om

 

 

 

  

DANTE

 

In the past year and a half, I have
become a completely different
person. How, you ask? The details
arent important. What is
important 1s the end result
because that end result defines
who we are as human beings.

I've had the misfortune of
being betrayed by friends, suffer-
ing from depression, overeating
and...the list goes on. This may
sound nermal to some of you but
I assure you, it was an extreme sit-
uation for everyone involved.
However, I have had the pleasure
of watching a child, who was

scared by the events going on

around him, slowly grow up and
take charge of a new life. That
child was me.

This raises the question, why
am I writing this? This semester,
I've had a wonderful opportunity
to begin to put my life back
together socially. I’m surrounded
by new faces and people that I
would bend over backwards for. It
truly feels like I've been given a
second chance at life.
Unfortunately, not all good
things in life come without a cost.
I've also had the displeasure of
seeing how truly ugly some peo-
ple can be.

For example, I know someone
who works for an organization

Frown Canada’s Brewery
Nia Es

 

 

that has opinions about
a particular group. In an
organization, one 1s
expected to conform to
what is considered the
norm. However, even .
though a person is under
a lot of pressure to con-
form, they should still be able to
think and decide for themselves,
what is right and what is wrong.
Instead, the individual in question
decided to ‘hate’ the entire group
that this organization disapproved
of. Yet he can call someone from
that same group, friend, and
accept assistance from somebody
else within that group. Some
might say this person is able to
separate business from pleasure,
but I can't agree with that. If a
family offers to put you up for a
weekend and you have a bad expe-
rience with a family member, does
that give you any right to ‘hate’
that entire family?

A different example is that a
group of people seems to take
offence at everything Reverend
Tom says, and yet their entire way
of life is supposed to be centred
on understanding, knowledge and
love above all else. I’m not com-
ing to the defence of Tom's ideas.
At one point, I probably would
have criticized him for what he
writes. However, the one thing
that escaped me is that we were
given the gift of free will; the

S ays
given right to form opinions and
ideas. Should Tom, regardless of
what his opinions are, give up
that right? I’m reminded of what
an old teacher once told me, “If
we werent allowed to debate and
to make choices, we would just be
robots. ” If an opinion is put for-
ward and you cant agree with it,
dont hate the opinion holder for
something you can't agree with or
dont understand. Instead, why
not think about what was written.
Perhaps it will lead you to some
new insight. Didnt Jesus say, “Let
he who is without sin cast the
first stone?”

Finally, in the winter 1998
semester, it came to light that
thousands of dollars had been
embezzled by some members of
the DCSS. Students were screwed
out of their hard earned money.
Why is it that students were able
to steal from other students? It’s
pretty pathetic that within an
institution full of smart people,
some of those smart people feel
the need to metaphorically stab
others in the back. Regardless of

the consequences, the fact is that

 

‘A group of people

seems to take
offence at everything
Reverend Tom

people did know about
this and someone
should have spoken up
sooner. We may never
know all the details but
students have a right to
those details and the
assurance that the ones
who committed the crime were
found.

I’ve been lucky enough to have
been given a second chance to
make a difference in my life. I’m
not going around preaching love,
peace and all that. I am talking
about tolerance and consideration
among ourselves, and what I’m
saying is that maybe it’s about
time everyone in this school who
hates someone or something,
stops hating and truly appreciates
what they have in life, where they
are and the position that they're
in.

This is Christmas. Take the
time to look around and see
where you've come from. You
might find that the child within
you needs time to grow up. Life is
precious, don't waste it on petty
insults when you could be doing
something useful instead. More
people should ask the same ques-
tion that I did: What am I grate-
ful for?

 

 

 

  
  
  
 
 
  
  
  
 
 
  
   
 

The Bus is Better.

Available at any Greyhound Canada location in Western Canada.
For further information in Vancouver call 482-8747.

Standby.

t's a sucker's
game.

The pages of your life are blank.
Grab a pen.

Greyhound Western Canada
Student Coach Card.

25% off all your Greyhound

Canada travel in Western
. Canada for one year.

For only 15 bucks.

New this year, get 20% off
Gray Line City Tours in
Vancouver & Victoria when
you show this card.

 

 

 

The Other Press

December 9 1998

Page 4