OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016
A day and a way for valentines
By ALEC CHAPA
For The Daily Astorian
Valentine’s Day
has become
redundant and
predictable.
Y
ear after year, the time always rolls
around for chocolates and roses, for
dinner and wine, for poetic and heartfelt
words.
The idea of setting aside a day not just for
your valentine, but for everyone’s valentine
is almost itself romantic, and understandably
so.
It’s amazing when
two
people
come
together to form a deep
trust in each other, a
bond strong enough to
persist even through
the absurd, all because
of something we call
“love.” Through these
relationships, each per-
son can perhaps come
Alec
to be more in the pres-
Chapa
ence of the other. Surely
whoever this person is, they could use some
appreciation from time to time! So we make it
a point to express our affection in one fashion
or another, and say something along the lines
of “Yes, I still love you and recognize your
importance.”
Of course, there are so many ways to go
about expressing this affection to a partner.
Does he like blue? Does she care for poetry?
Maybe your partner enjoys simple time in
nature with you.
All of these characteristics make a person
who they are, and over time, the crevices of
their character are revealed. Whatever these
characteristics are, and whatever moments
they are discovered in, as two people develop
a relationship the more they begin to share a
mutual understanding of each other.
In a sense, a relationship is the string-
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another, where the fabric is perhaps even more
unique than its parts. The more the relation-
ship becomes unique, the more meaningful
it becomes: that’s why best friends, and only
best friends, know all the details!
In addition to being unique, relation-
ships are also living. As each person contin-
ues to grow and change, the ways to express
their meaning and importance also changes.
Not only is there room for creativity; in some
ways, it’s unavoidable.
Photo Illustration via Thinkstock
and unpredictable the holiday could be, the
same gifts seem to sell, and in some ways it
makes sense: For one thing, we don’t want
our partner to be lonesome in the crowd of
teddy bears and roses.
So we hurry off to the shops, in search
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sive and mysterious nature. Interestingly the perfect gift, who knows? And if we don’t
enough, however, the holiday has become ¿QG LW ZH IHHO OLNH ZH VKRXOG DW OHDVW JHW
redundant and predictable.
something. There is a sense that the mate-
Year after year, it’s no surprise when rial gift is most important, as if it were the
VWRUH VKHOYHV EHFRPH ¿OOHG ZLWK WKH VDPH sole form of expression, without which we
chocolate assortments, along with the teddy would be terrible valentines!
bears, sometimes so large they could be mis-
This doesn’t always happen, but when
taken for passengers. Don’t forget the bal- it does, we lose sight of the spirit of Val-
loons bearing “Happy Valentine’s Day” entine’s Day because we, in a sense, lose
on it. Store managers place the order in sight of our valentines. Even if we found the
advance, despite not really knowing who perfect gift, it would be stale all by itself:
will come in looking.
Where’s the kiss to go along with it? Or the
s a result, these two aspects of relation-
As for the last-minute procrastinators, touch of their hand in yours, and spending
ships make Valentine’s Day interesting: they can count on that same store to have time together?
2Q WKLV GD\ ZH WU\ WR ¿QG D ZD\ WR UHOD\ the same single roses time and time again
Without a valentine, why not just buy
this deep emotion, even in spite of its illu- — there’s always time. Despite how unique ourselves the teddy bears?
W riter’s
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f course, we search for the perfect gift
with the best intentions, but subtly the
material gift creates separation by shifting
the focus away from the gift’s intended.
Sometimes we forget the object of
your affections in the hunt for a material
representation.
Fortunately, when we lose sight of the hol-
iday, all it really needs is a little refocusing.
We need only remember to keep loved ones
in the spotlight: show them affection in any
way that helps, whether material or other-
wise, and remember to not let minor imper-
fections take away from the attention we give
them.
Simply put, a Hershey’s kiss may be
sweet, but it’s only affectionate because it
reminds us of its human counterpart.
Alec Chapa is a student at Clatsop Com-
munity College, studying philosophy and edu-
cation. English instructor Julie Brown recom-
mended him for this column. He is from San
Antonio, Texas.
The political party of ‘No way!’
have been a number of Supreme Court
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In the 20th century we had six:
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ASHINGTON — Perhaps
Mahlon
Pitney, nominated by William
the most important thing
Howard Taft.
Washington will do this year
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is decide whether to approve Louis Brandeis and John Clarke, nomi-
President Barack Obama’s nomi- nated by Woodrow Wilson.
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nee for the Supreme Court.
Benjamin Cardozo, nominated by Her-
But Republicans have already bert Hoover.
announced their decision: “No way!”
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It’s rich for Republicans to declare Frank Murphy, nominated by Franklin
pre-emptively that they will not even Roosevelt.
hold hearings on an Obama nominee,
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considering that they used to
Anthony Kennedy, who had
denounce (while their party
been nominated by Ron-
held the White House) the
ald Reagan the previous
notion that judges’ nomina-
November.
tions shouldn’t proceed in an
A counterexample is Abe
election year.
Fortas, whose nomination to
“That’s just plain bunk,”
be elevated from associate
Sen. Charles Grassley,
justice to chief justice in the
R-Iowa, said in 2008. “The
summer of 1968 was killed
reality is that the Senate has
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cans and Southern Demo-
Nicholas
judicial nominees during the
crats. But that’s a horrifying
Kristof
last few months of a pres-
bit of history for Republi-
ident’s term.” His sense of
cans to rely upon, because
reality has since changed.
A pox on the main reasons for oppo-
Sen. Lamar Alexan-
sition to Fortas were that
all their he favored civil rights
der, R-Tenn., said in 2008,
“Just because it’s a pres-
was Jewish. His ethi-
houses! and
idential election year is
cal lapses mostly emerged
no excuse for us to take a
later.
vacation.”
Republicans suggest that it’s stan-
In fairness, Democrats have also dard for a Supreme Court vacancy to
been hypocritical. In 1992, when be held over when it occurs during an
George Bush was president, then-Sen. HOHFWLRQ \HDU 6LQFH , FDQ ¿QG
Joe Biden said an election-year vacancy only one example of that happening —
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in the fall of 1956, after Congress had
A pox on all their houses!
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Let’s tune out politicians’ rhetoric impossible.
in both parties and look at the merits
It’s ironic that this tumult should
of the arguments. Supreme Court jus- bedevil a replacement for Antonin Sca-
WLFHVGRQ¶WGLHLQRI¿FHYHU\RIWHQDQG lia, who emphasized the constitutional
in recent decades they have mostly cho- text. The Constitution gives no hint
sen to step down before election years. that the Senate’s “advice and consent”
But despite what Republican sena- for nominations should operate only in
tors would have you believe, there three out of four years.
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
New York Times News Service
W
Doug Mills/The New York Times
People demonstrate at a protest organized by People for the American Way outside the Supreme Court
building in Washington, Feb. 15. The Republican Party used to be serious and prudent, but today it’s seems
less about governing than about obstructing, Nicholas Kristof says.
If Republicans block Obama’s nom-
ination, Scalia’s vacancy will last more
than a year, compared with a histori-
cal average of resolving nominations in
25 days. To date, the longest Supreme
Court nomination in American history
lasted 125 days, and it looks as if we
will easily break that record this year.
The larger issue here is obstruction-
ism. When I was growing up, the GOP
was the serious, prudent, boring party,
while the Democrats included a menag-
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Today it’s the GOP that embraces the
George Wallace demagogues, and its
aim is less to govern than to cause grid-
lock. That’s not true of everyone — the
House speaker, Paul Ryan, seems to
have genuine aspirations to legislate.
But to be a Republican lawmaker today
is too often to seek to block appoint-
ments, obstruct programs and shut
down government. Politics becomes
less about building things up than about
burning them down.
Both parties are open to expand-
ing the earned-income tax credit, to
early childhood programs, to bet-
ter approaches to heroin addiction,
to supporting women with obstetric
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women worldwide. Yet practical
measures to address these issues stall
in Congress.
The party of Lincoln is now the
party of “No,” refusing even to invite
the president’s budget director to tes-
tify on an Obama budget, as is custom-
ary. Congress is expected to accomplish
next to nothing this year.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the
apotheosis of this disregard for govern-
ing. Cruz’s entire congressional career
has involved antagonizing colleagues
and ensuring that nothing gets done.
And Trump barely bothers with poli-
cies, just provocations.
All this is ineffably sad. I expect pol-
iticians to exaggerate and bluster. But I
also expect them to govern, and that is
what many in the Grand Old Party now
refuse to do.
In that case, should they really be
paid? Just as we have work require-
ments for some welfare recipients,
maybe it’s time to consider work
requirements for senators.
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher • LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
• CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
• DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
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