_______ L
Opinion
ThE CkckAMAS P rìnt
WEdNEsdAy, OcTobER 24, 2001
fr.UGM frü [Il LiiLL^
Stand united for Clackamas, the nation, the world
I proudly stood in a moment
of silence with hundreds of stu
dents and faculty on Sept. 14 in
the Randall Gymnasium. Faculty
member Bill Zulkie and ASG
president Stefan Meyer led this
silent occasion, we proudly
stood with one hand over our
hearts while honoring our coun
try and victims of the Sept. 11
tragedy.
This was a national moment
of silence on the 14th day of Sep
tember, as requested by our
president of the United States of
America. All who could join, did.
Since, I have witnessed and par
ticipated on and off campus with
hundreds of people during dif
ferent events showing their sup
port as a nation; I know that
many other Clackamas students
and faculty have done and will
continue to do the same. I am
proud to be an American and I
am as equally proud to be a part
of the reflection of Clackamas
Community College.
After reading the letter to the
editor, “Where was Clackamas?,”
I listened as some students re
sponded with confusion, stating they
did not know the event was taking
place. One student said, “...the part
about the students not caring about
what happened on September 11, it af
fected me deeply.. .1 took the time and
had a moment of silence in my own
heart about what happened." There
have been many different dates and
times that our president has called us to
stand united, and each student partici
pates in their own way, whenever and
where ever they can. Everyone I have
talked to says, “they are sad that they
were not made aware of the event and
missed it.” I started thinking that if all
the people that I talked to were unaware
of the event, then how many more
Job market’s bad pickins’
The employment available to CEO salaries rose by an average of
us sucks; the jobs are stupid 535%. If the minimum-wage rose by
and mind-destroyingly boring. the same percent, it would be at $24.31
It doesn’t have to be this way. per hour today.
It isn’t easy going to college
By giving all of our time to work,
without a job, but I think that we’re exchanging our lives for money,
we should be able to concen which means that money is like a life
trate on our studies. Further token. Five dollars? That’s about an
more, the
jobs avail
able suck.
Why should
we have to
work in jobs
that we don’t
Jesse Gurzynski
like for bad
——————
pay?
Has it ever
occurred to you that the major hour of life for a minimum-wage
ity of jobs done in our society worker. Next time you buy something,
are useless? A job in retail for think about how much of your life
instance, serves no useful pur you’re spending on it. Is it worth it?
Now comes the real catch: we’ve
pose in society. Instead it
serves to make the rich richer been convinced that the only way to
and the consequences are the live is to spend money. We’re trained
destruction of the world’s re from childhood that the only way to
sources and sustainability.
have fun is with “toys.” Says a Toys
I encourage you to step back ‘R’ Us ad, “Where do kids go when
for a minute and see just how they dream? Toys ‘R’ Us.” Only if
screwed up the system of work they’ve been brainwashed by adver
is. While some people are tising. Of course we know that mar
starving and unable to find keting is a business with high moral
work, others are sick from be standards, as is proven by a market
ing overworked. While every ing consultant at a 1994 Florida semi
one is busy doing useless work, nar who said “Anti-social behavior in
the work that needs to be done, pursuit of a product is a good thing.”
like building communities,
In the foreword to Molly Scott
switching to sustainable re Cato’s book Seven Myths about Work,
sources and rebuilding the Chris Busby wrote the following: “I
world’s ecosystem, is ne would like to see people refusing to
work in any job they felt Was wrong. I
glected.
The way we’re taught to see would like to see work-dodgers, hon
the system is that everyone orable and brave people who refuse
working is doing his or her part to continue to feed this monstrous cul
to keep society working. That ture.” That means don’t get trapped
“part” is maintaining the divi in wage-slavery, or work in a business
sion between the rich and the that exploits others. And you might
poor and maintaining a system not need so much money if you just
which places a few in position consider what you really need, instead
of thinking you need all those prod
to exploit the many.
According to Multinational ucts touted to you with a false prom
Monitor, in the 1990s corporate ise of happiness.
events might go unheard of on cam
pus? This is why I decided to write
this letter. I wanted to help support
our nation at this time and bring
unity by informing people how they
can get involved. I also want to
encourage students and faculty to
continue to support our nation. I
stay focused on what I can do and
what I have done, because of the
fact that even though I am only one
person, the little bit I do is far better
than doing nothing at all. Please
make a note that The Clackamas
Print has a listing of primary goals
in the Oct. 10,2001 edition, which
speaks of support efforts in effect
to help aid those in the tragedy of
Sept. 11. Everyone is welcome to
help. Here are a few of the events
supporting our nation that are, or
will be on campus. Public Affairs
officers and senators are putting on
a dance on Nov. 30, where all rev
enue generated by students will go
to the Red Cross Relief Funding;
Also, the vice-president, executive
director, senators to child care and
Campus Activities (in ASG), have
created a relief fund box for stu
dents to be able to get involved.
Furthermore, faculty, students and
staff have been wearing patriotic red,
white, and blue ribbons in honor of
those killed in
the tragedy.
These ribbons
and pins (to
make your
own) are avail
able in die ASG
office. There
are many more
supportive
events that
you should
watch for via e-
mail, posters or by contacting ASG
and The Print. The same respurces
to get information are great sources
for getting your own information
out to the students and staff. There
fore, I encourage anyone who wants
to speak out to do it! Clackamas has
many different ways to be creative
and send messages that will bring
people together. Please feel free to
stop by your ASG office, we would
be more than happy to help in any
way we can. We have poster mak
ing materials, e-mail access and a
great word-of- mouth location for
anyone to use freely. I have also
heard it being said by our president
of the school, Joe Johnson, “ I have
an open door policy."
Although we have all
done many things to
show our support, we
can still do more. I
can do more! In re
sponse to the article,
I am proud of all the
one person stands in
the same way I am
proud of the united
we stand! As quoted
by Edmund Burke,
“Nobody could make a greater mis
take then he who did nothing be
cause he could only do a little."
Thank You,
Yvonne Ingram
ASG-Vice President
Note: Submitted work must be 300
words or less. This was a one time
occurrence. All work must be
subitted with a disk in person, or e-
mailed to
cccprint@clackamas.cc.or.us.
America: A land in need of love
JOELSHEMPERT
Contributing Writer
It is not particularly penetrat
ing of me to point out that there
is great injustice in the world; nor
is it tremendously insightful to
suggest that the behavior of hu
man beings must change if this is
to be rectified. But I just can’t
help meditating on this problem
as I observe the world around me.
Particularly, I am pondering the
trend of factionalism and divisive
ness in our nation. The first
murmurings may seem small and
benign, but their successors, big
otry and hate, are surely mon
strous and cancerous things.
And so it is now, rather than at
the swastika-bearing time when it
is too late, that I would sound the
cry against this danger.
There have been dissenters in
America
against
our
government’s overseas actions
for some time. But with the bomb
ing of Afghanistan, and the ac
companying promise of long and
bloody war, those protests gained
new urgency and perhaps a
larger voice. Now while that pro
test is laudable, and while I count
myself among its heralds, I be
lieve we must look closer for the
cure of our national disease.
It is easy to merely speak of
compassion, or any other ideal;
it is doubly easy when its object
is a hemisphere away. G.K.
Chesterton, writing in the early
20th century, declared that any
lover of humanity “shall always
be very much pleased when his
barber tries to talk to him. His
barber is humanity: let him love
that. Ifhe is not pleased at this, I
will not accept any substitute in
the way of interest in the Congo
or the future of Japan. If a man
cannot love his barber whom he
has seen, how shall he love the
Japanese whom he has not
seen?”
Put aside for a moment bombed
Afghans or starving Iraqis: do we
have any kindness to spare for
those within our own borders?
Already a blind racism is creep
ing across the land, as Muslim or
merely Muslim-appearing people
(such as turban-wearing Sikhs,
whose 15th century religion con
tains no Islamic connection) are
in al mask of
tolerance, but it is
fragile.”
Joel Shempert
Contributing Writer
threatened, beaten or even shot
to death. Are these merely the
actions of cranks, or extreme
symptoms of a subtler but larger
societal disease?
I believe we are in trouble be
cause we will not talk to our bar
ber. We won’t give the time of
day to the beleaguered supermar
ket cashier, or the poor slob try
ing to merge onto the freeway, or
the kid who just needs a quarter
to call home or catch a bus. And
that doesn’t begin to address
those in serious, even desperate
need, be it financial, emotional or
spiritual. How can we reach out
to the homeless and downtrodden
when we don’t even know our
neighbors? Our society is break
ing down at every level: individu
als, families, communities, cities..
.and soon, perhaps, our nation it
self.
We have a national mask of tol
erance, but it is fragile. George
W. Bush reassures us that Arab-
Americans are fully valued and
not to be persecuted, while his ad
ministration expands
the
government’s power to detain im
migrants suspected of crimes in
definitely, without charges, dur
ing a “national emergency.” Pub
lic awareness of Middle East and
Muslim issues is seemingly on the
rise, while young men are eager to
go overseas and “kill some dune
coons.” Could it be that this
double-face stems from our own
lack of compassion at home?
I propose that we strive to break
free of this pattern. I propose that
we get to know our next door
neighbor, that wè let that driver
who’s in such a hurry into our lane,
that we talk to that strange, lonely
person on the bus-that we give a
smile, a few bucks, or even a meal
to the homeless person who we
always pass by.
We need to make friends with
someone who is different. We
need to re-forge the bonds of our
own families. Chesterton, again,
wrote, “The first man one meets is
always man.” When we truly love
mankind in this way, we can
wholeheartedly sing the lyric:
America, America, God shed His
Grace on thee, and crown thy
good with brotherhood from sea
to shining sea.