VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
One company fuels
dreams for the future
■ OUR OPINION: !• ,•> ' • -j
in America's young people
today means fewer
problems tomorrow
Not ill I dead-end jobs
suck.
Not all Imjs-.i’s m'i’ your
education ns some sort of
unbearable barrier to their
neatly construe ted shift
schedules.
And not all people older
than 30 whine about "kids
today" and do nothing.
A Junction City company
actually cares about its teen
age employees and their
future
No, Thu Cap isn't opening
another store.
it's Jerry Brown's Texaco
stations
The company requires its
gas station attendants to
m unfair! passing gf ides an i
cuts their work schedules if
the employees' “B "s slip to
"D"s Managers make sure
that the student's job does
not interfere with his or her
school work or extracurricu
lar ai tivities
Wait It gets hotter
Since J9U0. the company
has been socking moriev
away for its employees' col
iege educations For eat h
doiiar that an employee
deposits into a "hands-off"
college fund account, the
company adds 50 cents So.
by the time Johnny Pump
Jockey graduates from high
school, he has enough cash
stashed to take the bile off
student starvation
In a year categorized by
education cuts and a Repub
lican plan to make college
loans harder to get and even
harder to repay. Jerry Brown
Co s i ommitment to the
next generation is nothing
short of astounding. But its
mission is not altogether
altruistic.
The two gas stations run
by tlte company actually
gain more than they give up.
By being a partner in their
employees' futures, the sta
tions build a business
staffed by happv. dedicated
workers who go the extra
mile for their company and
their customers. Turn over
is lower, internal theft is
unheard of, and the commu
nity rewards the company's
dedic ation with full-tanks
and frequent visits
In addition, young people
who believe they have a
bright future (a rare enough
phenomenon in modern
Americ a) are less likely to
engage in graffiti spraying,
drag racing, shoplifting and
other types of mid adoles
cent mischief that can
destroy communities.
Amazing as it sounds, mon
■ . - lute .net attention paid
to teenagers keeps them on
the straight and narrow
Meanwhile, our prisons
are overflowing, and Oregon
has just approved the con
struction of four new juve
nile prisons costing more
than $22 million dollars
jerry brown Co., has invest
ed less than $30,000 in its
program, and you can bet
that none of its c urrent or
bet •
up resident« in any of those
new cells.
For all the talk about
investing in Arneric a's chil
dren. few companies seem
willing to walk the walk
Most establishments treat
their employees like tempo
rary space-fillers. Not sur
prisingly, that's how those
employees feel.
If the state of the* nation is
to improve, we must make
and keep a promise to the
next generation: Your future
matters to us bec-nise it mat
ters to America
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War: What is it good for? Well, lots
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh
day of the eleventh month of 1918 the
gun* that had been tearing Europe
apart for more than four years full
silent rite armies, like exhausted boxers at the
end of a long and brutal prize fight, staggered
home and jwmc e was declared
In Europe, victors and vanquished celebrated
their survival of some of the most hideous man
made destruc lion the world had ever seen In
A meric a, celebrations took on an air of triumph,
and a national holiday — Armistic e Day. was
created
Unlike Memorial I Jay. whk h honors all who
have died in America's wars. Armistice day cel
ebrated the liv ing — the warriors and the veter
ans Nuvcmliet 11 was a day. (or honoring those
who served in the military Millions of veterans
would put on their old uniforms and march
proudly down the main streets of the nation's
cities and towns
The horrors of World War 11 exceeded those of
World War I. and often exceeded people's abili
ty to aci opt how brutal we ran lei toward ear h
other Even though the war demonstrated new
highs (or lows) of "man's inhumanity to man,"
the final victory increased the fervor for cele
brating military prowess Though Armistice Day
was eventually renamed Veterans' Day, it
remained an important national holiday — on a
par with Memorial Day, the 4th of July and
Thanksgiving
And then tame Viet Nam In Viet Nam the
military committed the unpardonable sin: It
lost Not only tlid it lose, it lost to an enemy that
seemed at first to be insignificant The Tet offen
sive of 1968 was not only a major turning point
in the war. it was a major turning point in
America's love allair w ith the military Within a
few years. Veterans' Day ceased to ini widely
celebrated, and today we hardly notice its pass
ing
Today many Americ ans distrust our military
leaders and consider military service only as a
way to get job training or money for c ollege The
('.old War has ended, and any government
actions that may put American soldiers' lives at
risk are met w ith hailstorms of protest.
The desire for peace has become so automatic
that anyone suggesting that war might have an
up side would lie .laughed .it So let me sec- if 1
can give you a few good c buckles
History shows us that peace is a time for
rec oveiing from the last war while preparing for
the next. Along with the certainties of death and
taxes is the certainty that another war is just
around the c orner. Something inside us rebels at
that thought We w ant to believe that reason c an
prevail, that humans c an evolve and that lasting
peace can be established Yeah, right.
1 he horrors of war go beyond the hideous and
the obscene. Clear images of rape, torture, death
and mutilation are refreshed nightly on TV, and
yet we continue to war on each other. YVhy '
Well, war is one of nature's tools for thinning
the herd As a species, we are far too successful
lor our biosphere. If we don't limit our repro
duction to a level Earth can sustain, nature will
do it for us Increased competition for ever
scarcer resources will be increasingly resolved
with v iolence Current examples include the
genocide in Rwanda, Bosnia, Tibet and East
Timor.
War is also useful in at quiring desired
resources like land, food, oil and slaves. Ameri
ca was repeatedly divided and conquered by
■Hjjgmi
llTf
MB
Ion c beginning with the sec
ond wave of immigrants coin
ing over the land bridge from
Asia — so was the rest of the
world.
Cro-Magnons may have
deflated the ethics of extermi
nating Neanderthals, but they
did it anyway. And Bosnians
kill Serbs who kill Croats who
kill Bosnians, all of them flop
mg to keep or gam a bit ot
land. Thu victors may not fare well, but the van
quished, if they survive at all. suck hind teat
if it's possible to gain resources by waging
war. then losing a war is a sure-fire way to lose
them. If attacked, failure to adequately respond
is usually a one-way tu ket to oblivion Some
times fear of attai k is enough to promote a pre
emptive first strike, and so the line between
aggressor and victim is lost
final!). waging war tan be an incredible
adrenaline high. Some of the most meaningful
memories are those of combat. Horrible condi
tions can provoke a sense of triumph simply
txHiause they were survived Many combat veter
ans never again achieve the same sense of alive
ness that comes with being around when the
smoke clears.
Instead of denigrating warriors and war, we
should recognize that war is inevitable. Like it
or not. we. as a nation, will one day look to our
military to protect us. Instead of minimizing
Veterans' Day. we should restore its full honors
and recognize that the desire and willingness to
wage war is buried deep within our hearts The
need to wage war is coming even if we cannot or
will not see it, and in the end, it is far better to
be a militant victor than a pacifist victim.
Larry Haftl. a senior majoring in journalism, is a
columnist for the Km era Id.