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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 22, 2015)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher DANIEL WATTENBURGER JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Two truths and a lie Topic: Planet Earth There are a few things every human being has in common — our general genetic makeup, our mortality, our need to make every written list consist of three items. But the biggest similarity may be our home planet, Earth. Look at a picture of the universe and you’ll realize how small of a speck we all share. And yet that speck amazingly has the perfect balance of resources to support and nurture life. It’s no wonder some call her “mother.” Today is Earth Day, an internationally recognized day set aside to celebrate and thoughtfully consider this home of ours. So whatever your views are on the way we humans interact with the earth, take a minute to think about the wonder that it is. To help, here are some amazing details about this great blue ball. OTHER VIEWS TRUTH: The earth is as smooth as a billiard ball. Mount Everest is the highest point on earth, rising more than 29,000 feet above sea level. If it was a cliff above the sea and someone were to jump, it would take more than two minutes of free fall to hit the surface of the water. But of course billiard balls aren’t covered in water. So imagine draining all the water from the ocean, leaving deep grooves where the oceans once were. The deepest pit would be the Marianas Trench at about 36,000 feet. The total difference between the highest height and deepest depth on our planet is 65,000 feet. And yet, if you were to shrink the globe down to the size of a billiard ball (about 2-and-a-half inches) it would be smooth enough to qualify for use in a World Pool-Billiard Association sanctioned game — no bumps or divots greater than 0.005 inches. I TRUTH: Water is what makes earth special. OK, pour that water back into Earth’s oceans and you’ve got the exact reason our planet is unique. We’re the only planet on which 1$6$FDQFRQ¿UPVWDEOHERGLHVRIZDWHURQLWVVXUIDFH As we all learned in grade school, 71 percent of the earth’s surface is water, and 97.5 percent of that is salt water. While other planets show signs that water may have once existed there, or have traces of water in the atmosphere or ice on the surface, the earth is primed for life. Speaking of the oceans, between 700,000 and 1 million species of plants and animals live there and only about a third of them have been documented. The oceans make up 99 percent of livable space on this planet. It becomes clear how valuable the resource is when drought hits a region, like it is in the West right now. In Southern California residents are being asked to conserve water in their daily routines to make sure there’s enough to go around this summer. Because no matter how advanced we get, we’ll never outsmart the need for H2O. LIE: Humans are destroying the earth. So maybe we’re doing some things that make life on this planet less hospitable — from spitting our gum out where people walk to clear-cutting large swaths of rain forest to make room for cattle ranches. But even if a Star Wars-inspired super-villain with unlimited resources made it his goal to destroy the planet, he could only make a dent. It’s a nearly 6 sextillion-ton ball of iron that has taken a constant beating from intergalactic rubble since the day it ZDVERUQ,I\RXWKLQND'HDWK6WDUÀRDWLQJE\FDQ¿UHDODVHU powerful enough to end its existence, think again. Scientists speculate it would take an explosion with as much energy as the sun creates in a week to dismantle our planet. Good luck with that, evil genius. There are theoretical discussions of black holes, ion colliders and impacts by foreign objects, but the probability of that kind of destruction being brought on by human beings is all but impossible. Of course, that’s not really the discussion. Literal destruction of the earth and eradication of life as we know it are two very different things. But remember, this planet was here before us and it will be here when we’re gone. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. BMCC touches everyone, everyone should pitch in I have been an avid supporter of Blue Mountain Community College since 1963. I had no idea how I was going to attend college until I learned about BMCC. I enrolled and was awarded a scholarship. As a college freshman, I tagged along as President Wally McCrae and members of the board visited service clubs and attended community meetings asking for support of SDVVDJHRIWKHERQGWR¿QDQFHWKHFROOHJH, fondly recall visits to Rotary meetings and other club events in Hermiston, Heppner, Milton-Freewater and Athena. I told my story and asked for “yes” votes. The night the votes were counted, I waited with a pounding heart. Really! I was pleased and grateful that voters recognized the value of BMCC. I could not vote in that election because I was not old enough. I certainly am old enough now! I intend to vote YES for the bond. The college has grown considerably since 1963. The student body includes people from all walks of life — from teens to octogenarians. Some students enroll in only one class while others take a complete load. The program opportunities are numerous and the college has continually responded to the needs of the surrounding communities and businesses. The nursing program is a gem. In addition to academics and training programs, the college provides cultural opportunities. The rodeo and sports teams are stellar. There is something for everyone. BMCC has created an environment that supports, educates and encourages people to learn and grow. As cultures shift n January 1969, two quarterbacks best-seller list for an astounding 98 played against each other in Super weeks. Bowl III. Johnny Unitas and Joe Then along came humanistic Namath were both superstars. They psychology, led by people like Carl were both from western Pennsylvania, 5RJHUVZKRZDVWKHPRVWLQÀXHQWLDO but they came from different cultural psychologist of the 20th century. Rogers universes. Unitas was reticent, followed the same basic line: Human workmanlike and deliberately nature is intrinsically good. People need XQJODPRURXV1DPDWKZDVÀDVK\DQG to love themselves more. They need David a playboy. He turned himself into a to remove external restraints on their Brooks marketing brand and wrote a memoir glorious selves. Comment jokingly called, “I Can’t Wait Until “Man’s behavior is exquisitely Tomorrow ‘Cause I Get Better Looking rational,” Rogers wrote, “moving with Every Day.” subtle and ordered complexity toward the goal The contrast between these two men his organism is endeavoring to achieve.” symbolizes a broader shift from a culture of Humanistic psychology led to the self- self-effacement, which says, “I’m no better than esteem movement and much else, reshaping anybody else and nobody is better than me,” to a the atmosphere in schools, human-resources culture of self-expression, which says, “Look at departments and across American society. what I’ve accomplished. I’m special.” In short, American popular culture pivoted. The conventional story, beloved especially Once the dominant view was that the self is to on the right, is that this cultural shift took be distrusted but external institutions are to be place in the 1960s. First there was the Greatest trusted. Then the dominant view was that the self Generation, whose members were modest and is to be trusted and external constraints are to be VHOIVDFUL¿FLQJEXWWKHQDORQJFDPHWKHEDE\ distrusted. boomers who were narcissistic and relativistic. This more positive view of human nature As I found while researching a book, this SURGXFHGVRPHYHU\JRRGVRFLDOEHQH¿WV)RU VWRU\OLQHGRHVQ¶WUHDOO\¿WWKHIDFWV7KHELJVKLIW centuries people in certain groups in society had in American culture did not happen around the been taught to think too poorly of themselves. time of Woodstock and the Age of Aquarius. Many feminists and civil rights activists seized It happened in the late 1940s, and it was the on these messages to help formerly oppressed members of the Greatest Generation that led the groups to believe in themselves, to raise their shift. sights and aspirations. The real pivot point was the end of World War But I would say that we have overshot II. By the fall of 1945, Americans had endured the mark. We now live in a world in which 16 years of hardship, stretching back through commencement speakers tell students to trust the Depression. They were ready to let loose and themselves, listen to themselves, follow their say farewell to all that. There followed what the passions, to glorify the Golden Figure inside. historian Alan Petigny called “the renunciation We now live in a culture of the Big Me, a culture of renunciation.” The amount of consumer of meritocracy where we promote ourselves advertising on the radio exploded. Magazines and a social media culture where we broadcast ran articles on the wonderful lifestyle changes highlight reels of our lives. What’s lost is the that were going to make lives easier - ultraviolet more balanced view, that we are splendidly lights that would sterilize dishes in place of endowed but also broken. And without that dishwashing. view, the whole logic of character-building falls There was a softening in the moral sphere. In apart. You build your career by building on your 1946, Rabbi Joshua Liebman published a book strengths, but you improve your character by called “Peace of Mind” that told everybody to trying to address your weaknesses. relax and love themselves. He wrote a new set So perhaps the culture needs a rebalance. of commandments, including “Thou shalt not be 7KHURPDQWLFFXOWXUHRIVHOIJORUL¿FDWLRQKDVWR afraid of thy hidden impulses;” thou shalt “love be balanced with an older philosophic tradition, thyself.” Liebman’s book touched a nerve. It based on the realistic acknowledgment that we stayed atop The New York Times’ best-seller list are all made of crooked timber and that we need for 58 weeks. help to cope with our own tendency to screw A few years later, Harry Overstreet published things up. That great tradition and body of “The Mature Mind,” which similarly advised wisdom was accidentally tossed aside in the late people to discard the doctrine based on human 1940s. It’s worth reviving and modernizing it. VLQIXOQHVVDQGHPEUDFHVHOIDI¿UPDWLRQ7KDW Ŷ book topped the list for 16 weeks. David Brooks became a New York Times Op- In 1952, Norman Vincent Peale came out Ed columnist in September 2003. He has been with “The Power of Positive Thinking,” which a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a rejected a morality of restraint for an upbeat contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic morality of growth. That book rested atop the Monthly. YOUR VIEWS BMCC is a strong economic force in our area. It is an asset that provides an excellent return on investment. This bond will provide funding for much needed program development that will ultimately result in good family wage jobs. If you visit campus you can readily see that the buildings are in need of attention. If you have taken a class, you know that you can either freeze or fry! The HVAC systems need to be replaced. Technology must be upgraded. Cold hard facts: If your house is valued at $145,000, the household cost to support this bond is only $36.25 yearly, or $3.02 per month. If it is valued at $290,000 the cost per year is only $72.50, or $6.05 per month. More bond information is available at: bondinfo@bluecc.edu or www.bluecc. edu/about-bmcc/bond-measure. Take a look. I urge you all to vote YES! Carole L. Innes Pendleton Don’t dismiss Pendleton fuel tax so quickly A short time ago a letter appeared here proposing that Pendleton again enact a local gasoline tax. I have been waiting breathlessly for someone else to take up the cry — in vain. I guess nobody else was brave enough to risk echoing the vile “T” word, especially, perhaps, at this time of year. And some, never at any time. A gasoline tax dedicated to the upkeep of city streets seems perfectly reasonable to me, with the obvious need to salvage badly deteriorated street surfaces in some areas, notably Southwest Perkins Avenue and Southwest 45th Street, as well as a stretch of Southwest Second Street. Just as important as making the city a tourist magnet is for residents to be able to travel home after work on decently maintained streets. It certainly can’t have escaped notice that, over the last few years, the price of gasoline has yo-yoed crazily, with far greater swings than almost any other commodity. In just the last few months, after plummeting to two dollars per gallon, the price at a local station increased 10 cents from one day to the next and, within one month, had risen 70 cents per gallon. Under conditions like these, who could be narrow enough to complain about a ¿[HGIHZFHQWVSHUJDOORQWD[WRSURYLGHD much-needed service? I know, the previous exercise in local gas taxation was doubly stigmatized by having the burden of being dubbed “The Road to Nowhere,” but it did demonstrate that a little bravery and concerted effort actually can accomplish something. At the very least, this idea ought to be worth mulling over. BMCC tied to a strong regional economy Citizens can invest in themselves by voting yes for the upcoming BMCC bond. The presence of a local community college boosts the regional economy by providing a skilled workforce for local employers and additional opportunities for our high school students. BMCC students enrolled in training programs for health care careers, business careers, and technical careers get good jobs, and a portion of their salaries are invested back in the region. Many students who already have families and are in the workforce can’t easily quit their jobs and move to an area with a major university, so enrollment at their regional community college makes a lot of sense. High school students can earn college credits through BMCC at bargain prices. A strong community college is closely linked to a strong economy, so help keep BMCC modern and relevant by voting yes for the bond measure in May. Harvey Foreman Pendleton LETTERS POLICY John and Gail Turner Pendleton The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspa- per reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual ser- vices and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
