WEDNESBSY
APRIL 27,2016
IPINIONSI
CAMPUS VOICES
Embrace change, discomfort during final days at Elon
The Pendulum is renewing its efforts to serve as a voice of the Elon University community. Each week, this space
will feature a column from a member of the community. Want to participate? Contact usatpendulum@elon.edu.
Jan Fuller
University Chapiain
Over my years of chaplaincy I’ve noticed
a trend among seniors. I think that sharing
my observations will help you to place your
self in these strenuous
days. .
In the spring of the
senior year, and every
now and then in the late
fall, when you hoped
youd have your best
times of all, things tend
to fall apart. Relation
ships — with people
you’ve depended on
for years, people you
love, someone you’ve never argued with —
suddenly fall apart or become excruciating,
limiting, annoying or meaningless.
Behaviors change suddenly. You may
decide to become a vegan, to dump your
former plans and dp something wild, engage
in behavior unlike your usual style. What
used to be inspiring, worthy, golden, fun
may become dull and empty. The world feels
strange, you may not recognize yourself in it,
and you may feel a stranger to yourself.
While you are feeling strange, others
are too. Conversations don’t proceed at the
usual pattern. Places of comfort now offer
only tension. Your feelings, friends, parents
and faculty may surprise you — you may
surprise yourself.
Your fuse may be very short, your ability
to tolerate the usual ambiguity nil. We’re all
in a transition together and the community
seems strange and difficult all around, espe
cially for seniors among other seniors.
Seniors also have this wonderful habit of
putting their education to work in the final
semester — on your university. You begin
to perceive all the flaws of our system and
commimity, you’ll be moved to critique and
improve Elon. It feels like your last chance to
make a difference around here.
All in all, nothing feels terribly stable,
everything is at stake and chaos — internal
and external — seems to reign.
You’re getting ready to leave, obviously.
You’re off to a job, marriage, grad school,
travel, all those plans that draw you. Some
of you don’t even want to be here right now,
you’re so ready to be gone. Some of you
don’t want to think about leaving at all, and
may fantasize about another year near Elon.
What’s not so obvious is that you and the
whole community are immersed in a kind
of anticipatory grief, in a process of letting
go of one security in order to be prepared to
build and embrace another.
While it is frightening, insecure, sad,
happy, wild, awful and wonderful, this
moment is a normal and very difficult part
of young adult development. Reinhold
Neibuhr called this experience “shipwreck”
— being empty handed before grasping
some new and better reality.
During this time, it may help to know
that while it’s not fun, this process is normal.
You’re not crazy. We’re all grieving, shifting,
journeying and preparing, both separately
and together.
Students also shouldn’t shy away from
spending moments alone in quiet. When
you are alone, and silent, your feelings
emerge. You’ll eventually have to feel what
you feel, why not go ahead and do it now,
while you have good support.
Grief can be scary, but it’s healthy and
normal. Prayer, meditation, quiet can seem
threatening, but will give you new hope,
and will be especially helpful right now. The
prayer and meditation rooms, or isolated
corners of the Numen Lumen Pavilion, are
available to you. Attend to yourself, and
sustain healthy sleep, eating, exercise and
leisure patterns. The grief process takes
physical energy and our bodies can help us
manage them better.
Make what difference you can, knowing
that not everything is really under your
control. It’s a time to be patient, to learn to
trust, to exercise faith in the future, in your
choices, in yourself and your friends. It’s not
going to absolutely fall apart, and you don’t
personally have to hold it all together.
Finally, remember that you are a vital
part of this community. You matter to all of
us. What you’re feeling, thinking, doing, and
bearing makes a difference to the rest of us.
We have many reasons to rejoice and
you are the most visible of these reasons, the
signs of our success and accomplishments. •
The rest of us take much pride in you. Don’t
forget, you are the reason Elon exists and
will continue to exist.
I hope and pray this helps. I’m happy to
talk with you about these matters, in person
or by email. Please let me know if I can do
anything for you as we journey together.
Corporations hurt dietary guidelines
Marissa Costner
Vice President of
Animal Protection
Alliance
Today in the United States,
politics run practically every
aspect of our lives. The 2015-
2020 Dietary
Guidelines for
Americans
are no ex
ception. The
guidelines,
which are
updated every
five years, are
ostensibly
determined
by scientific
evidence that
an expert
panel organizes into a number of
dietary recommendations for the
U.S. public.
Despite this claim, the influ
ence of corporate interests on
this round of recommendations
is impossible to ignore. And it’s
clear that the meat industry is the
largest corporate offender.
The most glaring flaw in
the guidelines is the absence of
straightforward advice to eat
less red and processed meat —
statements that were a critical
component of the advisory panel’s
initial draft. This omission is
remarkable because research has
shown that the consumption of
red and processed meat increases
risk for the primary causes of
death in the United States, includ
ing diseases such as heart disease,
certain types of cancer and Type
2 diabetes.
Rather than including a
recommendation in line with
scientific evidence and public
health goals, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services
(HHS) and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) caved to
corporate influence by omitting
an essential direction that U.S. cit
izens cut back on red meat intake.
What the public received instead
is the weakened suggestion that
they choose lean meats.
Prior to the release of the new
guidelines, the World Health Or
ganization (WHO) issued a report
that revealed a link between eating
red and processed meats and
developing cancer. In their report,
researchers classified processed
meat as “carcinogenic to humans”
and red meat as “probably carcino
genic to humans.”
Specifically, they revealed
that there is strong evidence that
processed meats (e.g., sausage, hot
dogs and ham) cause colorectal
and stomach cancer and moder
ate evidence that red meats (e.g.,
beef, pork and lamb) contribute to
colorectal, pancreatic and prostate
cancer. Furthermore, WHO found
that eating 50 grams of processed
meat daily — that’s a little more
than a single hot dog — increases
your risk for these types of cancers
by 18 percent.
In light of these findings, it is
disquieting that the new Dietary
Guidelines fail to recommend that
people avoid red and processed
meats. Also concerning is that
their recommendation to eat “lean
meats” includes certain red meats.
For instance, lamb is consid
ered lean meat according to FDA
standards, but is also considered
a red meat by WHO. Thus, these
guidelines can be interpreted as
recommending that U.S. citizens
choose foods that may in fact
cause cancer.
Michael Taylor, administrator
of the Food Safety and Inspection
Services (FSIS), recognizes the
unjust corporate influence on
the new Dietary Guidelines and
remarked that the USDA is “think
ing of the industry as the customer
rather than the consumer, and
thinking in terms of efficient
inspection rather than protecting
public health.”
The numbers further support
Taylor’s point. The meat industry
spent nearly $3.5 million lobbying
against the new guidelines. And
other experts agree that the strong
relationship between USDA and
the meat industry amounts to
a conflict of interest. Dr. Walter
Willett, chair of the Department
of Nutrition at Harvard School
of Public Health, stated that the
meat industry was successful in
manipulating the guidelines be
cause “the USDA’s primary stake
holders are major food producers
and manufacturers.”
How is it that the Dietary
Guidelines — the so-called
“cornerstone of federal nutrition
policy” — fail to advise U.S. citi
zens about the dangers of red and
processed meat, for which there
exists strong, reliable evidence?
How is it that the U.S. govern
ment can be persuaded by the
meat industry to omit consequen
tial dietary recommendations
and put the public’s health at risk?
It’s clear that the government has
yielded to industry pressure and
failed to protect the U.S. public.
The health of citizens should
not come second to politics, mon
ey and power. Fight back against
this tragedy by leaving meat off
your plate and out of your shop
ping cart. Put your interests first.
Practicing gratitude
helps manage stress
Emily DeMaioNewton
Truitt Center Intern
Over the past 20 years, so
cial scientists have found that
religious beliefs and practices
are linked
to mental
health and
ability to
function.
In a
study
called
“Religion
and men-
tal health,”
authors
Prakash B. Behere, Anweshak
Das, Richa Yadav and Anirud-
dh P. Behere discovered that
religious people had lower
rates of smok
ing, alcohol
consumption
and high blood
pressure. Sui
cide rates, and
even suicidal
ideation, were
also lower in re
ligious people.
Many reli
gious traditions
have specific
guidelines re
lating to mental
health.
For example, the Jewish
tradition promotes treatment
of emotional and spiritual
challenges in conjunction with
physical ailments. Buddhism
teaches practical knowledge
about regulating one’s mind in
a way that decreases suffering.
Christianity encourages its fol
lowers to find comfort in God’s
love and strength.
But must someone be ex
plicitly religious or spiritual to
gain the mental health benefits
religion offers? It doesn’t seem
that way — I know many •
atheists who are happy and
well. I think that the difference
might just be gratitude —
being grateful for one’s life and
presence on earth.
I have religious friends who
find meaning in their life based
on their belief in God, and I
have non-religious friends who
consider how many conditions
of the universe had to line up
for them to exist, and they find
gratitude through that. While
religions
may offer
specific
tools for
dealing
with mental
health chal
lenges, tools
can also be
found in
the secular
world.
Sup
port from
friends, art,
meditation
and exercise all help in man
aging mental health challenges
and stress. So take some time
out of your day to sit quietly,
make some art, go for a walk
with a friend or pray — if that’s
something you do. Take a
moment to be grateful for your
time on earth, in whatever way
resonates with you.
TAKE A MOMENT
TO BE GRATEFUL
FORYOURTIME
ON EARTH, IN
WHATEVER WAY
RESONATES WITH
YOU.