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Show I Friday, December 7, 1990 The Daily Utah Chronicle - Page Five Editorial Peace on Earth: "Peace on Earth." The term is frequently seen on greeting cards and heard when choruses strike up a holiday tune this time of year. The term is used so frequently, in fact, that it has come to have about as much significance as "pass the dressing." Looked at closely, though, "Peace on Earth" is actually a desperate plea for an almost abstract state of being. Such a goal seems to be something an idealistic soul dreamed up after drinking a little too much eggnog. Achieving Peace on Earth, it seems, is even more difficult than achieving the perfect winter quarter class schedule without any hassles. Even today, the Earth's leaders are preoccupied with a potential war in the Middle East, while thousands of Kuwaitis have been killed or are being forced to exist in a living hell. Palestinians are lit being must be more than a slogan killed in Israel's occupied see something better in the souls of their territories. Women and children are being fellow men and women. slaughtered in churches as a result of After the tinsel is cleared away and the Liberia's civil war, and Black South colored lights taken down, however, it African brothers are engaged in bloody seems as if these same men and women battles. quickly return to their former, skeptical In our own nation, psychopaths with existences. Practicality rapidly replaces access to assault rifles open fire on grand visions. schoolchildren or fellow employees. Inner The Chronicle isn't asking its readers, in cities have turned into battle zones with the manner of some inane, holiday gangs dishing out drive-b- y murders. program, to "keep the holiday spirit the Peace on Earth, it seems, is nothing more whole year 'round." Instead, we are asking than a trite holiday epithet, with no that everyone, especially the leaders relevance in this violence-infeste- d world. making the decisions that shape this It seems almost too much, in fact, to ask Earth, retain the optimism about their for Peace on any given spot on the Earth. fellow men and women that is The holiday season, however, is the time characteristic of this season. We are asking when humanity believes that it is possible that someone believe that "Peace on to rise above the harsh reality of everyday Earth" is more than something to place on life. It is the time when men and women a greeting card. w Simple things would be most satisfying Dear Mr. Kringle: Although I am much older now than I once was, I thought it would be worth the time to take this opportunity and tell you what I would like to get for Christmas this year. I don't know for sure if you exist or not, but it can't hurt to keep you informed, in the event that you really are hanging out up there at the North Pole. Fancy things are not my desire this year. Expensive items from distinguished stores are not what brings me happiness. I am more practical than that. I want things that will bring me peace and happiness. I want things that can be shared with others, and used by many people to bring them happiness too. I Letters A comparison of bicycles and automobiles Editor: Commuters, let's compare cars and bicycles. Parking: The ease of parking, the ease of mind. Exhaust: Keep your mouth on a mouth, and you'll hard-breathi- live a while longer than if you kept your lips clasped around the end of an exhaust pipe. Snowy roads: Admit it, a racing bike is no good. But a trail bike is as drive. Stuck? Just good as a No problem. The heating pick it up. never fails. It's on as soon as you start pedaling. No messing with the windshield; just wink your eyes. Gas mileage: 40 miles per gallon? In town? Congratulations! But even that is next to nothing compared with a bicycle, which is known to get 1,000 miles per a fraction of a gallon. Now, gas comes from oil. Oil pump, the chest is to heave, the muscle is to work, the knee is to is more precious than blood, bend and stretch, stretch and bend, the body is to use.. .life is to live, ah! Let boys bicycle! But we, of higher education, busy and serious adults, value convenience above all, and the privilege of hauling around, vehicular access to the front door (by "vehicular" we don't mean by means of mono-cyclebicycles, or Build more tricycles). parking lots to our next right buildings! Better still, build drive-ins- ! according to some (as long as it is not their own). Our own money and time: A car is more costly to get, keep, and little a is money. Just think, all Time use. those hours of work just to finance deserve and require immediate s, wherever you go, a cumbersome thing? poison-spewinOur very own body: The heart is to blood-drainin- g, Yukio Kachi Philosophy department g The baby boomers didn't do what they think seems that a time every you open newspaper you see some baby boomer journalist about the new complaining in their twenties People generation. claim no political activism, they would rather jump immediately into a career than hang around trying to They're at it again. It "find themselves," they prefer "practical" education to education for its own sake, and the list of complaints goes on. This time the accusations are more They pressing, more wonder when we will stop our ambivalence toward political and societal issues and point to the recent Persian Gulf crisis with a menacing hard-hittin- finger and g. sardonic smile "fwentysomething" generation are Eleni Vatsis Chronicle Guest Columnist cool, quiet and detached. We have no unifying cause. All of our heroes are people we weren't alive to see, like proclaiming, "Here's what it all comes King. We've been raised on TV and down to. Let's see what you'll do now." If a draft is called it's a challenge we'll have to meet. We've never experienced a war and have spent little time caring about protests or We don't have to. When we see something about our world we don't like, we just casually turn off the TV and the problems disappear into a blank screen of apathy. I'll concede that people in what the Time magazine called sit-in- s. John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther this has resulted in attention spans just long enough to get to the next commercial. And the baby boomers lament our indifference. Why can't we follow their lead, our radical actions hitting the headlines? Truth is, I'm not so sure we want to. What did the youth of the '60s and '70s accomplish? Did they abolish racism? Nope. Rid the world of poverty? Hardly. Bring about peace to see "Vatsis" on page six don't like Ninja Turtles, teenage ones or any other age group. I think that real toys became extinct the year that the 12 inch tall G.I. Joe was discontinued. A visit to the toy store this year is a depressing experience. I am scared to think of the psychological damage being done to the kids that grow up playing with this year's toys. The things I would like to find this December 25th are not many. They are things I will still enjoy long into next summer and beyond. So here it is St. Nick, my list: want the construction work on Foothill Drive to I finally be finished. Ever since the start of summer quarter the nightmare on the east bench has haunted me on a daily basis. They said it would be done by October, then November, but those stupid orange blockades were still there as I came in to school this morning. I am not even sure what they are doing with the road now. Every day there are workers lined along the road, and all I have ever seen them do is move the orange things around. Maybe if you could get a few squads of elves involved in getting the thing finished I could really have a peaceful New Year. I want Kuwait back. I don't want it for myself, I want you to give it back to the Emir who used to have it. It doesn't seem fair that so many bad feelings should result from such a small country in a far away place. If you could just get Kuwait back to its rightful owners everyone would be happy (the soldiers John B. Wilson Chronicle Asst. Editorial Editor in the Arabian desert will be especially happy, they might even name one of their kids after you). I want to be able to register for next quarter's classes on the first day of telephone registration. I don't understand all of the factors that influence who gets to register on what day. All II know is that the the day always get assigned to sucks. I can understand not being able to get into my first choice classes, but my 11:00 class next quarter ended up being the sixth one I tried to get. I would be a lot more jolly and have a lot more of that holiday cheer if once, just once, could get into the classes I I want to on the first try. I want the University of Utah to have a real football team. Knocking my own school's football team may not be the nicest thing to do, but I have friends that go to that other school down south and I would like to see them get creamed. If you can use your magic to make reindeer fly, why can't you use some of it to give the U. offense the ability to score more points? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. If you can't pull that off though, just dump a sleigh full of reindeer dung in the BYU stadium. I'll be happy either way. See, Mr. Kringle, I really don't ask for much. I have my health, I have my family, and I am basically a content individual. The things I want will not just make me more happy, but will help bring joy to other people as well. I know you are very busy, but I would appreciate any consideration you could give to the above listed requests. Respectfully yours, John B. Wilson John B. Wilson, who plans on finally deciding where he stands on the Santa existence question this coming Dec. 25. is the assistant editorial editor at the Daily Utah Chronicle. |
