> Every job is worth doing Jessica Berget Opinions Editor Wie the holiday season coming up, the time for relatives to ask you what you're doing with your life is once again upon us college students. “What are you studying?” and “What do you want to do when you graduate?” are common questions within this line of interrogation and unless your answer is something impressive that satisfies them like becoming a doctor or a lawyer (not to say these careers don’t get shamed as well, to some degree), the response is often “Oh, why did you choose that as a career?” “You're going to be a teacher? Hah, have fun with that,” is the exact sarcastic response I get from almost anyone | tell my career choice to, and you know what? I will have fun being a teacher, because I love children and education and that is what I want to do with my life. However, teachers don’t get nearly as much flack for their career choices as, say, people who want to be writers or artists, or even cashiers. If that is what people want to do with their lives, then let them. These jobs are important and serve a purpose in many different ways. Everyone has their reasons for wanting to have a certain career, and they don’t owe anyone an explanation for their decisions. There are also people who didn’t get to choose their careers or get the job they wanted, and are shamed for not “living up to their potential.” Some of these people might be forced into their full- time jobs because of a variety of factors: They might have to drop out of college for financial or personal reasons, they might have children and are forced take a job to support their family, or the job they were working towards didn’t pan Photo by Analyn Cuarto out. Whatever the reason may be, that does not mean that they failed with their life or should be mocked in any way. It just shows that life is funny like that, and that things don’t always go as expected— especially when it comes to career paths. Whether a person is a doctor, a manager, or even a fast food employee, they should not be shamed for their work. No matter what jobs people decide to support themselves with, that is no reason to shame or mock them. If the work they choose to do wasn’t a job worth doing, then it wouldn't be a job. More needs to be done in Myanmar Katie Czenczek Staff Writer ust to start this off, I am also guilty. I, like many other people living in the west, knew next to nothing about the ethnic cleansing happening in Myanmar. I only learnt about it after people called for Aung San Suu Kyi’s Noble Peace Prize to be removed this September. This has been going on for much longer than that. Muslim-practicing Rohingya people have faced discrimination for longer than I have been alive. In a documentary released by VICE News called Left for Dead: Myanmar’s Muslim Minority, it is noted that in 1982, the government of Myanmar stripped Rohingya people of their citizenship status. These people— who were displaced in 2012 in the Rakhine State—have been forced into internment camps and forbidden to leave by order of the Burmese government. They are considered the lucky ones who werent already murdered, enslaved, or picked up by human traffickers. They have no access to medical aid and the conditions differ drastically when compared to the refugee camps set up for displaced Buddhists. All of this sounds horrifyingly like the ghettos set up by Nazi Germany to displace Jewish Germans. Yet why is there no international outcry? How come no intervention is taking place on the part of the United Nations? | believe that it is because there are no incentives for the UN to intervene. In fact, I think it is better for the United Nations if this genocide is completely swept under the rug. In 2010, “military rule was replaced by a new military-backed civilian government,” taken from an article on BBC news. Aung San Suu Kyi became the de facto leader of Myanmar and won a Noble Peace Prize for her humanitarian efforts. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama visited Myanmar during this time, and promised to improve US- Myanmar relations if the country were to become more democratic and fair to its citizens. The UN also heavily endorsed this change in government, and it was described as a win for human rights. Though I agree that this was a huge step for a military-run government that only recently allowed for public demonstrations to occur, it heavily comes at the price of Rohingya people. Worldwide outrage and intervention should not only occur if the intervening people get something out of it. The way that Myanmar is being dealt with is not only completely unacceptable, but I believe it also shows the United Nations to be compliant by allowing these atrocities to occur. This terrible oversight will be yet another marker in history of the UN not doing enough to stop evil people from killing innocents because of their religion, race, or ethnicity. Think of Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, and the countless other regions where the world has sat back and watched while genocides occurred. Myanmar does not need to be another nation on this infamous list. I thought that the United Nations was created to keep peace and prevent further atrocities from occurring following the Second World War. If that isn’t the case—as established by the total and utter lack of action taken by the UN against Myanmar’s government— then what is the purpose of the United Nations? > Why ethnic o 2 “a vu a fu 5 = > 2 9 g 5° xo a u £ a a = o > a £ x 5° a Z c x ro] vu c ° c 3 5 oT x U o Fag G d | “ o £ o S ao 2 > OG w > vu x ra] v o