8The Daily Tar HeelMonday, September 13, 1982
Iter eotyping mars Christian image
Wbp mmln
90th year of editorial freedom
John Drescher, Editor
ANN PETERS. Managing Editor
KERRY DEROCHI, Associate Editor
RACHEL PERRY. University Editor
ALAN CHAPPLE. City Editor
JIM WRINN. State and National Editor
Linda Robertson, Spans Editor
KEN MlNGIS. Associate Editor
ELAINE MCCLATCHEY, Projects Editor
SUSAN HUDSON. Features Editor
Leah T alley, Mm Editor
Teresa Curry, iveekend Editor
AL STEELE, Photography Editor
JOSEPH BERRYHILL. LAURA SEIFERT, News Editors
Bad and mad
"They are jealous and just drooled at the thought of me spending the
rest of my life in some wretched prison in the backwoods of North Caro
lina. But here I am in this insane asylum, in southeast Washington, D.C.,
and everyone can 't stand the thought of my innocence.
: ' 1 ' John W. Hinckley Jr.
A year and a half ago, John Hinkley Jr. shot President Reagan. Just 14
months later he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Today, Hinckley is receiving psychiatric treatment in St. Elizabeth's
Hospital in Washington, but the insanity defense is still on trial. Since the
June verdict, government and judicial officials have split on whether a
person found insane can be held accountable for his actions. Leaders of
the American Bar Association say no. Reagan says yes. On Saturday,
Reagan announced his plans to push anti-crime legislation through Con
gress that would eliminate insanity as a defense.
Proponents of the insanity defense argue that the U.S. judicial system
traditionally has not punished people mentally incapable of controlling
their actions. They maintain that the insanity defense serves as a reminder
of the compassion and mercy still found in today's judicial system.
But opponents of the insanity, or "bad and mad," defense, are rankled
by the person that can walk away scot-free from a crime. Lax regulations
in the past have allowed those found not guilty by reason of insanity to
leave insane asylums shortly after they're committed. The opponents
point to the Georgia man who, upon acquittal and subsequent release
from a mental hospital, walked into a hotel lounge and killed his wife and
two bystanders.
Reagan's bill, if approved, would ensure that persons guilty of crimes
pay their dues. But his proposal is incomplete as of yet. It does not specify
that psychiatric treatment will be administered to those who really need it.
Congress should approve measures, such as those already adopted by
four states, that would find a person guilty, but insane. Under this ver
dict, a convicted felon would receive psychiatric treatment before serving
a prison term. A person who is both "bad and mad" would be treated as
such.
The next best thing
Once again Southern Bell is trying to reach out and touch someone,
this time with a new optional service for its customers called measured
service. But the proposed service has been structured in such a way as to
ensure that most people won't, even bother to sign up for it.
Ideally, measured service means that a subscriber's phone bill would be
based on the number of telephone calls made: the more calls made, the
higher the bill. Such a proposal would give customers an option to the
$11.75 monthly rate now charged by Southern Bell.
But instead of a simple pay-as-you-phone rate, Ma Bell has asked the
North Carolina Utilities Commission to approve two rates: a "standard
rate" that gives a customer 124 one-minute calls for $9.65 per month, and
a "low usage rate" that provides 40 one-minute calls and costs $6.75 per
month. If a subscriber exceeded his limit, a surcharge would be tacked
onto the bill.
Southern Bell representatives told the utilities commission Friday that
the proposed service would provide an option for customers who rarely
use their phones. And with rate increases planned for 1983, Southern Bell
also argued that some alternative to higher costs was needed.
A simple measured service, in which a person is billed only for the calls
made, is a good idea. For those people who rarely use the phone, it would
provide a much needed cost break to higher monthly rates. But Southern
Bell's version of the service is set up in a way that would discourage its use
by most telephone subscribers: it is so complicated that most people could
not figure out how many of their allotted calls they had used.
For example, someone on the low usage plan would be given $2 of the
$6.70 bill for telephone calls. A call in the same city would cost five cents
for the first minute and one cent for each additional minute. A call to a
nearby town might cost eight cents for the first minute and three cents for
each additional minute. Most people would need a calculator and a math
degree to figure it all out.
That is the principal stumbling block to this proposal. A similar pro
posal was turned down by the commission last year. Southern Bell has
settled for the next best thing by proposing its limited calls measured ser
vice, a service that has been shown to be little-used in other states. The
utilities commission should reject the Southern Bell proposal, agreeing to
the proposal only when a simple, measured service is developed.
Etiquette lives
We don't have a "Society" page, but if we did, it certainly would have
given a large amount of coverage to this weekend's debutante ball in
Raleigh. There is no doubt that this year's ball was, as usual, the highlight
of the state's social scene. More than 200 of the most outstanding and ac
complished young ladies from the best families in the state made their
debut into society. As expected of these valuable keepers of tradition, the
ball was run smoothly and by all the highest standards of etiquette. After
all, one must behave properly at something as important as the deb ball.
Because etiquette is so important to the ball, the sponsors of the ball,
the Terpsichorean Club, make sure everyone involved knows all the dos
and don'ts of coming out. Not that the Twerps Club, er, Terps Club,
does not trust the manners of the participants. But no one wants to see
the whole ball absolutely ruined because some deb wore the wrong length
gloves or a rough-edged assistant marshall put his elbows on the table.
So to make sure no mistakes happen, the club puts out a 16-page
"Debutante Handbook," which tells debs to be on time, not to attend
any unsanctioned events and generally to keep the ball "on its proper
plane of dignity."
The assistant marshall also receives a letter from the Terpsichorean
Club. Of course, since he was carefully chosen by the deb, he should
know already not to pick his nose or get trashed at any of the 12 sanc
tioned parties. But boys will be boys, so the letter tells him to behave like
a gentleman. Even if he is not quite satisfied with his deb date, he is told
not to "invite dates to any of the debutante ball functions." We don't see
why any assistant marshall wouldn't be satisfied with his deb, but, well,
maybe that happens.
The Terpsichorean Club, however, cannot answer all questions, in
cluding the most difficult one: whether the debs should wear comfortable
flat shoes or more attractive heels to the ball. The decision becomes
especially difficult when one remembers that the debs must descend three
short steps during their presentation, an athletic feat that has unnerved
debs for 56 years.
Ah, that's a tough decision, and yes, it can be lonely at the top of socie
ty, but it's all worth it. As for us, we congratulate the debs on their debut,
their assistant marshalls for behaving like gentlemen, and all of Society
for showing the state that tradition and etiquette still live.
By NORMAN A CKER
When someone says the word "Christian,' what is the
first thing you think of?
Teetotalers? Non-smokers? "Good" people? A priest
with a collar? A hell-fire preacher in the pit? A conser
vative political campaigner?
These terms might describe some Christians, but they
do not define what a Christian is.
What is a Christian, then? I propose that a Christian is
simply a person who does two things. First, he knows the
love of Jesus Christ, and second, he responds to it. And,
to "know" means more than just intellectual knowledge,
more than just knowing about God. It means knowing
him personally.
We understand this distinction when we talk about
knowing people. I know a great deal about President
Reagan, but I don't know him.
The Bible talks about our knowing God in terms of the
relationship between a father and child. A father and. child
spend time talking together. We talk with God, through
prayer. Nor is prayer just something we do with our eyes
closed. It is a constant communication with God
throughout the day and it is the key to the Christian life.
But the Bible not only says that we are children of God,
it says that we have been adopted into His family. None of
us is worthy of being adopted into God's family, nor are
we adopted because we deserve His love. God draws us in
to His family because He loves us as a father loves a child.
The Bible says, "God demonstrates His love for us in
this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8.
So God's love is not merely a feeling or an emotion. It
is action. Jesus gave up His place at God's side to live as a
man. Even more important, He freely gave up His own
life to bridge the gap between God and man.
The know God's love is to realize the fact that it is given
to us not as something we deserve, but as a gift given
through Jesus. Jesus, by His crucifixion, paid the price of
this gift, so that we who are imperfect can be embraced by
God. It is only when we have appreciated God's love as a
gift that we can enter into a fatherchild relationship with
God himself.
To know God's love is to realize the
fact that it is given to us not as some
thing we deserve, but as a gift ... It is
only when we have appreciated God's
love as a gift that we can enter into a
relationship with God himself...
The second principle of Christianity, however, is as im
portant as the first: once we have accepted God's love, we
must respond to it. This we do by loving one another.
"Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another." I John 4:11.
like God's love for us, our love for others must be
more than emotions. It is demonstrated by actions by
helping others in any way we can. This is our motivation
for trying to be "good" people. It is not that we are afraid
of God or feel we must obey a strict code of conduct.
(Although to be honest, some Christians themselves have
this mistaken view.) We realize how much God cares for
us, so we do what we believe is best for ourselves and for
others.
Our love can be demonstrated through everyday actions
like helping someone with homework or listening to their
problems. It could be as simple as taking a hungry tran
sient to dinner or as complicated as providing food for the
millions of malnourished people in the Third World.
Our love also prompts us to tell others of our relation
ship with God. We want others to know the greatness of '
God's love.
Since God meets our ultimate need the need to be
forgiven of our sins and accepted into his family we
ought to try to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual
needs of those around us. Thus, good works are not an at
tempt to obey rules or to work our way into heaven..
Rather, they flow out of an understanding of how much
God has done for us.
The misconceptions that many people have about
Christianity often come from an overemphasis on either '
knowing God's love or responding to it, rather than em
phasizing both in balance.
Some fundamentalists spend so much time talking
about God's grace and Jesus' death on the cross that they
neglect to respond to that love by reaching out to others.
Many churches, on the other hand, have gone to the other
extreme in an attempt to carry out the "social gospel" (the
Christian responsibility to help people in need and pro
mote social justice). They forget that all of us need to
know God's love and forgiveness that was demonstrated
by Jesus' death on the cross. The Christian life, then, is a
life of balance.
Both Christians and non-Christians should examine
their lives. The former to see if they are keeping this
balance. The latter, to accept the gift that God gave us
through Jesus, and respond to that.
Norman Acker is a second-year law student from
Raleigh.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
U.S. first-strike prospect ignored
To the editor:
With all due respect for James Leutze,
chairman of the peace, war, and defense
curriculum, I have to disagree with the
statements he made in the article, "Dr.
Leutze discusses nuclear war" (DTH,
Sept. 1). Whenever I hear talk about the
superiority of the Soviet Union's first
strike capability as compared to the
United States' first strike capability, I try
to look at the issue from the perspective
of a Soviet defense planner. I remember
that the Soviet defense planner thinks all
Americans are baby-eating barbarians.
He thinks President Reagan can't wait to
push the nuclear button and to blow the
Soviet Union off the face of the earth.
Looking at the issue from this perspec
tive, I would be terrified.
Look at the factsJ The Soviet Union
has 75 percent of its nuclear weapons in
underground missile silos, and 25 percent
in bombers and submarines. The United
States has 33 percent of its nuclear
weapons in underground missile silos and
67 percent in bombers, cruise missiles,
and submarines. (I don't want to get into
the argument in this article, but I could
contend that our bombers, cruise missiles
and submarines are better than the Soviet
Union's.)
If the Soviet Union fires first with its
missiles, they could wipe out a lot of our
missiles and some of our bombers and
bomber-launched cruise missiles, but they
would get virtually none of our ship
launched cruise missiles and even less of
our submarine-launched Polaris missiles.
We would be left with most of our
people-killing nuclear weapons. Our un
derground missiles are aimed at Soviet
missiles, so if they are wiped out by Soviet
missiles our only problem is the fall-out,
because the Soviet missiles just knocked
themselves out. Meanwhile, the Soviet
Union is left with vastly outnumbered
(and probably outclassed) people-killing
weapons.
Now, what Leutze and American de
fense experts never mention, is what hap
pens if the United States fires first? We
always assume the Russians are baby
eating barbarians, but what if you are a
Russian thinking all Americans are baby
eating barbarians? For what it is worth,
the Soviet Union recently declared it
would never fire first; the United States
has never made such a declaration.
' If the United States fires first, we will
wipe out 75 percent of the Soviet arsenal
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before it has a chance to leave its silos.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union would be .
wallowing in a nuclear fall-out quagmire
instead of us. Meanwhile, the Soviet
Union will be left with a vastly outnum
bered people-killing nuclear arsenal.
The point is: if the United States fires
first, we actually could destroy the Soviet
Union, while the Soviet Union would get
in a few hits. If the Soviet Union fires
first, they might come out with a draw.
"Ask Leutze, President Reagan or any
American general if they would trade for
the Soviet nuclear arsenal, and then ask a
few higher-ups in the Soviet Union if they
would trade for ours.
v.. Richard Oldrieve
625 Craige
Crossing guard necessary
To, the editor:
I found Alan T. Mather's letter "No
crossing guards" (DTH, Sept. 2) to be of
adolescent level. Mather protested imple
mentation of a law byjlacement of a
public safety officer at the NCNB
Carolina Coffee Shop crosswalk. The al
ready present stoplight is necessary, but
of no avail if not repected.
Mather spoke of a "right on red" ap
plication for crosswalkers which would
allow crossers to disregard a "Don't
Walk" signal when no traveling cars are
proximal. By observation of the large
volume of violators, one would think that
such an alteration was presently legal. But
such modification is not legal and should
not be, for reasons of further violation by
the many irresponsible students presently
attending this University.
I don't think that may students realize
the serious complications of an automobile-pedestrian
collision. Practically
no pedestrian or driver wants to incur the
devastating legal, financial or emotional
consequences of such an accident. There
fore, to prevent or at least reduce the
chances of additional avoidable occur
rances, the law must be enforced by a
costly public safety officer. This would
not be necessary if all would comply.
It's too bad that so many students ex
hibit adolescent and selfish attitudes
when it comes to common responsibilities
as a law-abiding citizen. Which goes to
say: if you act "elementary," you should
be treated "elementary."
Mark E. Allen
Chapel Hill
PLO real 'monster'
To the editor:
I was appalled by the ridiculous des
cription, written by Jason E. Dowdle,
"Israel at fault" (DTH, Sept. 7), of the
effort by Israel to secure its' land and the
lives of its' people against the PLO.
These judgements exhibit a total lack of
knowledge of the history of this subject.
Thank you, Rita S. Wolfgang, "Jews
just want a home," (DTH, Sept. 9) for
informing readers of the real monster in
history. Perhaps this accurate description
of PLO dealings with not only Israelis,
but Jews all over Europe, will make those
who feel they are capable of judging the
actions of Israel, more careful in the
future.
David Leff
Chapel Hill
D
id they use sheepskina?
By MIKE SHARSKY
It recently came to my attention that I do not have
enough credits to graduate. I am not sure what this
means. Whenever I ask what a credit is, I learn about
three dozen other items, which I am told are intimately
connected with the acquisition of credits.
However, I am satisfied that no one knows exactly what
is being acquired, except that it is necessary to get a
"diploma". According to my dictionary, a "diploma" is
a Greek letter folded double. The Greeks initiated the
customa of the diploma so that what they wrote would
not be visible to prying eyes. This was before the Chinese
invented gumma to sticka the letta togetha.
However, the Italians, "known as the Romans, im
proved this system further by inventing the envelopa, into
which' the diploma could be inserted without gumma
that went onto the envelopa which kept the diploma
cleana. Then the U.S. Postal Service, with a stab at effi
ciency, came up with the pigeon hola or sorting
envelopes. It turned out that the average diploma was
larger than a holed pigeon, so letters had to be folded
three or even four times to fit the smalla envelopas.
Triloma and quadloma sound rather clumsy, so "letta"
was adopted, eventually becoming "letter."
Diploma was honorably discharged from linguistic ser
vice and retired to its present usage. Old and a little senile,
the word went astray, and became attached to a document
that is never, ever found in the folded-double state. But
this document is very valuable to one's career. What you
do is hang it on the wall in your den, then tell prospective
employers, "Yes, I have a diploma. It is hanging on the
wall in my den, like a diploma should." For some reason,
no one ever questions your honesty about that hanging
diploma. They never stop the interview to say, "Please go '
home, young man, and come back next week with your
diploma. You may fold it double if it is convenient. Good
day."
Every senior has dug through a zillion credits, flinging
them behind like dirt out of a tunnel. But at the end of the
tunnel are a few especially tough credits, blocking a final
escape. They are always "requirements," a sort of essen
tial credit. Somewhere in university lore sits a thin figure
in steel rim spectacles, leaning back in a wooden recliner,
fingers tented, staring down his long cruel nose and
whispering, "Zere are certain re - QUIREmentssss "
I am trying to pass French. Why must a writer of
English humor, or rather humor written in English, learn
another language? My only use for French would be if I
fell into Paris one day. And if that happens, imagine try
ing to get by on two plodding semesters of French credits.
I would never be so rude as to expect a Parisian to stand
by while I go over conjugations.
am trying to pass French. Why -must
a writer of English humor
learn another language? My only
use for French would be if I fell into
Paris one day. And if that happens,
I would never be so rude as to
expect a Parisian to stand by while I
go over conjugations.
If I had to pick a language, I think Chinese or Eskimo
would do. It would be so strange that I would feel like a
child again, and, of course, children pick up a language so
much easier.
My other problem is a "major requirement." This is a
sort of super essential credit. English has sub
requirements; I must select credits from within credit
groups. Thus, we. have your sub-super essential credit.
(These groups, by the by, do not have any theme or cohe
sion; I cannot see why a credit is in one group and not
another; they are apparently ordered through the process
of random cruelty.)
I am confounded by a course in 19th century English
novels. These books are massive, ponderous; they possess
individual fields of gravity. This credit requires: Moll
Flanders, Tom Jones, Vanity Fair, Humphry Clinker,
The Mill On The Floss, Emma, Dombey and Son, and
Jane Eyre, which I lent out, but I know has 38 chapters.
Excluding Jane Eyre, and what the hell, why not, the
grand total is 3,985 pages. After several hundred pages,
everything runs together. To demonstrate this, I present a
paragraph composed of a single sentence from each book,
excepting only Jane Eyre, and what the hell, why not.
"Respecting the chief of the Southdown family,
Clement William, fourth Earl of Southdown, little need
be told, except that his Lordship came into Parliament (as
Lord Wolsey) under the auspices of Mr. Wilberforce, and
for a time was a credit to his political sponsor, and
decidedly a serious young man. He was not an ill
tempered man, not so often unreasonably cross as to
deserve such a reproach; but his temper was not his great
perfection; and, indeed, with such a worshipping wife, it
was hardly possible that any natural defects in it should
not be increased. Scenes like this, when painted at large,
afford, as we have observed, very little entertainment to
the reader. Things were now come to a lamentable height.
It is doubtful whether our soldiers would be maintained if
there were not pacific people at home who like to fancy
themselves soldiers. All this time, uncle sat boiling with
impatience, biting his fingers, throwing up his eyes, and
muttering ejaculations; at length he burst into a kind of
convulsive laugh,, after which he hummed a song; and
when the hurricane was over, exclaimed 'Blessed be God
for all things!' It seemed as if the bosom would burst with
the emotions stirring within it."
Well, try to sort that out. You'll see why I despair when
an exam demands that I compare and contrast this and
that from one and another endless novel. The clever stu
dent can write a paper that needs only minor adjustment
to make it acceptable for any of these books. But all I see
in my mind at exam time is 3,985, in big, block numerals.
Mike Sharsky is a senior English major from
Greensboro. .