fat-ass, or creating needless prob lems. But rather, when we see unfairness, when we see injustice, why do we become speechlessly frightened? Is that what our ancestors died for? Did they come here for more persecution and less freedom? You have two paths in life: You’re either the solution 66 You have to ask yourself, am I merely existing, or am I LIVING? Are you doing all you can to better the world? ” or the problem. If you don’t speak out against the problems, however minor or major they may be, you are a part of the problem. Once I told some of the stu dent body to “GO TO HELL!” in a letter to the editor in the DN because there was a lot of back lash to the student athletes due to the Lawrence Phillips scenario. Some people suggested commit tees to watch over all student ath letes - as if all of them were criminals just because they were blessed with certain physical abil ities. Being a student athlete, I took offense. My coach got a call from the vice chancellor, basical ly telling him to control me, and not let me say such things (violat ing my first amendment rights), feeling I should sit back and con tinue to take abuse simply because it was more convenient for him to let us take the abuse, rather than stand against it. The worst part of all, though, was the lack of support from some of my fellow athletes and teammates, even though they were taking the same abuse. There are two great things, I believe, which come from speak ing your mind and standing up for your beliefs. Once you get a taste of these you will never regret anything you have ever said or done - so long as it was honest in its roots. The first is you find out who your true friends are. These aren’t necessarily the people who share the same views as you, but rather who respect you for your courage, initiative and heart. The second is satisfaction. You have to ask yourself, am I merely exist ing, or am I LIVING? Are you doing all you can to better the world? If not, why are you here? I never have sleepless nights. There is nothing I have to feel guilty or regretful about in my life due to a personal weakness. People talk about morals, ethics and virtues, but when it comes down to it, how many of these people will actual ly say the emperor is STARK NAKED? Why is it when many people think something is grand, and one person thinks it’s terrible, we look at that person with discontent? Are we so overrun and blinded by our own desires and egos that we can not handle it when someone gives an honest assessment of something, if he or she disagrees with our own view? Why do we shun this person, or decrease his or her value? Why is it we refuse to talk to these people - merely because we are afraid they will tell us what we already know, but refuse to admit? Why do we fear those who have goals that surpass ours? Is there a need to be defensive just because we may be selling our selves short? I wish that when I would speak of great things, oth ers would begin to reach for the same greatness. If they don’t, they are not a part of the solution, only the problem. Just recently, as I was sitting down to eat, a young woman whom I consider a friend con fronted me about some of my recent actions, feeling they were rude to a certain person. I was taken aback, and then I realized she was right. Although I never perceived a problem, she opened my eyes to it with her honesty and straightforwardness. The moment has raised my respect level for this woman, as well as my con sciousness. The sad thing is, I knew she was right, but I didn’t let it bother me since it did not seem to bother anyone else. But really she was the only one with the guts to say anything. Take a good look at yourself. Are you happy? Are you honest? Are you on the right path to being everything you want to be? Honestly? Now ask yourself, “Am I part of the solution, or am I the problem?”