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?”
