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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- (
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|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?']
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Abortion: Responses to letter ignite fiery emotion!
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[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
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brother wl
the boat.
The bo;
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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
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This ■
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