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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1995)
EDITORIAL Pope1supports’ women's rights * opo John riitii II apologized for the Homan Catholic Church's "shortcomings’* regarding woman and women’s issues Monday, but failed to elaborate on what those "shortcomings'* am. in an open letter to the women of the world, the pope said that history had short ( hanged women but in* refused to budge on the two churl h policies that have done more to dismiss the val ue of women than any other < hurt h doctrine: abortion and women priests In an annoum ement conveniently timed before the United Nations' conference on women in fieijing this. September, the church is striving to cushion itself from the blow likely it’s likeiv to bo dealt on issues of'over population, equal opportunist and reproductive choice But the pope's "apology" is little more than lip service The pope praised early feminists for their "courage" ' in t areer udvaiu ement. ()f course, fie represents an insti tution that maintains an unapologetit glass ceiling Apparently, women deserve equal opportunity oven w Imre but within the t hit hole Chun h After .ill, the pope said, women cannot be priests Ixn ause all of Jesus' apostles were men. ‘ The presence of a t ertain diversity of roles is in no way prejudk ia! to women , but is rather an expression of what is spot lfii to being male and female.' Translation: men are pure enough to be priests and women are not. In another "breakthrough'' statement of support for female equaltK . the pope condemned sexual violent e ag.iiust Out !:;,i!nt.i in<-i i.ipe doe-, u, ,j ,Uxti fv the "grave mu' of abortion So, wbile the i hurt h "sup ports women's equality in every area," it continues to adhere to the very polit ies that keep women from hav iuv. < ontrol nt then bodies .md’their t areeis As sin h. tie pope's letter is nothing more than hypocritical head-pat ting. 1‘hus, the r.liort h's new pro-women " message is this We still consider von impure vessels of man's seed but we just wanted you to know that we appreciate you Right to frisk may not insure safety It's nighttime and you're walking across campus to vour dorm room Suddenly, like something straight out of .> poorly written deter live novel, you hear what sounds like two men lighting. As you turn the corner, you see a c am pus public safety officer struggling to subdue another man. After striking the offU er in the stomach with an objm t, the man knocks him to the ground and turns toward you 1 ie has a knife: he’s high on some drug, and now he's after you. Ol course, the story is only fiction this time. Hut we wanted to make a point. \\ hile the m»< m its servic is offered by (>i’S are vital and necessary to the campus community, it is possible that the re< ent decision to allow campus security officers to (risk people suspected of carrying weapons could jeop ardize the safety of OPS personnel and t Iniverslty stu dents. After all. if OPS officers are still not allowed to carry weapons themselves, exactly what are they supposed to do when they find a weapon on someone else/ Oregon Daily <■0 601 m* tuccttf ORtCON »uu JN> Oftpon D«rty f ^rwafc! -i puMih<d Oa**y KAootJay through Entity du^-g th* tchoo* ytfc* drxJ T uotday frr'd Tlwidajf c^>ng th« tummar by ffve* Oregon Da.*> ( meraid Pershing Co Inc at the Un vt? vty of Ohapwv Cugerm. Qntgcn TN* l moraicJ operate* independteflty of the Urvvereay «H9i ot*< m «f Su4o 300 0* the fcrfc Men*onei arvd i» a m*r^*w of ?*h> Ai«oc>aM P»ew !h« l marakJ * private property The unMwM 'emovai <y u«* o* paper* a protacuttfpa by Ur* E di toy *4n>Chief Oavtd Thorn AttOCtete Editor* M*v>. r<-o<>o l d*f di San .yntha M»v* • Sherry Hi n?y '**<*-. ;v . v Otlignif Steven A*t> , Photographei lMx^ u^cy N«ght Editor David Thor« General Manager *.t> tied Advertising Direct or Mi v Ai'« Production Manager M. fvjie tloii Advertising A- <8 A..”%*i>y l mi Yen IW» C.kttXK r*fM»!Nar 3gh Jon K«s«y l yQ-- Inna Classified IW* *, Mr-- • .1 • M.I -.v^ Production Tara vi.v.. * Jt- *«r fv;, d Busin#** Katnt Cartx -■•«» Svjpervtw Judy C<.v o;, Distribution John long, f fiafc . / Emerald N<rwvoocn 5u»tn«tt OTOc* *4^5511 >4*. *512 Display Advertising Classified Advertising 34^371? 346-4343 Searching tor common ground on t he. abortion issu^. J PEPuAPS ABORTION J COULO BE REDUCEo ey ■ EDUCATION ANO ACCESS I TV REuiAgLE A eiR-TVJ CONTROL / W£ RE ' t4o A rWAT '£ RE V AIN ST 1 T TOO l t I «. ■ OPINION Fishing for simple wisdom Mill! I t WIM.IHV) Standing on tin* bank of tin* slreitft, l was mart* than ready for tin* first i.ast of the day CMi hmv tin; fresh air felt Hit* sun in my fat ** lust mt* and my stream, ready to short* a f»-v% moments of perfect isolation with each other Of < nurse f wasn't totally fret* lake most people ! had to i on strain myself with the usual bar rage of deadlines and require ments that were awaiting my return I had allotted exactly four hours for fishing, in which tune ! needed to i all h five goodsi/ed . i.ugene (or whatever engagement 1 had going that night The hook couldn't have been in the water for more than 15 set amis when he showed up. A boy with shaggy hair and an engag ing smile apjMsired out of the hir es! and sat on the opposite hank to vvati h the show Great, I thought, now this little brut has to interrupt my solitude After a few minutes and sev eral casts had passed, i reeled in the first trout of the day Kxcept for tlie fat t that my little, smiling observer was still sitting ai ross the stream, things seemed to In* going w ell The i ease less smile i ontimied "Hi. t in Derm h I barely nodded. "You know what'" Oh great, yvhat' "I got a couple downstream 'bout an hour ago I tried to ignore him. hut I couldn't The fish stories i ontin ued Time went by, and I don't know how. but Derrii k slowly opened my shell and I started lis tening to him It was fascinating how friendly he was His smile really was c aptivating He1 told me store after story as if we were' best friends ploying catch with his tales He'd throw the story to the friend he had won over “Yester day 1 brought in tins lug old fish. He must a been this big." I he arms mimic the size, and the proud smile widens. Catch. Wow . look at that iish down here* I'm gonna get him " The grown-up can't overcome the magnificence of the childhood awe Catch How strange his Imhaviur is. I ttu-ughl 1 t e11i> -mhereti ,j Inin when 1 used to talk to strangers with the same openness Hut it seemed so far awa\ Now as growu ups we cherish our isolation from outsiders On the sidewalk we avoid the dread ed eye contact with the passing stranger On the elevator w e pre fer to look at the nutoilers us they ' i-a- : ('hr.- than a! r.ii li other On the plane we hide inside a mag azine* and pros that the person next to us won't start talking about their unseen grandchildren in Duluth. Derru k continued throwing his stones and 1 continued t ati lung them until all of a sudden, in one last, l committed the ultimate faux pas of fishing I cast my entire pole into the stream This was no shallow stream, mind \ou It was well over eight feet deep and running swiftly The pole sank into oblivion I expei ted the laughter from Derm k to begin at any moment Already figuring out where I would buy a new pole, I lifted mv eyes from the spot of mv misfor tune and was met with the most determined glare I'd ever received from an 11-year-old. Derrick quic kly stood up. sur veyed the situation and confi dently de. hired. "Don't worry I'll get it for you." He vanished for a moment, but quickly returned with goggles in hand and dove into the stream Now. remember. I really wasn't exaggerating about the size of tin stream. 1 certainly had no inten tion of jumping into a rapidly moving mass of snow run-off Hut this was an adventure lor Derrick Big breath. Down he wont Ho scrutinized llio ri\or floor, canto bat k up for air and rpiii k 1 v dove down again. All the while he was assuring me. Don't worry l itis isn't that hard of a river I'm fine ” Sov oral minutes later, as I was envisioning the I'mrroltl head lines reporting the charges against mo for drowning an 11-vear-old, I torrii k popped out of the stream w ith his continual smile and tri umphantly said, '‘S**e. hen- it is'" It was simply a game for him Helping me w as just a lot of fun. To me, his unconditional giving was like perfection But, being the grown-up 1 am, I broke the perfect ion As I was leaving, 1 tried to hand Derrick a few dol lars for his good deed Derrick's look of tncompre hension was blinding. I was his friend He was just helping me Why m the world would I pay him for something that was just fun to do' I no longer felt like rai mg to t atch my five fish, impressing anyone or hurrying home for yvhatever I yvus in such a rush for I just felt like swimming. I want ed to dive into the very spot that 1 had feared a moment ago Derrii k was my tear fier that day He taught me that yve grown ups tend to growl too much and not play enough. He taught me that as we get older, yve somehow accept an ominous age limit on simple joys and the requirement for sterner souls His lesson is so clear and yet seems so hard for grown-ups to understand. And so we dismiss turn as a simple child while we continue running our race If only yve could stop our scurry just long enough to listen to the wisdom of an 11 year old That it's OK to smile at the eyes of a stranger I hat yse ran help someone with out thinking anything of it. That yve too i an possess a small frag ment of Derrick's beauty. krif/t Cunningham is a colum nisi for thr Emerald
