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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1982)
i i S- ri M opinion Reflections on the word ‘love’ With the passing of Valentine’s day, everyone has given at least some thought to the topic of love. Of course, the word love can be de fined any way we please. Love, as in what one thinks of choco late ice cream, a score of zero in tennis or what Brooke Shields has an endless amount of, is probably recognized by most as not really being love. But there is a more subtle distinction between feelings we sometimes call love and the love we intuitively approve of and recognize as being valuable to people and worthy of pursuit. Many mistake feelings of kindness, affection, attraction and tenderness for love. No feeling — however wonderful or sincere — ever constitutes love. All these feelings may be, and usually are, present with love, but none of them qualify as being love. Every type of legitimate love is rooted in what may be called disinterested love. Love, as with the other virtues it pro duces: sincerity, patience, justice, mercy, etc., is not based on our emotions but rather our will. Love is good-willing. It is a commitment of the will to be nevolence regardless of the direct benefit to self or the feelings involved. Love based on feeling is always self- motivated. It is as consistent as the desire or emotion that creates it. When another stronger desire or emotion comes along, the self-serving lover will abandon his previous object of love to pursue one that will satisfy his new desire. This is why so many people “in love” display constant jealousy, usury, dishon esty, impatience and fickleness towards each other. Looking at all the cards, gifts and words that say, “I love you”, may cause some to wonder how many — or how few — of these statements reflect a sincere disinterested love. committment of the will to the good of one’s spouse. When trouble arises there is a willingness to adjust to new circumst ances, make sacrifices, swallow pride and do all the other things we know can be done to save relationships when there is a will. Disinterested love will also establish lasting, sincere friendships. When a friend’s intention proves not to be some form of self-gain, but rather love, the relationship can breathe and grow in an atmosphere of candor and trust. To come full circle, love provides the basis for a beneficial, reasonable self- love. Disinterested love wills one’s own good and the good of others in correct proportion. Fortunately for Valentine’s Day and for us, this type of disinterested love can be demonstrated by the example Valen tine himself gave. Valentine was martyred because of his love for God. Self-motivated love seeks first its own benefit and results in no one’s good. It yields the choice of the will away from the intelligent choice of love and makes the will the slave of whatever emo tion or desire happens to be the strongest at that point in time. This inevitably results in repelling any type of disinterested love relationship with a spouse, friends or God. He put his love for man and God be fore his love for himself , choosing death rather than deny God and man the truth and love they deserve. This same type of love can be the basis for all the love relationships we have. Marriage, for example, is based on a Love will often involve deep emotion and pleasure. But love that depends on the return one gets — instead of a com mittment to love because men ought to be loved — is not true love. Jesus said: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even the wicked love those who lov^ them.” Slouch By Jim Earl ^ ABRAMAM [S n- ( \ |Glen Singt (Fla.) Tods 414 years 1 “Sure, he was a great president, but would he havebeenasl great if he had been named Billy Bob instead of Abraham?'] o; Abortion: Responses to letter ignite fiery emotion! f \ [The theft Editor: This letter is in reply to the first half of Murray Moore’s letter (Feb. 10). For a moment we’ll put aside the case of pre- gnancy due to “just plain of sex.” You know, the girl who slept with her boyf riend (they were “in love“) and he prom ised her he would be careful (but he wasn’t) and she didn’t know what the chances were of her getting pregnant without using any form of birth control (which are pretty high) because there were not sex education classes in her school (a handful of “concerned parents” managed to “keep it in the home") and her parents didn’t tell her (they didn’t really know). She should have found out about this stuff on her own (she did, when it was too late and “dreamboat” said he really didn’t love her). his convictions on anyone. In many cases, abortion may be the Christian thing to do. Bonnie B. Langford ‘84 Editor: What about rape? Mr. Moore, you’re a guy — chances of you getting raped are slim and chances of you getting pregnant are slimmer. While you’re busy of con templating the morality of “killing,” some little girl may be pregnant. What about a ten-year-old kid? She’s not even old enough to fully understand rape, in cest or even sex and yet she’s supposed to allow this fertilized egg in her body to become a baby. Is a rape victim supposed to carry around a reminder of this crime for nine months? I sure would have a tough time not hating that baby. There are probably plenty of miscon strued ideas tied on this legislation but to make abortion illegal will send us back to prohibition days — it will still be done and a lot more lives will be lost because of it. It makes me wonder about these “born again Christians” who are trying to shove their beliefs on people with the right to their own ideals. I don’t know of any Bi ble passages that tell us of Jesus forcing I’m writing in response to Kala Jo Philo’s letter in Monday, February 8th’s edition of The Battalion. I guess some people will never see abortion for what it really is: murder. Scientists agree that human life begins at conception. Let me relate to you the ways this murder is accomplished. I’m not writing this with the intention of making people sick to their stomachs; I only want to wake peo ple up to what abortion really is. T he most popular method of abortion is called suction aspiration. Anesthesia is given to the mother but not the child. A hollowed tube with a razor-sharp edge tip is inserted into the womb and a strong suction tears the baby to pieces, drawing the pieces into a container. Photographs record recognizable parts of tiny human body. Another popular method is saline in jection, in which a concentrated saline solution is injected into the amniotic sac. The baby breathes and swallows the solu tion and dies of salt poisoning, dehydra tion, convulsions and brain hemor rhages. Often, the skin is stripped off by the salt solution. A dead or dying baby is born 24 to 48 hours later. Still another method is hysterotomy, which is like a Caesarean section. Almost all of these babies are born alive. The abdomen and womb are opened by surgery and the infant is lifted out. It moves, breathes and sometimes cries be fore dying or being encouraged to die. Finally, a D&C abortion involves slic ing the child to pieces with a loop-shaped knife. Operating nurses have the job of putting the baby back together outside the womb to make sure an arm or a leg wasn’t left inside the mother. Anyone who could murder their child in such a way deserves no better for her self. I’m sure anyone who has a conscien ce will join me in writing Senators Tower and Bentsen in support of the Right to Life movement. No woman has the right to murder her unborn baby; the baby is not part of the woman’s body, the baby has a body all its own. Abortion is just one more example of the moral decay our society is now under going. If God doesn’t judge America soon, He ought to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. service by taking the time to inform us about legislation that is awaiting debate. I truly fail to see how this makes Kala a “bleeding-heart liberal” or gives her the dubious honor of being compared with Ted Kennedy or the Spartans. As for dear Murray, I must comment him on the fine job he did of putting words in Kala’s mouth. She never said “a human baby should be executed merely because he or she is unwanted” — these are en tirely Murray’s words. Poor Kala never even implied it. Lastly, I detected a note of sarcasm when Murray referred to the University of Texas at Austin as the “noble bastion of free-thinking liberalism.” I sincerely wish our school could be bestowed such an honorable distinction. ant es are noticed in the fetus, an Woodrow W. Coppedge ‘85 Otto F. W. Boneta ‘83 Editor: Editor: Forgive me if I fail to deal with any thing not of international or even nation al importance such as El Salvador or even the “Kermit People.” I just want to ask Murray Moore (Feb. 10) to reread Kala Jo Philo’s letter (Feb. 8). I don’t know whether it is accurate or not, I’ll just have to look it up. Personally, I do find it hard to believe that the target of future legisla tion is the oulawing of contraceptives. But Kala is rightly concerned about legis lation outlawing abortions even in cases where the mother’s life is endangered or in the case of incest or rape. After all, it is not only a woman’s body we are talking about, but in some cases, we are talking about her life. Under such extreme cir cumstances, I cannot see how anyone but the woman concerned could make the decision whether or not to terminate the I am writing in response to the recent letters in The Battalion concerning the issue of abortions. Before taking a stand for or against abortion, one must answer the following question: When does hu man life begin? This is the important question. Does life begin at a set time limit after conception, when physiological occur- at conception.-' I will consider the first two together. If a legislator or ajud; “time” other than conception or which human life begins, what™ base the decision upon? If he/shel upon the passage of time from lion, life’s beginning point willbi mate! If based on physiological cl which are timed differently ft fetus, then life’s beginning will upon the advance of technology sensitivity of humans and their mi to the necessary physical stimulittj ter that an event has occurred Iflife is based upon normal bi sage through the vaginal canal, (1 becomes of those babies delivers Ceasarean section since some al follows this method? And then the kicks a mother feels deliver non-human? The preceding answers haveeii questionable of basing or else lit my inner feelings of what is I therefore, life must begin at com If this is the case, shouldn't protect the youngest to the o mans from the feelings and acti others concerning their worthorii ance? T hink about it. Lvinrude 1 hoppers C The If vhich was pm, a part pvered mis |2 by Je brother wl the boat. The bo; |the Braze fighway 2 dock Steve pregnancy. Secondly, Kala is merely guilty of doing our entire University community a Letter: Why pay to be brainwashed? Editor: I was reading about SCON A and the great opportunities given the Russian di plomat to “explain” their behavior in Afghanistan. I would bet that the Russians were happy for this chance to visit Texas and brainwash its youth. At the same time, a Polish diplomat has been refused a visa. I would like to breifly explain my view on Poland. With the determination of the W T est, the problems and sufferings in Po land could be solved quickly. But the West decided the fate of Poland by selling out at Yalta. The Russians have now' the advantage in Western Europe and are rear 1 ' ! 1 * - ' ■ -n? •• > The damage etoiic oy x iiiiei icaii ^npiomat$ (who are no match against the Russians) such as H. Kissinger and many others will be hard to repair. While Polish soldiers were murdered in cold blood and buried at Katyn, the West was quiet (even though the facts were known) and did not feel like offend ing Uncle Joe. Many other people from Poland and other conquered countries were taken to Siberia and never heard from again. ' We can only hope that it is not too late and a solution can be found of how to really deal with Russian expansionism. The West needs to be determined and firm, not naive. I doubt if many would like it if Russia ran the world. One good step would be to cancel visits such as the recent one by a Russian to “explain” their peace-loving intentions in Afghanistan and Poland. What a waste of money: George Raczkowski Assoc. Prof. Mechanical Engineering Hood appointment reason- ciuit; Editor: In response to Mr. Lemmons and Mr. Turcotte’s letter of 15 February, criticiz ing Greg Hood’s appointment as Student Senator, I have an observation. Gentle men, you fail to see the reasoning in Mr. Hood’s appointment, and I fail to see your reasoning. That is because your argument is not supported by reason. Mr. Hood indeed committed a great error in judgement at the SMU football game. He was dismissed from the Uni versity for the remainder of the semester as his punishment. Note: there are no restrictions placed on getting into Stu dent Government upon his return. That punishment has been served. If you dis agree with the severity of the punish ment, that is one stance. If you hold that Mr. Hood should have been banned from Student Government because of the collective whim of a large number of people, that is another stance, and one that I completely despise. That stance is the result of thinking that is not based on Aggie integrity, but is instead based on fear of collective opinion, most times not. My pride in Texas A&M, gentlemean, rests on the integrity of the school as a place of higher education, integrity which places no value on collective whim and great value on a rational system that proceeds with its actions, whether subject to 100 or 100,000 Aggie jokes. The Battalion An orar liso was t? Crime ,000 for Iceives this larrest am pent of t Iresponsib: [one who ! Isons sellii [should co |at775-TI [to reveal t ^Stoppers [anonymit Crime I cash rewa jinformati felony if i [ grand ju identities these cas' This ■ (Week wil on Chan 16 p.m. a; USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference Editor... . .' AngeliqueCopeland Managing Editor JaneG. Brust City Editor Denise Richter Assistant City Editor Diana Sultenfuss Sports Editor Frank L. Christlieb Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff Assistant Focus Editor Nancy Floeck News Editors Gary Barker, Phyllis Henderson, Mary Jo Rummel, Nancy Weatherley Staff Writers Jennifer Carr, Cyndy Davis, Gaye Denley, Sandra Gary, Colette Hutchings, Johna Jo Maurer, Daniel Puckett, Bill Robinson, Denise Sechelski, Laura Williams, Rebeca Zimmermann Cartoonist Scott McCullar Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon J r. Photographers Sumanesh Agrawal, David Fisher, Eileen Manton, Eric Mitchell, Peter Rocha, John Ryan, Colin Valentine Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting news paper operated as a community service to Texas A&M University and Bryan-CoUege Station. Opinions ex pressed in The Battalion are those of the editor or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Texas A&M University administrators orftcafjl hers, or of the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a labomot)’titti for students in reporting, editing and photofmt scs within the Department of CorniminialiofS. " Questions or comments concerning ant fi| matter should he directed to the editor. Letters Policy Letters to the Editor should not exceed 30#* 1 length, and are subject to being cut if they are! I The editorial staff reserves the right to edit W style and length, but will make every cflonioir-| tfie author’s intent. Each letter mustalsobcsignei| the address and phone number of the writer, Columns and guest editorials are also welcor are not subject to the same length constraintsatH] Address all inquiries and correspondence tod The Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas AiHl versity, College Station, TX 77843, or phone|l?| 2611. The Battalion is published daily during Texas* fall and spring semesters, except for holiday anw nation periods. Mail subscriptions are $16.75ptrfl ter, $33.25 per school year and $35 per full year * tising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed McW Building, Texas A&M University, College StaWl 77843. United Press International is entitled exclusd the use for reproduction of all news dispatdiestd | to it. Rights of reproduction of all other matter!* reserved. Second class postage paid at College Stalin 11 77843. the small society by Bricl CPOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oooc>oooooo o oooo o o o \ .QG° L o O o ° O 0 & . s> o fl n i iWocte ouly Frank Knickerbocker First Wing Commander -TMl/46 TH^Y L-^FT T& V //M<£ I NATION WAS PU>T- ©1981 King Features Syndicate, Inc. World rights reserved. 4-1