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Show OPINION COKIE & STEVE ROBERTS COMMENTARY Preserving culture, preserving the arts (Continued from page 8) Art is a journey from one heart into another's. We may not understand-or like-the journey. It may sound crashingly dissonant, as it does in some contemporary music, or proudly majestic, as it does in our Baroque classics. It may look disturbing or even chaotic, as it does in some contemporary abstract painting, or it may be tender and spiritual, as it is in our greatest religious art. Art takes us places we cannot go any other way. Art makes us grow in directions we cannot grow in any other way. Stabilizing the arts in Utah will, in a very real sense, help to stabilize society, bringing light to a darkening future, bringing hope to world so in need of healing. Aden Ross Dealing with suicide, a modern taboo • I understand the young man 's intense feelings -and concern about the article that appeared in last week's campus newspaper of college students being in the highest at-risk group for suicide. I have many emotions swirling around over both his and the previous article. Suicide was never even i n my vocabulary until five years ago, January 21, when my oldest child chose to end his life . I was stunned. Not just from the obvious assumption that this would, of course, be shocking news; but also from the fact that my son was not so meon e who I would consider a " typical candidate" for this . When :t happened, in Las Vegas, NV, I felt like coming home to my small, rural town in northeastern Nevada and telling all the parents "watch out, it can happen in a second, with no warning!" I hadn't realized before that this was possible, but it is. I'm not completely ure what my purpose in bringing my thoughts to this campus paper are, possibly to bridge th e gab betw een the two article . l admire the student for responding so candid ly, with hones t and unbridled emotion. To me it read a a spontaneous thought on paper, a first respon e gi ven n rehea rsal or editing . I, also, felt uncomfort a bl e, nopained- wh en I read the original article; but I somehow feel a need to stand beside the author of thi original article, even in my di comfort, and append his commentary with my hardearned knowl edge that talking about it does not make it happen . Dorothy B. Francis states "Many people believe that talking about suicide to a troubled person may give that person morbid ideas of taking his own life. This is false. He already has the ideas, and verbalizing them will help bring them into the open where help may be available. The danger lies in silence." This is from her book, Suicide. A Preventable Tragedy. I have read this same concept in almost every book I have read on the subject following my son's death. "The subject of suicide is among the last of the taboo topics in our society. Until recently people considered sex and death the major taboo subjects, spoken of only in whispers behind closed doors . But attitudes have changed. Sexual taboos in speech as well as practice have all but vanished. And such once-forbidden topics as homosexuality, bi-sexuality, rape and abortion are openly discussed. As for death as a subject, it has become almost fashionable today. Books, television shows and motion pictures dealing with some aspects of death appear one after the other. And "thanatology" societies that study death and help people cope with it have grown up in many communities. None of this is true of suicide. It is still a Veto the line • item veto If Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich and the vast majority of Americans agree about something. labeled government reform, it must make sense, right? We don't think so when the "reform" in question is the line item veto - the proposal to give the president the power to strike out one portion of a spending or tax bill without killing the entire measure. Much is made in the congressional debate about what the line item veto would mean for the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. Opponents on both sides of the partisan aisle insist it would give too much control over the federal pocketbook to the president, when the Founders left no doubt that Congress, particularly the House of Representalives elected every two years, should control the purse. Supporters counter that the branches were knocked off balance in the l 970's when a Democratic Congress passed the Budget and lmpoundment Act in a deliberate move to strip Richard Nixon of the trappings of what they callt,d his "imperial presidency." And, they add, the version of the veto outlined in the Republican "Contract With America" gives Congress the final, though politically and procedurally difficult, say on spending. We think it's pretty clear that the line item veto would shift ,....,_,,....._......,_..,.·_ _ _ _ _..,. power down Pennsylvania Avenue from Capitol Hill to the Wh i te House, that's why executives presidents and governors of both parties - like it. Taking some of the purse strings out of the hands of the "body closet to the people" might not be so bad if it resulted in a real erasure of red ink . But it won't. In fact, a president could "line item" the entire space program, the entire highway program, all agricultural subsidies, all education subsidies, eliminate every ite m in ~ what 's called the di cretionary ............................._.._.......,__....._.........., budget including the entire United State Congress and its staff, all th federal courts and prisons, 'Wipe out everything the government pays for except Defense, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt and tht;re would still be a budget deficit. But in the legislation before Congress, the president would be unable to line item veto anything in four of those five big pro rams. Only defense spending would be subject to the pen. But, advocates argue, if the president could get rid of something silly like the Lawrence Welk Birthplace, taxpayers might feel better about sending off their money . (This is not an argument conservatives like to hear.) And what's the harm in it? After ail, 43 governors have line item Veto power, and their states seem to be getting along fine . Anyone who truly understands the workings of this federal system knows the answer to that question: plenty. Congress must perform a task no single state legislature faces it must balance the vastly different interests of Americans . That means finding a point of agreement between states like Michigan where cars are made and states like California where what comes out of those cars pollutes the air. In short it must "come together," that's the actual meaning of the word "Congress." It's a tedious, painstaking, often ludicrous process, but it's essential. And think of the political mischief! A president wants to punish a state that did not support him in the last election? Easy, just line item out programs of benefit to Kansas, for example. A president eager to please his friends and punish his enemies could happily use the veto and never lose anything. As it stands now, presidents often swallow something they don't like in order to get something else they like in legislation. It means they have to share power, that they can't control spending singlehandedly. That's just fine with us. subject cloaked in superstition, mystery and sometimes romanticism . And suicide among the young is the most forbidden and repressed topic of all." These words are taken from the book, Too Young To Die, Suicide and Youth. This is not a subject I would choose to delve into and study. I did not learn these facts from the motivational pursuit of career nor intellectual stimulation. My knowledge of suicide was thrust upon me and I, like the author of the second editorial, still would rather avoid the very thought of it. It is so painful. It hurts. I have great empathy for the young man who wrote the second article, and all young people who are frightened, confused and hurt by the very though of loosing a friend, or possibly themselves to such a horrible event. I would like to make a suggestion to help counteract the fear: go to the library and find books on the subject. Read them and become knowledgeable about the signs and preventive measurements that you, as friends, can do for each other. Suicide is the most preventable form of death. There are many myths about it, this is what probably perpetuates the immense fear and keeps these myths alive. Knowledge, I promise, helps disarm them and will also make on tronger and able to look at it in a place of more per onal power and feel less like a helpless victim. May l offer my hand in support to anyone struggling with this issue, either for a friend or themselves. Three books you could read to help you with frightening feelings about this subject are Too Young To Die, Youth and Suicide, by Francine Klagsbrun, Suicide, A Preventable Tragedy, by Dorothy B. Francis, and My Son, My Son, by Iris Bolton. I receive newsletters from SOS (Survivors of Suicide), a group in Phoenix, AZ who have built a strong support group for both survivors and prevention. They have some hotline numbers in each news letter. Just listen to these titles and tell me they are not putting a heavy boot in the face of the influencing terror the very word suicide wields: EMPACT Suicide Prevention Crisis, Crisis Center, Stressline Crisis Clinic, Mobile Crisis Service, Teen Life Line and Teens Talking to Teens. I believe every town should have a similar list of phone numbers! I leave two quotes from an SOS Newsletter, . and one other to think about: "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing becau.se you can do only a little. Do what you can," said Sydney Smith. "We're not put on this earth to see through each other but to see each other through. " "Suicide is a permanent solution to a Cokie Roberts is a commentator for ABC's "World News Tonight" temporary problem." and "This Week With David Brinkley." Steven V. Roberts is a Mary Prince senior writer for U. S. News and World Report. sttmovc, |