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Page 2 Thursday, September 19, 2002
The Pendulum
Ebtablislii'd 1974
Home will forever
remain the same
Jusi a lew wfcks ago, our parents dropped us off at Elon. They
helped us carry boxes up several flights of stairs. They made sure
our MicroFridges were stocked with the essential donn room
sjiacks. They hugged us goodbye, wiped the tears from tlieir eyes
and drove away.
As we wandered back to our domis from the parking lot, we felt
two contrasting emotions. On one hand, we wanted to pull the
Macaulay Culkin "Home Alone" scream running through the domi
halls. But on the other hand, we realized how far we were from
liome and families.
In less than a month, we have adjusted to life at Elon. We’ve
gotten used to collecting quarters to wash our clothes. We no longer
have to dear our plans for the evening with our parents. Dinner at
Harden isn't as bad as it was the first week.
This weekend, our w^)rld will te invaded. Hundreds ot lamilies
will gather on campus for Family Weekend. Wc will introduce
them to our friends and pn)fcssors. We will show them where wc
eat. study and h;mg out with friends. We will take them to the foot
ball game and to our favorite place for dinner.
As our worlds collide for a weekend, wc will realize once again
how much our lives have changcd. Wc will always be able to go
home, but we are now visitors. Mom's home cooking never tasted
better after dining hall foinJ.
At some point in collegc, you transition to calling Elon home.
After a weekend visiting your parents and sleeping in your old
room, you slip and say you are going home. You see a tear begin to
form in your mother'.s eye, because she knows you arc right. At
■some point, Elon becomes your home. Sunday evening when you
return to campus, you wander door to dM)r through the dorm, stop
ping lo share weekend stories with your new family.
Somewhere through this process, wc realize that wc will always
be our parents’ children, but we’re growing up now. Time, dis
tances and relationships change, but their love lor us will never
changc.
The Pendulum
Jennifer Guarino, Editor-In-Chief Lindsay Porter, Features Editor
I Crystal Alien and Katie Beaver,
I Managing Editors
I Erin Cunningham, News Editor
I Eric Hali, Opinions Editor
! Andi Petrinl, A & E Editor
Colin Donohue, Sports Editor
Tim Rosner, Photography Editor
Erin Moseley, Chief Copy Editor
Annette Randall, Business
f^anager
Matt Ford, Online Editor
The Pendulum is published each Thursday of the academic year. The
advertising and editorial copy deadline is 5 p.m. the Monday before publi
cation.
Letters to the editor and guest columns are welcome and should be
typed, double-spaced, signed and include a telephone number for verifica
tion. Submissions are also accepted as Word documents on disk or by e-
mail.
The Pendulum reserves the right to edit obscene or potentially libelous
material. Lengthy letters or columns may have to be trimmed to tit. All sub
missions become the property of The Pendulum and will not be returned.
To reach The Pendulum at 233 Moseley Center, call 278-7247 or fax 278-
7246. Contact The Pendulum by e-mail at pendulum@elon.edu. Visit our
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Each Individual is entitled to one free copy.
— Opinions
MAILBOX
Achieving peace means
finding right definition
! (f 'i •!! 1
The Pendulum
Like many of my fellow stu
dents and other members of our
community, . I attended the
remembrance service on campus
on Sept. 11.
1 went prepared to honor
those who gave and those who
lost their lives a year ago
today, in the terrorist’s attacks
on our country. I also went
prepared to share my grief
with others and to take the
time to reflect on the pain and
hurt of this past year.
But what I got was not what 1
expected.
To me, the 9/11 service was
more about pushing a particular
political belief than actually
remembering tho.se who died on
that day.
Don’t get me wrong, there
were five minutes when we talked
about the names on our bracelets
and then said the names aloud,
and the few moments when we
were asked to remember one of
our fellow students who lost his
father in the attacks, but I did not
feel that this was the focal point of
the 45 minute service.
I was very upset with the way
that certain speakers condemned
our armed services for fighting in
Afghanistan. I understand that
violence and war are terrible
things and it would be great if
everything could be solved peace
fully, but the sad fact is, there are
some things that cannot be solved
lightly.
The war in Afghanistan is
about justice, not revenge. It is
about receiving justice for those
who died and punishing those
responsible. I come from a fami
ly that has been in or involved
with the military my entire life.
I was raised to respect those in
the armed services and to under
stand that the freedom 1 have
today exists because others fought
for it!
My uncle fought in the war in
Afghanistan. He left his family,
his home and his wife-to-l')C, to
fight for our freedom and security.
He left and did not think twice.
He went to fight for me, my fam
ily and this country. Today 1 felt
like my uncle was spit on becau.se
he fought, because he did what he
was called to do.
My grandfather served in
the Army for more than 20
years, and today was a repeat
of what my granddaddy went
through when he came home
from Vietnam, being looked
down upon and ridiculed by
people who cannot fathom the
things my grandfather wit
nessed and experienced.
It was like my grandfather’s
grave was spit on and his tomb
stone kicked over.
We had an opportunity to
remember those who died, to
remember the heroes of 9/11
and to remember the families,
but instead, we let the oppor
tunity pass and used the time
to talk about how wrong we
are to fight for justice for
those who died.
It amazes me how quick we
forget.
We pride ourselves at Elon on
being accepting of all beliefs and
not choosing any one belief to be
the correct one, but today, that
was not the case.
For the first time in my three
years at Elon, I am disappointed
and hurt by my college, and 1 can
honestly say, that 1 cried about
that fact. I lost some pride in this
university today and it's going to
be hard to get that back.
I do not want people to think
that I am against peace, because I
am not.
I want peace. But my defini
tion of peace is different from the
definition expressed today. Peace
means not hating all Muslims or
foreigners for what happened, and
it means understanding that it was
a small portion of a group of peo
ple who did this to us, not the
entire group.
However, part of peace is also
standing up and being willing to
fight for what you believe. In this
country we believe in freedom
and being secure. On 9/11, that
was threatened.
A fight for freedom was not
looked down upon during the
Revolutionary War or World War
II after Pearl Harbor was attacked,
so why is it wrong now? Why?
Lisa Taylor
Junior
Administrator apologies about e-mail failure
Last week The F\:ndulum nm an
opinions piece in which a .student com
mented tliat ;in e-mail .sIkhiU have
been sent to all students after tlie
attempted break-in at West End
ApartJTKTits on Aug. 29.
The student is absolutely right.
Notices of incidents do
encourage students to follow
good safety practices and be on
the lookout for alleged suspects.
TIte awlulum suggested that I
advise students of tlie Univct^ity's
pratiicc of notifying stucL-nts of .secu
rity incicfcnts and wluit happenal in
thisaise. I am happy to do so.
An e-mail was sent to the
allusers e-mail address on Friday,
Aug. 30, the morning after the
attempted break-in.
The e-mail was received by
some but not all students, faculty
and staff, as was intended.
I was not aware for several
days that the email had not been
received by everyone as I heard
students, faculty and staff talking
about the incident. I re-sent the
Aug. 30 e-mail to the student
body this past weekend.
The University has a long
standing practice of notifying stu
dents of security incidents and
certainly will continue to do so.
The e-mail delivery problem
was corrected the evening of Aug.
30 and no further delivery prob
lems have been experienced.
Your comments on safety are
welcome at any time so we can
keep Elon as safe as possible.
Smith Jack.son
Dean of Students