Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, December 8, 1987
EH
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sue Krenek, Editor
Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor
Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor
Amy Couvillon, City Editor
Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels,
News Editors
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor
Editorial Policy
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspaper oper
ated as a community service to Texas A&rM and Bryan-College Sta
tion.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial
board or the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions
of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students
in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Depart
ment of Journalism.
The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during
Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination
periods.
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77843-411 1.
Summit-time blues
After months of touchy negotiations, Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev has arrived in Washington to sign a historic treaty on
intermediate-range missiles.
The treaty has been welcomed, albeit grudgingly, by Euro
pean leaders who fear the loss of nuclear weapons will weaken
the strength of the United States in Western Europe. In the
United States, many oppose the treaty for much the same rea
son. Their concern is legitimate — Soviet conventional forces far
outnumber those of the United States and its allies — but this
should not halt ratification of the treaty.
The United States’ numerical weakness in Europe is a prob
lem that should be addressed. But removing medium-range
missiles from Europe, in light of the huge numbers of missiles
remaining elsewhere, should not cause enough destabilization to
make the conventional gap vital. Those who concentrate on con
ventional weapons may find they’ve been too shortsighted to
recognize the treaty for what it is: a step, although small and im
perfect, in the right direction.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Aesop’s fables hold
lessons for adults
Aesop’s fables
have been part of
the literary tradi
tion of Western
Civilization for
more than 2,000
years. Our daily
speech is full of
references to them
— “sour grapes”
and “a bird in the
hand” — a testi
mony to their last
ing popularity. And we all know the sto
ries of the boy who cried wolf and the
tortise and the hare.
The fables, full of captivating charac
ters, appeal to children. But Aesop was
a shrewd observer of human nature,
and his fables are filled with valuable in
sights into human nature that only an
adult can fully appreciate.
I immediately pounced on the copy
of the fables I found on sale one day. As
I perused it in my spare time, I discov
ered many little-known tales that should
be better-known. Here are a few of
those:
A man owned a spaniel and an ass.
He often played with the dog, and
whenever he dined out, he used to bring
back something to give the dog when it
came and fawned on him. The ass was
jealous, and one day it ran up to its mas
ter and frisked around him. The master
received a kick that made him so angry
that he told his servants to drive the ass
off with blows and tie it to its manger.
Moral: Nature has not endowed us all
with the same powers. There are things
that some of us cannot do.
A fox entered an actor’s house and
rummaged through all his belongings.
Among other things, he found a mask
representing a hobgoblin’s head. He
took it in his paws and said: “What a fine
head! A pity it has no brain in it!”
Moral: Some men of impressive phys
ical appearance are deficient in intellect.
Many of the fables have wide applica
tion to politics and foreign relations as
well as to personal situations.
A wolf that had been made leader of
the other wolves established a law that
each of them should put into a pool ev
erything he caught and share it equally
with all the rest, so that they should not
be driven by hunger to eat one another.
But an ass came forward and said: “Out
of the mind of the wolf has come a noble
thought. But how is it, wolf, that you
yourself laid up in your den the quarry
you took yesterday? Put it in the com
mon store and share it.” This exposure
shamed the wolf into annulling his laws.
Moral: The very men who pretend to
legislate justly do not themselves abide
by the laws which they enact and admin
ister.
When the hares addressed a public
meeting and claimed that all should
have fair shares, the lions answered: “A
good speech, Hairy-Feet, but it lacks
claws and teeth such as we have.”
A snake was trodden on by so many
people that it went and complained to
Zeus. “If you had bitten the first man
who trod on you,” said Zeus, “the next
one would have thought twice about
doing it.”
Moral: Those who stand up to a first
assailant make others afraid of them.
Aesop often discusses how men are
taught by example.
A lion, a donkey, and a fox formed a
partnership and went hunting. When
they had taken a quantity of game .the
lion told the donkey to divide it. The
donkey made three equal parts and
bade the lion choose one — at which the
lion leapt at him in a fury and devoured
him. Then he told the fox to divide it.
The fox put nearly all of it in one pile,
leaving only a few trifles for himself.
The lion asked who taught him to share
things in that way. “What happened to
the donkey?” he answered.
Moral: We learn wisdom by seeing
the misfortunes of others.
A mother crab was telling her son not
to walk sideways or rub his sides against
the wet rock. “All right, mother,” he re
plied. “Since you want to teach me, walk
straight yourself. I’ll watch you and
copy you.”
Moral: Fault-finders ought to walk
straight and live straight before they set
about intruding others.
One winter’s day a farmhand found a
snake frozen stiff with the cold, and
moved by compassion, he picked it up
and put it in his bosom. But with the
warmth its natural instinct returned,
and it gave its benefactor a fatal bite. As
he died he said: “I have got what I de
serve for taking pity on an evil crea
ture.”
Moral: This story shows that even the
greatest kindness cannot change a bad
nature.
A common malaise among us today is
the refusal to take responsibility for our
actions.
A man who was tired after a long
journey threw himself down on the
edge of a well and went to sleep. He was
in imminent danger of tumbling in,
when Fortune appeared and woke him.
“If you had fallen in, my friend,” she
said, “instead of blaming your own im
prudence you would have blamed me.”
Moral: Many people who meet with
misfortune through their own fault put
the blame on the gods.
I close with one of my favorites. I
don’t think it can be said Aesop lacked a
sense of humor.
A man once read to Aesop some silly
stuff that he had written, containing a
lot of boastful talk about himself, and he
was anxious to know what the old man
thought of it. “I hope you don’t think,”
he said, “that I am presumptuous or too
cocksure of my ability.” The man’s
wretched trash made Aesop sick. “I
think you are quite right,” he said, “to
praise yourself. You will never find any
one to do it for you.”
Brian Frederick is a senior history and
Russian major and a columnist for The
Battalion.
Brian
Frederick
Opinion
The trauma of ‘two
I made a major
decision recently. *
I decided to buy
myself a pair of
blue jeans.
A 4 1 -year-old
man should not
take on such a
thing without first
giving it a great
deal of thought,
which I thought I
had done.
First, I asked myself if this was a first
sign of middle-aged craziness.
Men do a lot of strange things when
afflicted by that condition. They quit
their jobs at the bank and go off some
where to become woodcarvers or fishing
guides.
Others leave their wives and buy
themselves sports cars, while still other
have hair transplants, date girls — girls
whose first names end in “i” (Tami,
Debbi, Staci) and wear gold neckchains.
But, I decided, none of that could be
happening to me. I’m not going to quit
my job, I have plenty of hair, and I took
out Tami, Debbi, and Staci (one at a
time) and none worked out. I had un
derdrawers older than all three.
Second, I had to ask myself if I could
fit into a pair of jeans.
I stopped wearing jeans after I grad
uated from high school. I was quite thin
in high school and my jeans fitted me
perfectly.
I am by no means obese now, but I
have noticed my body taking on a dif
ferent and more rounded shape in an
area that may be described as the navel
and surrounding areas.
It’s caused, I thought, by fallen chest
arches.
But don’t they advertise those jeans
with a “skosh more room” for the ma
ture jean-wearer?
I went to the department store and
found the men’s-wear department.
“How may I help you?” the salesman
asked.
“I’d like a pair of jeans,” I replied.
“And what waist size?” said the
salesman, eyebrows raised.
“Thirty-four,” I answered.
“Let’s start at 36 and see where it
takes us,” the salesman suggested.
I couldn’t get the zipper up all the
way on the 36s.
The 38s fit OK in the back, but they
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were still a bit too tight in the front and
gave me the distinct look of being about
three months pregnant.
I even tried on a pair of 40s. I havea
rather small backside. There’s enough ? n g ar
room in the seat of that pair of jeans for
a small company of Chinese soldiers to
bivouac.
“I’m afraid, sir”, said the salesman,
“you have the two-bellies.”
“The two-bellies?”
“Indeed, sir. What happens to some
men who reach middle-age, they do
velop two distinct, shall we say, mid-sec
tions?
“They have one just above their bell)'
button and then another one below it
The two-bellies makes it almost impossr
ble for one to fit snugly or comfortably
in a pair of jeans, even with the extra
‘skosh.’ ”
So, I had only been kidding myself
when I thought I could still fit into
jeans.
I’m a two-belly, and my blue jean dap
are sadly behind me.
“Could I interest you,” the salesman
asked, “in a fabric with more give? Say
polyester?”
God, the ravages of age.
Copyright 1987, Cowles Syndicate
AIT.
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Mail Call
Bike towing is logical
EDITOR:
This letter is in response to Jeff Frank’s letter of Dec. 3
concerning the police department’s “illogical” bike policy.
After talking to Maj. Rick Flores, assistant director for
special services, I decided that the program seems very
logical. The practice of towing bikes was originally started
to let handicapped individuals have easier access to
campus buildings. Next, if there had been a fire, gas leak,
or other disaster, evacuation of the building would have
become more dangerous with bicycles blocking the exits.
Finally, having the bikes park in the bicycle racks simply
makes the campus look better.
Flores said there was ample parking within a few feet
of each bike towed. It is just a matter of the inconvenience,
of not being able to park at the foot of the door.
As far as claiming your bike, describing it can be
enough to reclaim it, although the free registration process
is much easier. Even to have the serial number written
down in your own records would be enough to reclaim it.
What if we just lifted all bicycle parking laws and let
everyone park where he wants to? While we are at it, let us
lift the parking laws for motorcycles and cars. Can you
even begin to imagine?
Darby Tepera ’89
Controversial coverage
EDITOR:
Last Wednesday night, while I was studying in the
library, I noticed paramedics rushing through the hallway
of the fourth floor with a stretcher. As any normal human
being, I was curious to see what had happened, and being
a photographer for the yearbook, I also brought along my
camera. When I arrived where the paramedics were
working, I found out that the injured student had had a
seizure. I still proceeded to take a picture.
In the process, I offended many of the people who
were watching. For those students who I offended, I
apologize. But as a member of the press, I have an
obligation to cover all events that occur on campus,
whether they are controversial or not. As a professional, I
also have an obligation to the public to cover the event in
an ethical manner, and I believe that I did. In the picture,
I made sure not to include the victim’s face and tried to
emphasize the attentiveness of the paramedics.
Again, to all of the people I offended, please accept my
apologies with the understanding that I was acting as a O
journalist covering a story, and not as just another
spectator with a camera.
Phelan M. Ebenhack ’88 1
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff
reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to
maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the
classification, address and telephone number of the writer.
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
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