Page >? 4.
LOVE ROB
Butch throws a rock through a
stained glass window
by Rob Prindle
I've known Butch for a long time. He and I have been through a lot
together. I know just about everything there is to know about him. I
even remember the time back in high school when he almost got
suspended for snapping girls' bras. I thought I knew him pretty well
until last night.
Butch and I were having a few drinks together when he told me
something strange. "Robbie," he said, ”1 think that organized religion
sucks.”
That was a strange thing to hear
him say because he had always been
a religious guy. His favorite TV
character was Reverend Jim from
Taxi, and on at least two occasions
I had seen Butch leaving his house
early on a Sunday morning and
mumbling about God damming
something. I always assumed that
he was going to church, but I never
asked because I know that in
America, everyone is allowed to
cast a secret ballot for the god of
their choice.
You can imagine my surprise
when Butch continued by saying
"What the heck good has the church
ever done for anyone? Did you hear
about the church that just had all
them expensive statues stolen? The
church spokesman said that they were real valuable and it will take
some heavy fund-raising to replace them. What in the world was a
church doing with them statues that make 'em so important and why
the heck did they have expensive statues in the first place? I would
think that they could find a better reason for a fund raiser than to replace
some stone deities."
I had to agree with him there. I told him that I too had heard that
news story and was very upset by it. Certainly a church is made up of
people and not statues. Certainly raising money for the community is
more important then raising money for statues to worship. Isn't there
something in the Bible about not worshiping images?
"That is part of what I'm trying to say,” Butch continued, "but
there's much more. It seems to me that churches are missing the point.
They all have those routines they go through. In the Catholic church,
the priest actually kisses things. The chalice, the Bible, just about
everything he touches, he kisses. Why is he always kissin' things? In
some Baptist churches that I've been to, they think that the "ceremony"
of mass is so important, that if you get their late, you are not allowed
to sit down. And in most every church I've been to, 90% of the time is
taken up with the same old stuff every week. Does that make any
sense?"
Of course it doesn’t, I told Butch. Every once in a while someone
will have something to say, but most of the time everyone sitting in
the pews looks bored. People seem to go to church out of habit. They
seem to give money as a way.of buying a ticket to heaven. They drag
, . their children,in.the door and tell them to be quiet and pay attention.
Children are jtoid .to .respect the person, speaking without ever, being
shown a reason to respect them.
"You're dam right," Butch screamed, "and another thing, Bobby,
people in traditional religions always look down at new religions, most
of them not realizing that every religion was an up-start at some time.
Every religion has the opinion that they are the real religion. It makes
me sick."
I was starting to share Butch's nausea. I told him there was a time
when I thought that organized religion had a place, but now I am
starting to wonder. I now realize that throughout history people have
been running into each other with knives and shooting each other in the
head while fighting for some god. I use to think that religion was a safe
haven for people in trouble, now I kind of think that it is a dangerous
place to golf you are not thinking straight when you hear what they
Butch interrupted me and said "What do you think about God, Rob?
Christmas is coming up and I think that I feel something, but I m not
sure that I feel like worshiping anything besides the comfort of my,
you know, family and friends." _ .
I told Butch that I have had a feeling for a long ume that God was
represented more in a family get together or a quiet talk between friends
then he has ever been represented in a statue or a piece of stained glass.
If all of the time and money that churches have used for their own good
could have gone toward helping the world. If the money spent for
shields and armor and bullets by the Israeli government were used to
help the Palestinians. If the catholic church would stop spending money
to heat huge stone churches and start spending money on the homeless.
If the Pope would preach peace insteatf of crusading to keep women
from being priests. If organized religion were intent on doing good,
then much good would be done. ... , .
If God is in the church, then he is not the god that I want to admire.
I don't think that God would create mindless followers. It seems that it
he really wanted to create people in his image, he would create
individuals. T . .
Butch smiled and said "That is a gutsy thing to say, I just hope no
religious types overheard you. They may just mess you up a liulc when
you walk outside.” ri
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A Look Back at a Long Semester
by Peter Weichlein
Collegian Staff Writer
This is it. The end of this
dreadful semester is in sighL Cine
week of finals, and we're out :of
here. Time to reminisce? Time? to
lean back and think. Time to digest
What a semester it was.
There was that election. We
survived it, Mike Dukakis didn’t.'
Will we survive the next four
years? Let's hope George Bush
does. Penn State's first loosing
season in fifty years. Jopa was mad,
I was amused. We can claim we
attended Penn State during their one
and only loosing season. Quite a
claim to fame. Vinni's was busted I
was there. Didn't get arrested, didn't
get in any trouble, actually I had a
blast. My dancing's not that hot
anyway. Penn State's cracking
down on smokers. No more
cigarette machines on campus,
smoking a perversity rather than an
OPINION
Let’s Talk
Merry Christmas
by Pastor Ray Sines
Collegian Staff Writer
Christmas is a holiday celebrated
by more individuals nationwide
than most of the other holidays
combined.
I remember, as a child*, I would
get very excited during the last two
weeks of December in anticipation
of activities, gifts, pies, cookies,'
and Santa to come. Dad would
always wait until Christmas Eve to
put up the tree and then my three
brothers .and.l would be allowed to
hang the ornaments and icicles.
We, individually, made most, of the
ornaments.
A few years later Santa turned
out to be dad, but my high
expectations remained unchanged.
As education molded me into its
form, I learned that Christ was the
forerunner of Claus. I learned that
wc were actually celebrating
Christ's birthday. I was somewhat
confused about how the shepherds
abided with their flocks in the snow
and how the three wise men traveled
from the Far East in a few hours.
My young mind invented
varying answers to these perplexing
questions.
Years later, as I dug into muddy
history, I discovered that Christ,
wasn't even bom on December
25th. Surprisingly I found that he
was born in the month of Abib
(Jewish calendar) which turned out
to be April the first on the Julian
Calendar.
Some unbelievers in Christ
Avoiding
A new book on
by Kevin Trenney
Collegian Staff Writer
I thought it was just some bad
movie or a night mare that would
soon end. I was wrong. It continues
to haunt me. You see, I- have this
problem. I am a Behrend major,
with no hope for escape.
I have been told the first step in
solving a problem is admitting you'
have one. ;
What could be so wrong with
Behrend? The classes and course
work don't bother me. Even tire
library, doesn't bother me that
much, (I must be delirious). I think
that I have been followed to college
by a large number of junior high J,
School students. [
They seem too ’
developed to be junior higjh
students. And junior high students ■
don't go to college - unless they afe:
exceptionally bright. \
I know what it is. These people;';
are the physical embodiment of die;,
pre'-pubescent, mall-combing junior
high mind-set. [ *•;
Yes, these students form littje!,
cliques to practice their petty',
snobbery. I love it! t f.
■ - - -ami i< ’.
December 8,1988
addiction. "The Last Temptation of
Christ" wasn't allowed in Erie. Erie
is above blasphemy. I'm not I can't
wait for the video.
There were summer Olympics
in Korea. Television offered ten
minutes of commercials for every
two minutes of sports and still lost
money. 1
* PETE'S
PERSPECTIVE
Flojo is the new hero of this
country. Eat your heart out, Ollie
North. He's being punished by the
President for trying to cover for the
President Kind of renews your faith
in this government doesn’t it?
Being a liberal is now worse
than being a communist and the
ACLU is picking up new members
like crazy thanks to George Bush.
Makes sense to me.
thought his birth to be foolish,
therefore this date became tagged as
all fools day. The Gregorian
Calendar, adopted in 1582, later
declared this date April Fools Day.
It is a bit ironic that we
celebrate the birthday of an
individual about which more
literature has been written and
published than any other man in
history, on a pseudo-day. But this
is no more ironic then referring to
him as "X."
I used to get annoyed when
seeing Merry X-mas on store
windows and doors. One man,
when asked why, told me Christ
would not fit.
This makes sense. He doesn't
seem to fit into many peoples lives
either.
Nevertheless
Christmas.
Cliques
an old problem
You have your basic sports
cliques, based on team membership,
(itchiejockies).
Then you have your social
group cliques, (the lovely letter
lovers).
Then you have cliques based on
wealth, (Gucci-Gucci-Goos).
Then there are those cliques
based on physical appearance,
(Aren't we just so, so, so pretty.)
Yes. I love cliques. Snobbery is.
something which I hold dear. I love
snobs so much that I wrote a book
about them entitled, "Snobs Are
Almost People Too."
Hare are the names of a few of
the chapters:
Chapter 5 - "How to
Outsnob Snobs"
Chapter 7 - "The Top Ten
Ways to Make a Snob Sweat”
Chapter 10 - "The Mind of
the Snob (basically a void)
Chapter 18 - "How They .
Keep Their Noses From Bleeding
From the High Altitudes"
Yes, some of my favorite people
are snobs. Buy my book and learn
to be as mature as the average snob.
Playboy's Miss November is a
Penn State alumni, so is the nerd
on "Head of the Class".
Enrollment is up. So is
tuition. The only thing that
remains the same is the amount of
parking spaces - no relation to the
amount of cars. We survived
another semester without anybody
being killed by race drivers who
always pick the time in between
classes to drive on the campus’
walkways.
I spent a whole semester trying
to find a date, there will always be
Spring of 'B9, and Susan is still the
greatest. Kanty Village doesn’t
party anymore. Somebody pay for
that damn door - my social life's a
wreck.
Danny Quayle chickened out of
the Vietnam War (nothing against
the National Guard), did not sleep
with Paula Parkinson (idiot!), had
poor grades in school, and is just
not a likable person. Now he’s
Letters to the editor
Disgusted With Theft
Dear editor,
Am I bitter? You bet I am. The members of the Barbell Club have
worked so hard this semester with the Student Government Association,
the Gym Staff, and the Maintenance Department, and the just completed
Bench-A-Thon, with the sole purpose of making the weight room a
nicer place to work out Then, in one act of selfishness, some person
(or persons) undermined all of our efforts by stealing an Olympic Bar
and some weights.
Why should the Barbell Club members spend all of their time
(which we all have precious little to spare) and energy in fund raising
for equipment when one individual can ruin it for everyone? And why
should the Gym Staff be in any hurry to replace expensive items like
this when what has been purchased can't stay in place for even one
semester ( yes, they just bought it this fall! )? And how many people
who have used the weight room can remember having to wait because
there was only one bar?
I'm sure these ramifications for his actions were never considered by
the perpetrator of this heinious deed, no, he probably acted out of pure
self interest. And that makes me bitter. But I'm not writing this just to
blow off steam. I sincerely hope that by reading this, people will
realize that this was no harmless prank, that maybe even the person
who did this will realize the harm that he has caused. I'm not foolish
enough to believe that this will bring the equipment back, but if it will
stop anyone from taking something else from all of us, my time will
not have been wasted.
Craig A. Silvis
President, Behrend College Barbell Club
In Defense of HABIT
Dear editor,
I feel that being a resident senator and a young black woman that I
can adequately respond to your editorial on the HABIT senator from a
black student's point of view.
The fact that only minorities can represent minorities is just that, a
fact, not a racist idea. If a minority student came to a white senator and
told him of a racial encounter he experienced in the residence halls he
would be represented effectively? I think not When I hear ignorant
statements like "It's not my fault God made you colored," or when
speaking to someone they refer to a person as "that colored boy," it irks
me. A white student could not possibly feel what it feels like to be a
minority unless they were in an environment where they were the
minority. They don't know how it feels when the majority makes them
feel inferior because their skin color is dark. You spoke of equal
representation. Well, I don't think, that a minority senator would be
represented effectively by a white student
People may think, "Well Ala's a minority and a resident senator - so
what do you need a HABIT senator for. "I was elected to represent
residents, not minorities. People can not assume that just because I'm
black that I will accept that responsibility. I could be from an
environment where I didn't experience racial prejudice or interact with
other black students. So, I wouldn't want to accept the fact that people
discriminate because of skin color. Therefore I wouldn't represent
minorities because I don't feel I'm classified as one. Essentially, if I
attended all the SGA meetings and spoke out for all minorities someone
would say to me you were elected to represent residents not minorities.
The decision for the HABIT senator has not been driven by the guilt
of wrong done in the past, but these wrongs have laid down the
foundation of our society today. Many people have this preconceived
notion that whites have always been on the top and blacks on the
bottom. It is because of precedented history that people think this way.
They don't want the majority rule upset, fearing that we (minorities) are
moving up the ladder. They may say that they want equality, but
equality the way it is today, which is far from equal. You said it
yourself, "extra political power cannot be granted to one group without
usurping the power of another." That statement proves, at least in your
opinion, that the majority does in fact rule and they don't want their
power lessened.
Merry
The situation about the homosexuals at University Park, in my
opinion, is a totally isolated incident. Before someone looks at me and
says that I am a homosexual, they will see that I’m black. My sexual
preference doesn't show up externally but my race does.
There are several other issues that need to be addressed but they can't
all be in this letter. I would like to give some advice to those who are
leery on this topic and need to be enlightened. Go to the SGA
meetings, listen to the opinions and speak your own. Talk to friends
who are minorities and see how they feel. If you don't have any, start
there by getting some.
The fact that we live in a society where everyone is equal is ideal,
but realistically it does not exist Ala Stanford
First Semester biology major
Dear Ala,
I agree that ! do not know what it is like to be a
minority, but your idea of equality can only cause more
discrimination. The idea of equal' rights is the greatest
[concept ever conceived, but I cannot see how equality, can
he- reached if certain types of segregation are continually
allowed to throw a wrench into the works. Is equality a
black' person being able to represent a white person but
the reverse, [not being true? Equality can never be reached
through separatism.
Vice-President. What a country!
The new bookstore is finally a
reality. So much room for books.
Shelves and shelves ready to be.
filled with the accumulation of
centuries of wisdom and knowledge
written down for us to-leam from.
Not to mention a sweatshirt or two.
Geraldo Rivera had his nose
broken on National T.V. and if you
have to be a Nazi to get a shot at
his face, please sign me up. We
now call Kurt "Fuzzball”, because
he has chest hairs showing even
while wearing a turtle neck. The
Russians are leaving Afghanistan,
and if we're not careful we might
even have world peace somewhere
in the near future.
I now have an earring and don't
know why. The price of gasoline is
rising, and altogether the future is
looking pretty grim, especially
with that History exam next Friday.
What a long, strange semester it's
been.