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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 1995)
VIEWPOINTS EOITORIALS. OPINIONS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Armageddon avoided, but society still pays ■ OUR OPINION: Weapons of the Cold War have been stored for years, but now they threaten lives |ust three decades ago, tin* U S was locked m n war of words and wills with the mighty Soviet Empire Hre Cold War cmatud an intense atmosphere of distnisi as both superpowers began sto» kpiiing weapons of mass destruction With the vorv real throat of nuclear and/or i hemic al warfare looming over tho two continents, tho U.S governrtusnl Irngan a pro gram of survival education for its i ivillan population Instruction amounted to a nuclear version of "stop, drop and roll," Survival education worked its wav into every aspect of the American way of life, from tlio military to public schools. If Soviet missiles were ever to leave their launch sites for the land of the; free and home of the brave, Americans would Im» ready. They would know what to do. Tho "training" of the American sot tut> back then is a scary testament to the ignorance tho U.S had over the deadly effects of chemi cal warfare and nuclear radiation. "If you see a bright explo sion on tlie horizon or in the sky. don’t look at it. Instead, fat e the opposite direction, shield your eyes and face with your forearm and lie down facing away from the explosion. Then. s«*ek shel ter.” TV commercials told the nation in black and white. Somehow, we kept from annihilating each other and there never was a nuclear or c hemical war. Armageddon took a rain check. Unfortunately, the U.S. still has plenty of nasty little nuclear and chemical mementos left over from those years, 30,000 tons of the stuff, now stored in eight aging facilities across the nation. Stored in aging facilities like the Umatilla Army Depot near Umatilla, Ore The U S Army guards and maintains ‘10 concrete storage bunkers filled with deadly nerve gas only a few miles from the farming communities of Hermiston. Umatilla. Stanfield and irrigon in rustic, sage brushed Eastern Oregon. The bad nows? Approximately 100.000 of the chemically armed rtx k ets are showing signs of cor rosion and more than 100 have sprung leaks. Just what have wo done to ourselves' Not only is it immoral and irresponsible for the govern ment to store unstable ( hemic als in the proximity of human beings, it is an indictment on humanity that we had to make the cruel weapons in the first place, Now, in order to protect the human population near by. the Army plans to build a $1.2 billion incinerator to destroy the chernlr als stock piled in the Umatilla depot. The dollar figure is only the beginning of a nightmar ish amount that the U.S has had to commit to the prob lem. It will cost U.S. taxpay ers S12.ti billion lo build enough incinerators to destroy all the worn-out weapons. 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Me m get ius>» Hat}. •awruweg Set*) Ur-.tin * * re- Arne One.} Ut ,■ CJ*tg ltr-r 1 er Arran (k<» SUM Hater •meter **»«» u*i tm Sins Uotne* Mens Unas tan utenues jeruttr e*ar> tine Siw«rri*n Ps*0at*»e Urtauitou ntotom WMe aaaJmier *itireDi ‘tan tiirti rummy an i Mi Dinar Uttar Met .mini. Cora Jorai, l<n »!agM Uc«t MtCtnu .'*••» Stiaaaer Joe ;m««rr AOnott »«rr» Serera wteartr Utneer tomtj •ri-rw Mmr Ceftcra baanetor **» Connoer CtaurMee 111 QaeAneg. earuser » OnsaeOae JeP Joftnart Jofto l «v *0 ‘aj't J4M11 mui 2 ImMi Office £>*•»# itt Ctwtrtnn k#mvw*% utsra M44M3 TO THS VICTOR (jO 7ME SPOILS Sra U)ari vtZ'T+T *Wf MPV.M wARM£AD<rn\ftT This Thanksgiving, remember the poor When 1 think, ftlnnit Thanksgiving. 1 don't picture pilgrims and Indians, feast-laden tables or even a giant turkey Instead I remember my favorite part of the holiday Thanksgiving Mass Usually. I am not a great church lover, hut Thanksgiving is different — because of the rain And the problems are not getting any better. When (ieorgtt Bush was running for his firsl term, President Ronald Reagan said: If I lis tened to Michael Dukakis long enough I would be convinced that we’re in an economic down turn, and people are homeless and going svith out food and medical attention and that we've urtrau Tvery v«if, mv ( hurt h makes hundreds of loaves of wheat bread and distributes them after Thanksgiving Mass The bread is wholesome, it's free, and even the wealthiest individuals get in line for the 'handout ” Unlike most places, though, this handout carries no negative > onnotationa; the a». . . IratacUf go! to do something about the unemployed.' We are going to have to lie the generation to listen Starting in the 19H0s. more and more people began fleeing to Oregon for its economic stabili ty An ordtng to Foster Church {Oregonian. Man h 19) between 1985 and 1990, 64.000 of Oregon's newcomers were clinically poor. And still, many people feel that the poor are a prob lem to 1h> ignored. They cannot be ignored any giver and the re< eiver are both happy with the outcome. Too had it is not usually that way In this country people go hungry every day. Not the lwishl-hadn't-bought-that-new-CD-so I-could-order-pizza hunger, hut the I-surw wnuld-like-to-eat-today kind. Many people don't realize that while America is stilt consid ered the land of opportunity the gap between the rich and poor is greater in Manhattan than it is in Guatemala (The New York Timrs, August 1995). Millions of people do not have enough or even anything to eat Yet to some, those suffer ers are not even "people." The media support people's prejudices toward the poverty-stricken The University is considered the second most liberal campus on the West Coast and yet. I have read letters mock ing the "scum of our streets" and instructing them to eat their jtets. These letters assert that people must "do" something to lie poor, that not having a place to live or enough to eat are lifestyle choices, and that "they" don't really want to work “They" are all alcoholic drug-abusers who are out to suck the life out of respectable tax-payers. Maybe. I'm sure most six-year-olds have had the time or inclination to become stereotypical welfare recipients According to Clifford M. Johnson, direirtor of programs and policy for the Children’s Defense Fund, 14.fi million children are going hungry everyday in this country. Many of them do not have a place to sleep. A full one-fourth of 6 yuar-olds don’t have the luxury of worrying about what they are getting for Christmas or when they are going to lose their next tooth. The holidays can only make problems worse During the summer, sleeping outside can tie fun. an adventure. It is much harder to sett the fun in a camp-out when it's freezing cold and pouring longer, we cannot place me sole matne tor tneir poverty on their shoulders Wo live in a country where one in every 25 families earns more than S 100.000, hut many more families cannot scrape together tho $14.H00 to make it above the poverty level (1900 census), ( .an we just write these people off as victims of social Darwinism' Wo cannot. We need to make a difference. No. we can't make it all bettor by passing out sleeping bags and hot bowls of soup. Change (>egins with the altering of preconceptions. As you walk down Hast 13th Avenue, instead of crossing to the other side of the street when ever you set; a "street person," nod, or say hi. At least try to help the down trodden retain their human dignity I don't advocate just hand ing out money, but a great way to make sure the person you pass has a warm meal that day is to buy it for him or her Then sit there. Give them a few minutes of your time, if he or she wants it. Often, it's lietm years since someone treated them like a person. lie! together with some friends and adopt a family lor the holidays. Drop off clothes at the local shelter, or donate your tune in a soup kitchen Realize, hut for fate, you could lie the one living off of others' cast-offs, and they could be earning an expensive education. In other wools, follow the age-old maxim: Treat others as you would like to he treated. Many homeless people still have hope, help keep that hope ulive For others who do not, try to remind them that the homeless are human beings. Many of us will be heading home for Thanks giving in one short week 1 plan to spend that time not only being thankful, but sharing my blessings as well. Kay Km ut sc held, a sophomore mn/onng in biolo gy, is a columnist for the Emerald.
