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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1998)
Wednesday, March 4,1998 Students support 'ramen' industry BRAD ZIMMERMAN Co-Editor-in-Chief College students rent the apartments that no one else will consider living in. Brad Zimmerman Co-Edltor-in- Chlef In today's world people must be flex ible, adaptive, resistant to stress and poor living conditions, etc. But who on earth can really handle that poor, destitute and usually pathetic life? College students. Who else do you know that can go for a month without eating anything other than ramen for breakfast, lunch and dinner ($19.80 per month)? Other than ill-treated migrant work ers or plain homeless people, I can not really think of another group of indi viduals that endure as much as we do without complaining. In fact, some college students revel in their pathetic life-styles. The ramen reference I made earlier may seem funny or perhaps sad to some readers but it is the truth. A couple of my friends are ramen con noisseurs. Macaroni and cheese is simply not in their spending range. College students rent the apartments no one else will consider living in. They drive the cars that no one else would dare be seen in. They endure boring professors, long classes and hideous class schedules. Can anyone think of a type of per son, possibly besides a high school student, who is willing to work in the fast food industry? Or at a grocery store? Not that people other than college students work these types of jobs, but the majority of those jobs are filled by desperate students who need money. Even more pathetic are the college students who work on internships. Either these students are rich and can afford to have a job that doesn't pay or barely pays, or the student must work an additional job. However, things aren't all bad. College students, by enduring sometimes harsh and pitiful condi tions come to appreciate the better things in life. By working that horrible fast food or grocery store job, they later ap preciate the desk job they land in their later years. By driving that beat up old car we /NO, I CAN'CX w GO OÜT ToNtóWTl X $ . KAQ IS k taco bcll zw can later appreciate the newer car we're able to work toward. It almost reminds me of some sort of religious concept; by suffering now, we will be rewarded later in life. As long as we land a job with Intel Conformity isn't the only way JOEL P. SHEMPERT Feature Editor Recently a classmate of mine was discussing the opinion articles I’ve written for the Print of late. “You know what’s cool about this guy?” he extolled to a friend, “He says what he believes, no matter what. He doesn’t care what people think; he just says it.” This compliment sounded a bit alien to me. Do I? I thought. Do 1 really speak my mind on topics that matter to me? Or do I keep my mouth shut and only voice my views through such artificial devices as edi torials and Internet postings? I must admit, in person I find it hard to voice a view that may differ from those around me. On those rare occa sions when I do so, I am terrified. I am reality is reminded of Homer Simpson expound ing the Code of the Schoolyard: “Never the say anything unless you’re sure every Christian one else feels exactly the same way.” claim— Of course, controversy is always risky, and conformity is always the easy not only route. But I tend to think there’s a that it deeper reason as well. Many people around me who disagree with me are exists, but perfectly vocal about their views. I that it is would like to do the same, but I feel found in held back. Why is that? I believe one reason is that I live in Christ. a society which is to some extent hostile to my point of view. In my first year at JoelP. Clackamas, I was interviewed by a girl in Shempert my speech class for an “Introduction” Feature Editor speech, and in front of the class she said that “aside from his Christian beliefs, he seems like a nice person.” That impacted me. Is my faith truly that repugnant? Is the doctrine of love to which I subscribe such a force of evil? The thought that those around me feel this way has para lyzed me. I have operated under the fear that if I let some thing “narrow-minded”—that is, Christian—slip out I will be branded as a hateful bigot. Am I exaggerating the situation? Perhaps somewhat. Yet in many ways this seems an accurate view of current philosophical thought. We live, as we are constantly reminded, in a pluralistic so ciety, one which “celebrates diversity.” We are given to be lieve that if we assert one set of values over another, that we are being narrow-minded, oppressive, bigoted, and the whole lot. We are told to “respect others’ beliefs” and that “every one has the right to their own opinion.” gllZwO Wednesday, March 4, 1998 While that may be true, it proves little. As author Frank Peretti once said, “It doesn’t mean everyone’s opinion is just as good as everybody else’s. It is possible to be wrong.” And as for pluralism, it seems to be valued as an ideal to be pursued, when pluralism is in fact no ideology at all. It is simply a fact—that more than one belief exists. It doesn’t make all beliefs equal or “valid.” It just makes them different. Anyone who begins to think any belief is as valid as all others has only to remember the Nazi party to see the error of this view. This view, like so much in life, is nothing new. When brought to trial by the Roman government, Jesus Christ told Pontius Pilate, “To this end was I bom, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.” Governor Pilate replied, “What is truth?” Even in that day, the claim to an absolute and unalterable reality was met with resistance. Absolute reality is the Christian claim—not only that it ex ists, but that it is found in Christ. That is where Christian exclusivity comes in. Either Christ is God incarnate and the only means of salvation, or He’s not. Both cannot be true. Whichever is true, it alters the rest of reality so much that one must either accept or reject the claim. One cannot coexist with it. One cannot compromise with it. This is difficult to accept. Steve Taylor, satirical voice of Christian music, has said, “Before the Gospel is good news, first it’s really bad news,” Biblical Christianity tells us things about ourselves that we don’t want to hear. The things God has to say about sin, evil, and moral decay grate on our hu manistic sensibilities. For this reason it is hard to defend my position and still seem like a “nice guy.” Despite assertions to the contrary, Christianity is hardly a crutch for the weak-minded or emo tionally frail. It contains hard truths about our humanity, it urges difficult directions for our lives, it is unfashionable, strange, and full of complex and bizarre concepts. Flannery O’Connor made the simple claim, “It’s much harder to be lieve than not to believe.” The path of Christ is indeed the “road less traveled.” Many claim that faith should be a private thing—that it’s all well and good for me to believe what I will, so long as I don’t try to “force my beliefs on others.” I am, however, faced with a dilemma. My faith claims to offer an ultimate solution for humanity. It claims to offer the answer to the Ultimate Ques tion of Life, the Universe, and Everything. If that is true, how can I possibly keep it to myself? Christianity is not a club; it is a mission. Can I stand in the midst of an epidemic and keep for myself the cure? I ask not that the reader agree with me or accept my views. Whether or not an individual embraces Christianity is out of my hands. I can only give the message and let he who has ears to hear, hear. / show you a more excellent way. or Microsoft. Just remember: what doesn't kill you will probably make you a better person. So make the best of what you've got now and keep in mind that it can pretty much only get better. Electronic hate mail: Unacceptable letters an issue on campus It is no surprise that e-mail is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of communication in the world. Its im pact on our lives has not been fully realized by economists, historians or the government. E-mail’s casual language and re laxed writing standards have made writ ing teachers cringe and recipients lost for the meaning of messages sent to them. Currently, e-mail has been dete riorating to garbled messages that don’t include periods or even a semblance of Hate mail structure. Recipients are forced to take on hundreds of forwarded messages, is not an some containing sexual or crude lan acceptable guage. More disturbing to me are e- form of mails that poke racial fun and even lam communi baste individuals with cruel hate mail. There has been a current string cation. of hate mail distributed throughout cam Jacob Boenisch pus. The attacks have mainly been fo ASG President cused on women, who have been called bitches and told in many other four let ter expletives two “screw off.” As responsible adults this sort of language and attitude is unacceptable. Upon reviewing some hate mail that has been sent to students at Clackamas Community College, it’s hard to find any intelligent matter within such letters. The accessibility of e-mail and its simple interface have taken away any time for a sender to think over the comments they are about to make. A traditional letter, for instance, allows an indi vidual to go over what he or she is writing by providing more time for them to think things out. With e-mail, people sit down, write their thoughts and push send. There is no way to retract your message. Sure people get mad, but with e-mail we should be more responsible with our feelings and protect others. Hate mail is not an acceptable form of communication. Lately, an instance broke out in the computer lab with students who were writing racist comments. They were caught and lost computer privileges at the school. Their demise came about by the fact that students at CCC do not own their e-mail address. Your account belongs to the college and your files are suspect to observation by the Informational Technology Services. This observation requires us to be responsible users of the services provided to us. Hopefully students will take this message to heart and report any hate mail that comes across their screen to the computer lab supervisor. Jacob Boenisch ASG President
