February 3, 2000
The Banner
Page 3
Perspectives
Knowing what we can and cannot change
Andrew
Thommason
columnist
This column is going to turn out
be a confessional of sorts. It is my
lope and prayer that it will help
someone not have to go through
what I had to go through to come to
;se same conclusions,
have never been one to give up
"ontroi of anything easily. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m not the kind of
uy who puts his girlfriend in a
ttle box and forbids her to go
nywhere without my consent or
xompaniment. However, itboth-
0 not be in control of what’s
For this reason, it really used to
rive me crazy when it snowed,
ecause I couldn’t go anywhere,
the reason why I won’t ride in a
car with anyone, that I have to
drive, and it’s also the reason I don’t
drink or do drugs. It’s really quirky,
and I realize this, but it’s me.
Unfortunately, there are things,
like the snow, that I can’t do a damn
thing about, and when I came to
school in Asheville, I had to learn
quickly how to deal with such things
so I wouldn’t stress myself out. For
me, the answer started to come when
I realized that I had a \yhole lot more
control over my destiny than our
largely fatalistic society tends to believe.
When I discovered that every
thought I have breeds a like action,
it made me monitor my thoughts
much more closely. I can look at
my past and, though I strongly dis
like dwelling on it, find many ex
amples of how my thought patterns
realized themselves in my existence.
The best example, the best print
able one, anyway, was my first se
mester at UNCA, when I had mono
nucleosis for three solid months.
First of all, when I came to UNCA
in the fall, I was terribly afraid of
being away from home and being
deathly ill. That fear manifested
itself as a case of mono. After I got
it, I was probably truly sick for
about a month, and after that, I
began to talk myself into still being
ill. That continued mindset of “I’m
sick. I’m sick” was what made it last
so long, not the actual virus that
beat the body down. And why
wouldn’t I? It was a great excuse in
lots of different directions, but the
problem was that at the time, I
didn’t understand how much I
wanted the excuse, and subse
quently the illness. You can’t have
one without the other, and mono
became like a bad habit for me,
until a friend of mine finally shook
me up and told me what I was
doing to myself
When the blame finally comes to
rest on the^guilty party, instead of
the worldly things he chooses to
blame it on, it adds a great deal of
perspective. Nothing “happens”
to you that you do not allow to
happen. Except, of course, for
matters of collective conscious
ness: the things you cannot change,
like hurricanes, floods, and even
snowstorms. If the collective
consciousness is negatively bent,
then it will manifest negative
things in that group’s existence.
The Y2K problem didn’t become
the international crisis it was hyped
up to be because people stopped
worrying about it as much.
I do not know any living human
being that can single-handedly
override the collective conscious
ness of a group of people with
their own. If you know of such a
person, I would like an introduc
tion, but for the sake of conversa
tion, we will assume that she/he
While we cannot single-handedly
override the collective conscious
ness of a large group, we can do
two things to help us put up with
the snowstorms, whatever they
Letters to the Editor
3ookstore woes
)ear Editor,
UNCA and Asheville as a whole
been seen as progressive areas
/ith their sworn allegiances to lib-
rts and liberal thought. How-
one area has failed to uphold
ideals: the UNCA bookstore.
1 the horrifying prices of books
) the lack of software selection, the
ookstore has only shown that
loney still thrives while students
survive.
Recently, I purchased textbooks
three classes. The grand total
; nearly $400! I have two more
ses to shop for. It might not
e been such a kicker if I could
e sold back a few books last
mester. Unfortunately, I am stuck
calculus book and an ac-
mnting book which are now offi-
ally “outdated.”
To make matters worse, the book
store also fails to see alternatives to
saving students money in the soft
ware field. On their software rack:
Windows 98, Office 2000, Visual
C++ and all the expensive price tags
to boot. What they fail to offer:
Linux, StarOffice and Wordperfect
8 Personal Edition for Linux. These
are cheap alternatives to costly li
censes and troublesome software.
The bookstore fails to recognize
that students can have a working
workstation for less than $ 100 when
it comes down to actually packaged
software. That means word pro
cessing, databasing, programming
languages and environments, mail
software, web browsers, spread
sheets and more for a fraction of the
cost. The bookstore fails to offer
cheap packages like those offered
by Linuxmall where students can
havd a powerful operating system
for $5.00 and still download viable
office software like Wordperfect 8
and StarOffice for Linux for free.
Liberal, I believe not. Cost-effec-
tive, heck no. Corporate sellouts,
could b^. Basically, what I am trying
to say is, “Stop gouging us. Offer us
more, cheaper, better materials.”
Casey Keller
Computer Science
Higher standards
Dear Editor,
I have heard many people say that
UNCA needs minority scholarships
in order to improve diversity.
UNCA does not need to spend any
more time or money trying to in
crease diversity. Diversity is not
UNCA’s most important concern.
The reason why UNCA has little
diversity is because few minority
students apply. Compared to other
universities in North Carolina,
UNCA does not get that many
applicants at all. We need to im
prove our academic standards and
expand our curriculum. This will
increase the number of students
applying to UNCA, including mi
nority students. This is the only
way we can increase the number of
qualified minority applicants.
Minority scholarships will not in
crease diversity. Racism can never
increase diversity. Race-based schol
arships will not attract qualified
applicants. They are planning to go
to the larger universities. Minority
scholarships will j ust allow unquali
fied students to come here. Besides,
how can giving students scholar
ships based entirely on race improve
understanding between the races.^
Joshua Johnson
Freshman
Undeclared
•kin deep
ar Editor,
makes me awfully tired every
: I hear or read the statement
eing a person of color” elicited
what our current society clas-
as a “minority.” When, oh
1, can we all get beyond the
construct, which is defeatist
nature anyway?
my Humanities 414 class, un-
the instruction of Professor
hney, we had what I feel was the
realistic exchange on the diver-
issue at UNCA. I had said to
“minority” students, “Why is
wsity only skin deep to you?”
>eir response was that with color
mes culture. I have come to real
ize that this is false. What we all
need to realize is that with geogra
phy comes culture, not mere pig-
The monopoly the “minority” stu
dents have on the phrase “person of
color” is over. We are all people of
color - the approach here is inclu
siveness instead of the age-old us
versus them mentality. If the “mi
norities” on this campus were not
so addicted to the joys ofvictimhood
and finally refrained from perpetu
ating the aura of exclusiveness that
shrouds them, then we could fi
nally make some progress in achiev
ing what seems to be this school’s
ultimate goal: diversification.
Jaimie Park
Senior
History
All welcome here
Dear Editor,
Is not every citizen of this country
entitled to his or her opinion, as
well as guaranteed the right to ex
press it under the first amendment?
I believe that a “liberal arts” educa
tion should teach us to be
openminded to all views of the
world regardless of whether or not
we are in accord with them.
As students gather around Rev.
Gary Birdsong merely to heckle
him for his beliefs and views of the
world and society, does this not
completely destroy the idea of the
“liberal arts” education and so-called
openmindedness? What students
need to realize is that Birdsong is
exercising his right to express his
opinions, j ust as they have that very
Instead of bellowing insults, rude
comments and the like, students
should simply allow him to speak
and move on with their classes and
lives. After all, a crowd only fuels
the fire.
I believe what worries me most is
that as these crowds gather to refute
his ideas and label him a “bigot,”
they are actually showing their own
closemindedness, as well as their
refusal to accept his view of society.
Perhaps we should be careful to
openminded that we are actually
closeminded.
J. M. Hodges
UNCA Alurrinus
The Banner welcomes letters and comments regarding the content
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Banner@unca.edu.
may be for you. One of the most
important things to understand is
that although there are some things
that cannot be changed of your
own accord, you do have infinite
control over how you react to these
things, and how you let them affect
you. Humanity has a weird pattern
of feeling threatened by the uncon
ditional love of the great masters,
killing them, and then, seeing how
peacefully they accepted death, dei
fying them again.
The secret of the masters, though
it is much more difficult than just
knowing, is having the perspective
that in the grand scheme of things,
there is nothing that anyone can do
to you to harm the eternal part
within. They know the game goes
on forever, and that the part within
them that is God cannot be de
stroyed. That thought, though it
seems simple, is the secret to a
hakuna matata lifestyle. You could
watch Mother Teresa among the
lepers in Calcutta and see her react
ing to the downtrodden with love.
You could see Jesus on the cross
saying “Father, forgive them.” He
reacted with love as well. Find out
what lesson you can take away
from all your perceived prob
lems, and, having found it, love
the problem as a venue to greater
understanding.
Also, we can help other people
to understand what they are
doing to themselves, and thus
alter the collective conscious
ness. If you help another un
derstand that they control their
own destiny and own happiness
by their thoughts and reaaions
to difficult situations, then you
begin to assist in changing the
way a group of people think, and
the negativity won’t build up.
Then, who knows what kind of
great things we will have in store?
So, God, grant me and others
the serenity to accept the things
we cannot change, and likewise
realize that though - there are
not many things on that list, it
still does exist. Grant everyone
the courage to change the things
they can change, and not to
accept any less than their high
est visions for themselves and
the world. Finally, grant us all the
wisdom to know the difference.
Editorial Board
Emma Jones
Sarah Wilkins
Meghan Cummings
Krystel Lucas
Jason Graham
Lauren Deal
Matt Hunt
Zach Dill
Editor -in- Chief
News Editor
Features Editor
Sports Editor
Photo Editor
Copy Editor
Online Editor
Asst. Online Editor*
Staff
Kay Alton, Lena Burns, Jennifer Crowl,
Walter Fyler, Anthony Greco,
Davon Heath, Kathryn Krouse, Susan McCord,
Melissa Starnes, Alison Watson, Teshania Wiley
Manager
Rebecca Cook
. Eric Porter
^ Business Manager
Circulation Manager
Columnists
Liam Bryan, Jaimie Park,
Andrew Thorflasson
Mark West, faculty advisor
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