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Show Page 2 South Edition Citizens January 31, 1996 Letters Applauding students Citizens Dear Editor: 1 am writing to voice my support of the brave East High School students starting the Gay/Straight Alliance. In spite of what a couple interviewees suggested in “Citizens on the Street,” Jan. 10, the purposeofthis clubis not to recruit “new’ members, but to create a support network for the gay/lesbian/bi students already at East. Anyone who does notbelieve that sucha clubis necessary, I suggest they review the statistics for teen-age suicide in Editor's Note: Tireless in the questfor citizens’ opinions, editor Vernon recently ambushed a few regular folks shopping downtown, pointed a camera at them and asked: our region, and particularly of gay/lesbian/bi teen-agers. In spite of how insular ourlives are, we all know people who are tay and lesbian. ane are our riends, our co-workers, our brothers, sisters, daughters and sons. Gays and lesbians do not want special treatment. Like everyone, they simply want to be loved and accepted. They want the same basic human rights that others in our society enjoy, to associate freely and to not be discriminated against in work, schoolor society. I long for a future in whichall peopleare accepted fortheir con- ELECTION? Should criminal charges be filed againstBill Clinton noworafter his presidency is over? tributions and qualities, and not forirrelevantdetails of their lives and personalities. Sadly, we are a long way from that world, perhaps even further here in Utah than in many other places in our nation. That shortcoming means thatit is the responsibility of our courts and school systems to ensure that these rights are upheld. It is ironic that many in our state support changing the Constitution to prohibit burning a particular piece of cloth while alsr, trashing the very principles that cloth stands for — the rightto associate, the speak freely and to be the person you are regardless of how many myopic membersof the community disagree. The beauty of oursystem is not that the “majority rules;” it is that everyoneis guaranteed equal ac- cess to the protection of the law. This debacle makes me ashamed of many of my fellow Utahns and demonstrates the challenges these students face. I applaud them; I am proudof them; and I pray that these students will have the courage and commitment to follow through with their plans. Pete Kolbenschlag Salt Lake City UTIL. ITS NOT LIKE WERE. USING FEDERAL WORKERS AS PAINNS OR HOSTAGES! EVCUSE ME., L GOTTA GET BACK ‘To WORK... ‘he authorities should probably wait until the presidency is over, because we can’t have a leader whois in trouble right now. Weshouldn't convict President Clinton whileheis still the president.” Joey Babinsky Kaysville “No oneis above the law. President Clinton should he treated like a normalcitizen. The allegations (of sexual harassment) against him (by Paula Jones) should have been more timely. Whydidn’t she complain sooner? She should have complained back whenit allegedly happened.” Lanny Raymond Bountiful Joey Babinsky “If President Clinton is accused of something, he should an- Positivism can heal body of disease swer to it right then and not when heis released, because thenheis getting away with somethingjust because he’s the president.” Emily Hanberg Taylorsville “It doesn’t matter. If the authorities have enoughinformation to charge him, then it's irrelevant whether or not he’s the president.” Danica Aase Stewart West Valley City “T didn’t even know it was up for debate. I always thought there was presidential immunity. Maybe that’s not the case anymore, but I thought that was the way it was. Whenhe’s notpresident anymore, then he’s fair game.” Don T. WestValley City “It’s completely ridiculous for anyone to think about prosecuting the president on anything related to that issue. There’s no basis for herallegations, therefore, there should be no CE Joe C. Salt Lake City Continued from page 1 ‘This is the biggestchallenge for AIDS researchers. It is the reason AIDSis so deadprospects for @ cure are so remote. Even the developmentof a safe immunization Placebo positivism can be compared to an addic- rAd Danica Aase Stewart “We should treat President Clinton like anyone else. If he’s guilty, he should be prosecuted. Theauthorities wouldn't wait for meto finish college to prosecute meif I cheated on exams.” Francine Goodman Mill Valley, Calif. “PresidentClinton is not above the law, but the allegations need to be handledwith discretion. He needsto be held accountable for eliminated completely in about two generations. Some HIV carriers and victims deny any responsibility for the spread of the disease, insist on laws to demand that researchers find a “magic bullet” to cure them. In all the history of mankind, AIDS is thefirst infectious disease ever to be protected by law. Keeping secret the identity of infect- his actions like any other citizen as long as \hey don’t interfere with nationalsecurity.” David Beagley Magna “President Clinton should be prosecuted if the authorities find sufficient evidence to bring charges against him, but so far, I haven't read about any sufficient evidence to prosecute the president. It's all been hearsayand innuendoes.” John Roark Bountiful Francine Goodman “] think the authorities should wait until the presidencyis over. It won't be too long beforeit’s over, so we might as well wait to prosecute him.” Josh Piper Kaysville “I think the authorities need to fully investigate while President Clintonis still president, andif the evidence indicates the need for prosecution, then I don't think he should be exempt from that.” Gary Adams Bountiful “If Paula Jones was sexually harassed by President Clinton, she should have come forward sooner, and like any otherlaw, there should be a statute of limitations about bringing charges against somebody for a crime.” Jaimie Martin West Valley City Josh Piper Editor’s Note: If you are interested in writing an article for future publication in Citizens about this week’s question, please send your submission to Citizens, 135 S. Main St, Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or fax us at 237-2519. must maintain a continual ritualism in his or her daily activities. And the probiem with that is that selfishness is more negative than positive, which creates a healing process thatis at variance with itself. This eventually causesit to breakdownbecause positivism and negativism are incompatible. Negativism usually winsin this case since it can grow spontaneously like rust, and rot and decay, whereaspositivism mustbe consciously practiced everyday. That is practically impossible to do when negativism has such a dominantpart in placebopositivism. tionally ee the disease with impunity. Recentstatistics indicate that HIV is not under control;it is still spreading rapidly. Although there are many conscientious HIV carriers who faithfully avoid those acts which may transmit the virus to others (no unprotected sexualacts; no contamination of others with their biood, urine, tears or saliva; illicit intravenous druguse,ete.), there are others who do not want to know their own HIV sta- tus, and if it is known, they disregard it, acknowl the probability that HIV infection affect their lifestyle or cause them to become de Heras Such ¥ hich 1mn tase er “should be fe 8 crimes. Such tion to tobacco, alcohol or drugs. To maintain their euphoric effect in one’slife, they must be consumed every day. Whentheir carcinogens accumulate faster than the body caneliminate them, the body eventually breaks down into various formsof cancer, and oneoften dies prematurely with little hope. Evenif science could develop an anti-body for the AIDSvirus, for example, it would soon becomeineffective because the virus can mutateso rapidly. Antibodies such as sulfa drugs andpenicillin, that were effective for years against ailments, have now becomeless effective because gevetic mutations have developed resistance to them. Artificial medicines, as marvelous as they are for as long as theylast, are similarto placebopositivism. They both haverelatively short lives of effectiveness. Logic may betelling us that generations in the nearfuture may haveto rely solely upon the powers of charitable positivism in their lives to maintain their health and strength. The human anatomyhasall the abilities and capacities of all the colleges and universities in the world put together, plus much more.It can instantly provide whateverit needs to honorablysustain itself to the last breath. The primary thing it needs is the power of charitable positivism. To think positive thoughts, to make positive comments, to perform positive deeds, to see the positives in life and to participate in wholesome activities that inspire positivism. If we cannot or will not commit ourselves to a charitabie lifestyle, we may be aiding and abetting the bankruptcy of our great country. Those of us whoinsist that the governmentcontinue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain to try to arrest the AIDS virus that can mutate faster than scientists can develop anti-bodies, may be our own worst enemies. The moreweinsist that the governmentadd to its rapidly growing $4.69trillion national debt, the more we jeopardize ourlives and the lives of every other American resident. The things that made America greatin its past battle between right and wrongin the world wereloyaity, patriotism andtheselflessnessofits citizens for one another. It’s almost unbelievable to realize that there are millions of Americans who seem to be saying by their attitudes and actions thatall the problemsinlife are the other person’s fault. We seem to be waiting aroundfor a governnient“Messiah”to solve all our problems. Probably no one could helpus solve our problems any faster than weare willing to-use ourinnateabilities to do good by helping each other learn how to develop charitable positivism in our lives. Our existence maybeoflittle valueif all our doings have to be done by someoneelse. Oneof the best things we could do to help each otheris to cease to rationalize away the disquieting feelings of wrongdoings. To do this, we would do well to recognize shame, embarrassment, guilt, remorse andsorrow for poordecisions and judgments even though they may be inadvertent. We may never learn to use our innate abilities and to solve our problems unless we honestly feel the poignant repercussions of negativism in ourlives. Negative repercussions are the logical consequencesof folly commissions. Unless we fully experience their bitter impact, so that we can eliminate their carcinogens from ourlives, no one can help uslearn to develop charitable positivism and to enjoy its benefits in our lives. Another important thing we could do to divert selfishness from ourlives is to give our fellowmen the benefit of the doubt no matter how depraved his or her perceptions may seem. Since everyone's perceptions representhis or her best understanding and ability, we may haveto learn to graciously endure their impact uponsociety until we can help him or her improve them by our empathic persuasion. If we can’t or won’t help him or herto do thelogical thing for society, then if we must blame anyonefor the discomforts they might cause us, we should blame ourselves. These types of repercussions are the logical consequences of responsibility omissions. Even thoughtruthis logical, logic may not always seem true. Whenit doesn’t seem true,butit is true, its a paradox. Anyone whohas little experience in life knows that you can find as manypositive solutions to problems in the paradoxas in the rationale. |
