Starting over
and moving on
semester has been a total blur for me so far.
Difficult classes, national tragedies, and
overwhelming personal crises (and yes that word
is plural) have all contributed to these feelings
of anxiety and confusion.
Where do I go from here? Mounting stress
and overall busyness have given me little time
to even begin tending to any of the personal
issues that have invaded my life.
Isn't it funny how future plans can go from
being an overwhelming blessing to being an
overwhelming curse as they fade before your
very eyes?
So here I am, taking one day, one hour, one
minute, one second at a time, going through the
motions disguised by the best visor that I can
muster.
The only place I can move is on, up, forward,
and beyond. Take what little of myself is left
through the ever-ending roller coaster that is
called starting over.
I keep telling myself that the past is the past
and because of that I need to surround myself
with the future where I'm going from here,
and not necessarily who I'm going with.
Grad school, North Carolina, my own life,
the life that I've always wanted that is my focus
now. Consuming myself with the elements of
the future makes it a little bit easier to get up
(and fall asleep) each day.
Similar to my situation, our country has also
been going through several of these same
experiences and processes as it too suffered a
great loss and change of the norm. This life
changing, life shattering, and confusing
catastrophe is far greater than mine, but all in
all, we've both suffered a great deal.
Like me, it will take a while for people to
come to grips with this, and the aftermath will
never entirely go away.
With the combined efforts of leaders,
volunteers, law enforcement, and all those
involved in the aftermath of the tragedy, the
country's Sept. 11 disaster is little by little being
cleaned up and the pieces of the larger puzzle
are slowly being affixed and re-affixed back
together.
In a way we are all starting over and becoming
whole again. Our recollections of chronological
time and order of events are now separated and
categorized as "before it", "during it" and
"after". In most cases the "before" is looked at
as the positive, happy times that we hold dear
in our heart as the way we want to remember
things. The "during it" period is obviously the
negative side of the situation and the steps after
and away from it begin as negative, but get more
and more positive each day.
But isn't that how it always is isn't that just
the grief process that every person, and country
for that matter, goes through as they move on.
Feelings of regret and "what if..." constantly
loom in our minds as the little reminders of the
tragedy and the positive days before it cross our
path.
Where do you go from here? Where do I go
from here?
Where do we all go from here?
Comparing my problems to that of the country
and to that of other people makes me feel a little
selfish. But is my problem that insignificant
that my whole being should only be focused on
these national events and situations that are
considered far worse than anything that I've ever
gone through? That is a really tough one for
me. You can't possibly throw away all of the
memories of life, both tangible and non-tangible,
that occurred both before and during a tragedy.
It's not possible.
What do you do when you can't even brush
these images and memories aside to move on?
I know that I'm not the only one. I'm sure that
there are others like me who have a hard time
letting go.
But, like our country we need to let go, rise
up and overcome. We must realize that no matter
the tragedy, it has in fact, affected you. We all
need to realize that grief is ok. Letting it take
over your life is not, but feeling grief is natural,
it's human!
It's how you deal with that grief and how you
move on and up and away from the tragedy and
the grief that matters.
The United States is a great example of that.
Whenever you think that a tragedy and the
feelings of grief that follow will be too much
for you, look at our Nation. Look at how this
country that has gone through so much and that
has lost so much is still able to move up and
onward.
You are not alone as I have learned. We all
(including me!) must move up and on. We shall
overcome!
Kleck's column appears every three
weeks.
At what cost freedom?
The Elephant
4141.
it chat
hange
says...
istine
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In the wake of the disaster that has affected all of
us on campus, it would seem immature and
insignificant to debate the differences between
liberal and conservative views surrounding civil
liberties. I think that liberals and conservatives alike
can and will agree that action must be taken in order
to prevent an atrocity of this magnitude from ever
reaching American soil for a second time. However,
we each have our own unique and separate paths in
order to reach this goal.
h i s
Back in the Clinton era, our commander and chief
proposed and acted on a number of civil liberty
protection programs ensuring the American citizens
that safety and privacy were a given. No one person,
terrorist or not, had to concern themselves with
whether or not "big brother" was watching them.
Unfortunately it was these programs (i.e. The
Clinton administration 's "National Plan for
Information Systems Protection") that might have
insulated the American people from the real danger
in the world. These programs made the American
people ignorant to a danger that the government
couldn't even offer protection from. These programs
hindered national security and cut intelligence to
nothing. Now in the wake of the disaster that
transpired on Sept. 11, we the American people are
pinned behind our wall of civil liberties.
In this more enlightened time, I must propose that
we let the government do what it was intended to
do and protect the people. If this means giving up a
few civil liberties in order to stay safe, then I am all
for it. I don't care if in the future I need to be stripped
searched before I get on a plane, as long as those
measures will prevent me from being victimized
by some anti- American terrorist organization. I think
that "Big Brother" does need to keep an eye on us.
That's what we pay him for.
Every two weeks members of the College Democrats and the College Republicans
will debate a partisan topic. Send your suggestions to: BEHRCOLL2@AOL.COM
Has anyone seen
Hey now, simmer down! I wasn't talking about
actual marijuana, but a wonderful thing on cam
pus called the BUDPOT. For those of you that
don't know what I am talking about yet, it's The
Behrend Underground Dispatch Post Qbserver
Times. The BUDPOT is the best thing to happen
to campus since...well probably since forever, at
least during my three years on campus! Still don't
know what I am talking about? Let me fill you in.
Earlier this semester, a mysterious box showed
up next to the Beacon rack in the Academic Build
ing. Inside the box was a completely rudimentary-
Smoking
mercials is that
smoking cigarettes is bad. Quite frankly it of
fends smokers like myself. Well, fear not because
there is more than one way I can prove that smok
ing cigarettes is good for you.
First of all, look at all those people on
those "truth" commercials. If there was some
clan going around my hometown preaching that
smoking cigarettes is bad, I wouldn't hang out
with them. That's just annoying. I don't want
complete strangers telling me about my problems.
They have their own problems to worry about.
. 4 PI ti Eel ;1 Lit 11!
-James White
College Republicans
`l' to
ate
Galley
`Sweet' Lou
er and
Tigers
Butal .
All you ever
r from the
vernment
uth" com-
Friday, October 5, 2001
The Donkey
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says...
Since Sept. 11, our country has been and will
continue to be transformed. Part of this
transformation will include increased security and
many have called for a relaxation of civil liberties to
ensure security. I agree we need to increase our
security at our airports and other public places.
However, I feel we do not need to compromise our
civil liberties in order to be secure.
Often many Americans give into irrational fears
and request excessive security measures that reduce
our civil liberties. We need to resist the knee jerk
reactions that increase security at the cost of civil
liberties. An example of this knee jerk reaction is
the innocent man who was riding on a train in Rhode
Island and was detained just because he had a beard
and turban. We should not investigate or detain
someone on the basis of his or her racial or ethnic
background.
We need security measures that are efficient and
effective and measures must make common sense.
We cannot throw together superficial security
measures that do nothing but cause delays and violate
constitutional rights. We need to be willing to spend
a large sum of money and make sure that our security
measures are effective. Parking cars on runways
and frisking grandmothers makes us feel that the
proper security measures are being taken, however,
the previous examples are just knee jerk reactions
that do not make sense. Excessive security measures
that are not effective have the potential of violating
a citizen's rights. Our country was founded on the
basis that all Americans are guaranteed certain rights
and just because our nation is being threatened does
not mean we should abandon our guaranteed rights.
Americans need to be aware of terrorist threats
and protect themselves from these threats, but we
have to protect our civil liberties and constitutional
rights above all.
looking newspaper, and yes, it was the
BUDPOT. I perused it, and was pleasantly
surprised when I got to the end. At the be
ginning I was grimacing for fear that it was
yet another sorry attempt to cork off the Bea
con for not being good enough, or not cov
ering enough Greek activities or whatever
the gripe was that week, but, thank good
ness, it wasn't. What it was however was
the funniest thing I have read since the April
Fool's edition of the Beacon! It was a re
freshing change from the same old things that the
Beacon has to report about. Now, don't get me
wrong, the events that take place year after year on
campus are important and merit coverage in the
Beacon, however, after awhile, even the sex caba
ret gets old. Trust me, you can only see a wooden
penis so many times before it starts losing its thrill.
That brings me back to the BUDPOT. The guys
that publish this non-traditional newspaper just
might be my heroes. Not because they are vulgar,
rip on sororities, teachers that don't like them or
various other things on campus that have a tendency
to irritate me, but because they are merely doing it.
Does everyone understand what I mean? Let me
explain better.
And believe you me they got PLENTY of prob
lems.
Second, the government says smoking is bad.
I'm not buying it. They already said that smok
ing was good for you way back in the day. They
just don't like it because the cigarette companies
are making more money than the government
thought possible, that's why the federal tax on
cigarettes is so low. Now, they want a bigger piece
of the pie and are getting irate because we can't
even pay off our world debt. The government
should sell cigarettes to earn money. It should
have a cigarette itself and chill out.
The Surgeon General doesn't know what he's
talking about. What school did he graduate from?
That's right, I don't care either. He's in cahoots
with the government.
Now you might be thinking, "All right, I see
where you're going with this, but I still don't see
why I should start smoking." Well, allow me to
indulge why you should. How many times have
you kissed your girlfriend or boyfriend and it's
like kissing an ashtray. Well, if you smoked too,
then you wouldn't even notice. Case closed. And
if your significant other doesn't like when you
smoke, why waste your time chugging Scope to
get rid of the smoke when she can just light up a
-Stephen Webb
College Democrats
is c001...ha ha
The Hot Debate of The Week'
Is our nation safe?
F)::•f: •
Just look at the precision, the accuracy, the
ingenious way those terrorists were able to
strike at the heart of our country. This is a
breed of terrorists like no other. They have
moved past the conventional car bomb and
are now much more sophisticated then we
could ever imagine. Why should they stop
with airplanes?
If we tighten up airport security, then
terroristsare,,going te Look to something
bigger anile'l:i ' ai4ti at Against
America. Thetey pOSSltteng they could
•
do that would be worae than what occurred
on Sept. 11 is to use biological and chemical
agents. Remember a few years ago when
Saddam Hussein refused to let U.N.
inspectors into certain laboratories? He
could have easily been manufacturing
chemical weapons right there, and that may
be only the tip of the iceberg.
The scariest part is biological/chemical
weapons are not only cheaper to manufacture
but are almost undetectable. They can he
transported with the greatest of ease in a
closed container, and just a small amount can
infect a whole city in no time. A CIA report
stated that "clandestine production of
[chemical and biological weapons for
multiple casualty attacks raises no greater
technical obstacles than does the clandestine
production of chemical narcotics or heroin. -
Once they figure out how to manufacture
them, which they probably could find on the
Internet, there will be almost nothing that will
stop them. To terrorists like Osama bin
Laden, producing these kinds of agents
would require pocket change. These
weapons strike such fear and terror into
Americans because we cannot be protected
from them no matter where we go. It's
obvious by now terrorists can exploit any
weakness we have, and preparation for
chemical warfare is one of those weaknesses.
The bar is raised for these terrorists, and after
seeing what those attacks did to our country,
they will want to reach as far beyond that
bar as possible.
Every week, two editors from the staff gill debate a topic that is hot. Students, faculty and staff are
encouraged to email suggestions for the hot topic. Send ideas to behrcoll2@aol.com
my 'pot?
For all the years that I have been on the Bea
con there has been some group, individual,
professor, or local radio bigot that doesn't
like the final product that gets distributed
to the students and community. Well, lemme
tell ya a little something about these
people...they are all talk! They absolutely
LOVE to come down to the Beacon office
and rant and rave and wave their hands in
the air in a fury, but when it comes right
down to it, that's all they do! They don't try
to actually join our staff to make a differ
ence, nor do they want to hear our explana
tion about things, they just want to do a little
something that rhymes with 'witch'. Period.
Heaven forbid they actually get some ini
tiative and either contribute to something
or produce something independent from the
Beacon! But that my friends, is what I like
about BUDPOT, and oh, there are other rea
sons too, stick around.
For starters, the people in charge at the
BUDPOT staff have never said a cruel word
about the Beacon; heck, for all I know: they
may actually enjoy the Beacon. Yet, they
wanted to see another brand of newspaper
smoke and taste nothing awkward about
your breath?
Now I have to put down all you coffee
drinkers. Nicotine, a very special little in
gredient in cigarettes, is a stimulant. So I
say, put down that cup and pick up a carton
of smokes. "But Mike, cigarettes stain your
teeth." Cry about it. So does coffee.
"I heard smoking kills brain cells." So
does sniffing magic markers but everyone
still does that...or maybe I'm alone there.
This all relates to Cliff Clavin's "Buffalo
Theory." To sum it up, buffalos can only
travel as fast as the slowest buffalo in the
herd. And when these buffalo are hunted,
naturally the slowest and weakest buffalo
are killed first and the herd as a whole is
faster and healthier. Much like the human
brain. Smoking cigarettes kills the weak
and damaged brains cells, making the brain
a faster and more efficient machine.
Now some people may be concerned
about their health. Don't worry about it.
It's all taken care of. Smoking cigarettes
thins out your blood stream. That way, you
have less of a chance to get a blood clot.
"Smoker's Cough"? Not a problem. All
-M. Bello
The Behrend Beacon
It's no joke; there are countries in the
world that possess the capabilities of
developing biological and chemical
weapons. It seems that just that fact alone
has been enough to scare people into buying
gas masks, latex yellow suits and 20 pound
spaceman boots. But is there really a need
to worry? There is a line between
developin& thee technology and
implernattingiC '
First, educationi is the may; iiiorance is
bliss. People sbOuidleain more about
bioterrorism and its risks before locking
themselves in small underground sheds.
The real issue at hand is how terrorists will
go about releasing their chemical agents
against the United States. For example, the
frequently talked about anthrax strain must
be inhaled in large amounts before a person
becomes infected with it. And although it
could be very possible to release the lethal
agent in the U.S., it would have to be
launched into a building via ventilation
ducts. The probability that any rogue nation
could amass an amount deadly enough for
an entire city is unlikely. In addition,
anthrax is not contagious.
Smallpox seems to be another concern
among people. The problem with smallpox
is that it is contagious, yet procurement is
slightly more difficult. Until just a few
years ago, it was recognized that the United
States and Russia had the only remaining
strains of smallpox in deep-freeze. Lately,
however, there is speculation that one or
two Middle-Eastern nations like Iran or
Saudi Arabia may have their hands on a
few strains.
The main point to realize is that even if
terrorists were able to release a biological
or chemical agent in the U.S., the
responsiveness of our people would most
likely result in another triumph over
terrorism.
at Behrend and they went out and did
something about it! Yes, now I know that
these guys are my heroes. Or course, all
this admiration may simply be because
they get to write and say things that I can
not in the Beacon, who knows. All I know
is that with these guys (and excluding Tori
Spelling, I don't think that they have any
women on their staff), are stirring up con
troversy, and the owner of a very success
ful chain of newspapers once told the Bea
con staff that if we aren't causing contro
versy then we aren't doing our jobs. Ku
dos to the BUDPOT for doing their jobs!
Who knows, maybe the campus will get
really lucky and the BUDPOT staff and
the Beacon staff can team up for the April
Fool's edition of the Beacon and make it
the best it has been since the year 2000!
Thank you, thank you BUDPOT staff for
bringing this new venue of entertainment
and news (sort of) to the campus.
Galley's column appears every
three weeks.
that crap you cough out of your esopha
gus is a good thing. You're basically
cleansing your air pipe and getting out
all the crap that is being built up from
breathing air pollutants like pesticides
and herbicides. It's also a great abdomi
nal workout. People say laughter is the
best medicine, but everyone hates a fake
laugh. But don't worry fellow EMO kids;
a smoker's cough is the next best thing.
In conclusion, everyone should smoke
cigarettes. There are absolutely no down
sides to it. And always remember,
"Smoking isn't just cool. It makes YOU
look cool." And if you don't believe me,
look at Burt Reynolds, Frank Sinatra,
Keith Richards, Hugh Hefner, and
Snuffleupagus Well, maybe not
Snuffleupagus, but he should have.
Butala's column appears every
three weeks.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Mike Butala
is not a licensed physician. He's
just a plastics major, and a
mediocre onee at that.
Page 9
-R. Wynne