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Show 5 THE SUN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2002 Our relationship profits me not... Gary Hull Special for in the belief that it is The Sun Every Valentine's Day a certain philosophic crime is perpetrated. Actually, it is but its destructiveness committed year-roun- d is magnified on this holiday. The crime is the propagation of a widely accepted falsehood: the idea that love is selfless. Love, we are repeatedly taught, consists Love based on is cheap and sordid. we are admonished, True love, we are told, is altruistic. But is it? Imagine a Valentine's Day card which takes this premise seriously. Imagine receiving a card with the following message: "I get no pleasure from your existence. I obtain no personal enjoyment from the way you look, dress, move, act or think. Our relationship profits me not. You satisfy no sexual, emotional or intellectual needs of mine. You're a charity case, and I'm with you only out of pity. Love, XXX." Needless to say, you would be indignant to leam that you are being "loved" not for anything positive you offer your lover, any recipient of almsfor what you lack. Yet that is the perverse view of love entailed of but--li- Genuine love is the exact opposite. It is the most selfish experience possible, in the true sense of the term. It benefits your life in a way that involves no sacrifice of others to yourself or of yourself to others. To love a person is selfish because it means that you value that particular person, that he or she makes your life better, that he or she is an intense source of joy to you. A "disinterested" love is a contradiction in terms. One cannot be neutral to that which one values. The time, effort and money you spend on behalf of someone you love are not sacrifices, but actions taken because his or her happiness is crucially important to your own. Such actions would constitute sacrifices only if they were done for a stranger or for an enemy. Those who argue that love demands must hold the bizarre belief that it makes no personal difference whether your loved one is healthy or sick, feels pleasure or pain, is alive or dead. It is regularly asserted that love should be unconditional, and that we should "love everyone as a brother." We see this view advocated by the teacher who tells his class that who self-deni- al grade-scho- ol ever brings a Valentines Day card for one student must bring cards for everyone. We see it in the appalling dictum of "Hate the sin, but love the sinner" which would have us condemn death camps but send Hitler a box of Godiva chocolates. Most people would agree that having sex with a person one despises is debased. Yet somehow, when the same underlying idea is applied to love, people consider it noble. Love is far too precious to be offered indiscriminately. It is above all in the area of love that egalitarianism ought to be repudiated. Love represents an exalted exchange a spiritual exchange between two people, for the purpose of mutual benefit. You love someone because he or she is a value a selfish value to you, as determined as you are a value to by your standards-ju- st him or her. It is the view that you ought to be given love unconditionally the view that you do not deserve it any more than some random bum, the view that it is not a response to anything particular in you, the view that it is causeless which exemplifies the most ignoble conception of this sublime experience. The nature of love places certain demands on those who wish to enjoy it. You must regard yourself as worthy of being loved. Those who expect to be loved, not because they offer some positive value but because they don't i.e., those who demand love as altruistic duty are parasites. Someone who says "Love me just because I need it" seeks an unearned spiritual value in the same way that a thief seeks unearned wealth. To quote a famous line from The Fountainhead: "To say 'I love you,' one must know first how to say the 'I.'" Valentine's Day with its colorful cards, g chocolates and silky rie-gives material form to this spiritual value. It is a moment for you to pause, to ignore the trivialities of life, and to celebrate the selfish pleasure of being worthy of someone's love and of having found someone mouth-waterin- linge- worthy of yours. What does the new mascot stand for? Ryan Pederson Special for The Sun As always, if you agree, disagree or just want to comment, I welcome your at ryanpedersonexcite.com Last Saturday we experienced the much anticipated return of Rodney the Rebel, or was it much anticipated. Ive started to wonder if after so much time without a mascot if anybody cares. In either case I think it was a disappointment to all. Judging from the crowd reaction, nobody was that impressed with our new, adventurous Jay Leno If you dont feel he looks like Leno you certainly cant deny that Dixie would be lucky to avoid a lawsuit from Universal for bastardizing Indiana Jones. Every mascot stands for something. That is the reason you have one. It may be your culture, the area you are in, or even some portion of history. As a mascot ages it takes on more than that though. It takes on a life and meaning of its own. Everybody was so worried about what was bad about the Rebel, that very few people stopped to think about the good it stood for. Our rebel stood for the difference between us and everybody else. That is what a rebel is, someone who dares to be different and at times fights for that right. What are some of those fights that we fought to be different? How about low tuition, four-yestatus, and the right to keep look-alik- ar e. the name Rebel when some shallow-minde- d men would have seen otherwise. In short, what rebel stands for can be summed up in one great statement I heard from one great man on the campus of Harvard University. Im rebelling. Im rebelling against the idea that the world is the way that the world is and theres not a damn thing you can do about it. Im just trying to do a damn thing. Last year when it came time to fight for the Rebel a small group took up petitions and staged a rally at the board of trustees meeting. I would call these students the last of the rebels. They did save the name, but for all their work what did they really save in the end? Nothing. Now here we are a year later. We have just been given a new rebel, one that audaI ciously still carries the name Rodney. it rather mocks to venture would even say than carries the name. I feel this mascot stands for something much less noble than its predecessor. To me it stands for bowing to minority. Its a small, possibly stands for overly cautious moves like changing the color gray and even considering changing the name of the shilo dorms. It represents changing yourself because of the opinions of others, a lack of confidence and self image. In short, it stands for weakness. It stands for everything that makes me find another university instead of staying here for nt a four-ye- program. The Dixie of old is quickly fleeting, and what made it great has slipped away from us. I hear it every day with comments like: It isnt like it was last year, or it was better when I was a freshman. Dixie used to be like a field of dreams. If you could imagine it, it could happen. Slowly it has become more of just a field. For the few of you out there that still know what it means to be a rebel, I say Shine on! How to Reach Us Dixie State College, North Plaza BUg., Rm. 125 225 So. 700 East St. George, UT 84770 Newsroom (435) 6 Advertising (435) Fax (435) 656-40- 9 ihedixiesunCa hotrwil com http sun dixie edit The Sun is distributed each Wednesday during ill and Sprint; semesters as a publication of Gixic Sute ce its Ans, Loiters anJ Sciences, and Lhxic Mate College btudent Activities The unsigned editorial on (he of fTu Sun as deteropinion page represents the position mined hy its editorial hoard Otherwise, the views and opinions expressed in Ju. Sun arc those ol the individual writers and Jo nor ncce'sar.Iy rilect the opmu ns of The .Sun or any emits of the college Letters to the Editor Policy Letters to the editors must he typed and include the name and telephone number of the author. Only the name will be panted. The Sun reserves the nght to withhold the author's name upon request, and to edit letters for length, punctuation, and content. 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