| Don’t waste your breath
Time can be spent in better ways than trying to dictate others* behaviors, morals
TASHA KUXHAUSEN is a
sophomore news-editorial
major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
This summer I read about an ad
campaign hoping to convince homo
sexuals to change their orientation.
The idea intended to rescue gays from
their “harmful” decision.
If you guessed that die Christian
Coalition was involved in this char
rade, you are correct But of course
there are others who believe that
homosexuality is a choice.
Televangelist D. James Kennedy,
who is die national director of the
Center for Reclaiming America - a
group that also is a conservative
Christian organization — says he thinks
gays can choose otherwise.
It is also well known that
Republican Senator Trent Lott
announced publicly that gays can be
compared to alcoholics and kleptoma
niacs.
He said this as if homosexuals
were suffering some sort of mental
breakdown rather than simply
expressing themselves as sexual
human beings.
These right-winged homophobes
must think the Christian Bible
enforces our country’s laws.
But no article or amendment of die
Constitution forbids homosexuality.
We must not forget that the
Constitution of the United States
empowers our laws.
The Bible cannot and must not be
involved in lawmaking because not
everyone follows the Christian beliefs.
If we let one religion govern our
nation’s people, we would be going
against the initial purpose of foe
United States of America.
Our ancestors settled here for a
better life away from die religious
control of die King of England. They
came so we could have the freedom of
religion, among other human rights.
Our forefathers drafted a
Constitution so that from then on, we
could choose to think and to believe
freely.
But now some conservative
Christian groups think the public
should follow their beliefs about
morals and conduct
Must I repeat myself?
Not everyone is the same!
Some so-called Christian-rights
groups don’t seem to follow two true
tenets of Christianity anyway: love
and acceptance.
Jesus loved a woman named Mary
Magdalene, who was a former prosti
tute. But die Bible abhors prostitution.
This point just shows how contra
dictory the Bible can be about some
controversial topics. This goes for all
religious-based documents.
- The American people should put
their religious beliefs aside when
forming opinions related to abortion,
euthanasia and homosexuality.
Do people really believe gays and
lesbians can change their minds and
function as heterosexuals?
If they could, then why wouldn’t
they?
It would be much easier for homo
sexuals to stop their fight for their
First Amendment rights and hide
behind die safe mask of similarity. But
not everyone in this country is die
same, nor do they want the same
lifestyle.
We see different people everyday.
Different races, creeds, abilities,
sexes, sizes and shapes. We must
begin to include sexual orientation on
our mental lists of acceptable differ
ences.
The United States is known for its
tolerance of differences. Our country
is labeled a “melting pot” No one
really thinks that label refers to cook
ing supplies, do they? As much as
some would like to shield their chil
dren from homosexuality, it is still
there. It's reality. We all must deal with
it
I, for one, can admit that I don’t
understand homosexual orientation. I
don’t even have a personal relation
ship with a gay or lesbian person.
But I do know that I never want
anyone to tell me not to do something
or be something because it doesn’t fit
with their narrow version of how
things ought to be.
If I choose something in my life
that doesn’t coincide with others’
morals, then so be it It is my life, and
I live by my own morals.
That is why I cannot object to gay
behavior. Whether they choose to be
gay, which I believe is a ridiculous
assumption, or they are bom gay - it is
their right to love mid form an intimate
relationship with whomever they
want
If we insist on taking that right
away, what would be next?
Will some group propose sending
Jewish people to concentration camps
because it doesn’t agree with their
religious choices?
I genuinely hope whoever said that
history repeats itself was a blatant liar.
I hope America would never again
sink to such a level.
Or could we?
Because America is the land of die
free, the home of the brave and often
the place where ignorance deprives
freedom and breeds violence.
My advice to these people who say
that homosexuals can and should
change their lifestyles, is: Mind your
own business!
The truth of the matter is, anyone
could be gay. One of our children ^
could be gay. One of our friends could
be gay. Even our brother or sister
could be gay.
We might as well get used to the
fact that gays are here to stay. In fact,
gays have already been here for thou
Unfortunately, as Americans, we
often concern ourselves with other
people's business. Especially about
issues that don't involve us at all.
Bill Clintonfc scandal is aprime
example of the snoopy American pub
lic.
What the president does with con
senting female interns is none of any
one's business, yet it remains the main
topic of almost every nightly televi
sion news program.
What a gay neighbor does on
Saturday night is also no one else’s
business, yet everyone on the block in
any small town knows the details of
die event that Monday morning.
Don't Americans have problems in
their own lives to think about?
Or is the constant curiosity and
obsession with otters an escape from
our own daily trials and tribulations?
Some of die free time the public
seems to have to gossip would be bet
ter spent worrying about finding
homes for unwanted children.
Focusing on controlling unwanted
pregnancies and educating about birth
control would also be more worth
while, because it can be. controlled.
These issues actually affect the
which
So if you’re complaining ateut^
what gay people are doing, quit wast
ing your breadr You may never stop
being ignorant, but you could at least
try to use your time and words wisely.
AARON COOPER is a
senior English major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
Names of children appear imder
headlines almost without pause these
days. For many of us they pass
through our memories just as quickly
as they come, like ghost ships in the
night
It has escalated beyond the point
of our dismissing this pattern with a
mere shaking of the head and mum
i. bling of “It’s a shame.”
It is turning into an epidemic.
The virus of violence continues to
spread with a recent confrontation
-- coming in Chicago, with the death of
Ryan Harris, an 11-year-old girl.
“That’s a shame, too,” we might
say or think, but tragedy doesn’t begin
v to scrape the surface of this latest out
break of child hostility.
The accused, a phrase we usually
3 associate with die likes of serial killers
j ~ played by John Malkovich or Kevin
Spacey in movies, are two boys - ages
7 and 8.
What would ittake for two boys,
child to death?
This question gets at the cento-of
I what is causing youth all over the
country to take die lives of their peers.
What makes the difference between a
child deciding that killing is more
“stimulating” than watching Sesame
Street or playing Nintendo and any
other child?
That is not a question or problem
we like to think about, but it is one
that has to be answered and rectified.
Otherwise, Associated Press headlines
may soon originate in Lincoln or
anotiber town, which immediately
would prompt us to call family, pray
ing that it wasn’t our relatives who
were victims of another shooting
spree.
Is this realistic? I don’t think we
want to find out die hard way.
The rippling effects of shooting
sprees may never be fully realized by
the family and Mends of those who
have fallen victim to internal battles
with common sense and fantasy.
After being convicted of die
Jonesboro shootings, Mitchell
Johnson (now 14) and Andrew
Golden (now 12) were sentenced to
the custody of juvenile authorities,
where they could remain until age 21
or longer.
Under Arkansas’ current legal sys
tem, they could be released by age 18
- something the families of the vic
tims have a hard time dealing with.
un May 21, Kipland P. Kinkel
decided if might be “cool” to go on a
shooting rampage of his own, and
authorities say he started with his
mother and father, both found dead
later that day. Next, he proceeded to
shoot and kill a classmate and injure
23 others at Thurston High School in
Springfield, Ore.
What baffles most people, beyond
the brutal assault at the high school, is
the fact that Springfield police had to
send in a bomb squad to defuse the
house before they could even search it
or bring out the bodies of his parents.
Just when we thought it couldn’t
get any worse - it did.
America, we need not look far to
other recent outbreaks of violence
toward children of the world
Richard, Mark, and Jason Quinn,
ages 11,9 and 8 respectively, lost their
lives in Northern Ireland in early July
dining a firebombing of their house.
The bombing was die result of hateful
attitudes geared toward the Quinns’
Catholic mother because she was liv
ing with a Protestant companion.
If you are expecting further expla
nation as to why this happened, .
beyond die long-standing unrest in
Northern Ireland, you won’t find any.
Someone decided that the message
their mother was sending to the com
munity crossed unspeakable religious
barriers and “accidentally” killed
three of her sons, leaving their brother,
Lee, an only child
Many residents of die Quinns’
community still feel it was a justified
attack.
In Sierra Leone, a land recently
plagued by civil war, there is disagree
ment as to who has more power, the
government or the rebels.
A group of rebels loyal to the oust
ed military regime are warring against
a Nigerian-led West African interven
tion force. They tear through the
country and carry out random acts of
violence just to spite President Ahmed
Tejan Kabbah.
Children are beaten, disfigured,
rapea ana Killed
because a group
of people Vf». >
think that is 1]
the way to ..««
power. Too „
many pictures \ j\]
have surfaced
in the media jjm
depicting chil- j jfl ’'
.
missing or slashed faces.
Here, the only hope we have is to
raise children that don’t look to Beavis
and Butthead for moral guidance and
don’t take peer influence as superior
instruction to parental authority.
Then we have another issue: the
parents.
How many alcoholic, drug-infest
ed parents with gambling, abusive and
other tendencies can we have before
we will begin to see truly irreversible
patterns ofbehavior and violence
against children in more communities
than we already have?
Someone or something needs to
change. Who’s it going to be?
Parents? Children? The media?
Simple.
Everyone.
I want to see newspapers printing
Robb Blum/DN
A.
big, front-page stories and headlMs
when a third-grader gets an “A” on a
test Forget the lure of violence and
mayhem on die front page.
Show me a child learning how to
write in cursive or hitting a home run
in Litde League.
I want to see parents praising their
children more in paiblic. Enough of
the excessive disciplining of children
in front of others.
Treat children better than
strangers, not thes otherwayarpund.
Parents need to pay more attention
to pd spend more time with dpr
that quality family time is decreas ing
rapidly in the average American
household.
Give children more books to read,
unplug the Nintendo three days out of
the week and take children to the park
. or beach rather than die arcade.
| Show them how to use the
Internet as an educational resource
ill' and not as a television supple
ment Otherwise we will see the
§1 birth of Generation 7a
With all this viola
J tragedy, it would seem
