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
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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