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Page 5
Volunteer for homeless learns importance of giving
ELIZABETH
PRESTON
Columnist
E ve Koopmann began last year as
a volunteer with Border Links, a
program in Arizona where she
taught English to immigrant Central
American children. She moved to San
Antonio in August with plans to live in
the slums and work for a Catholic
Worker House (CWH). Eve and the
three other volunteers had complete
responsibility for running their own
household, the homeless shelter, a soup
line that operated five days a week and all of the
responsibilities that were a part of maintaining
the operation.
The first few months were very intense and
lonely for her. She often called me in tears,
missing family and friends and unsure that she
could handle the tasks she had promised to take
on. All of the other volunteers, Sandy, Elizabeth
and Kristin, were college graduates. She felt
inexperienced, out of her element and alone. I
hated to hear the sadness and uncertainty in her
voice and I had doubts about her ability to
succeed in that environment. Soon she proved
me, and herself, wrong.
Eve and I grew up together. We met in
prekindergarten and cemented our friendship
during the formative years of elementary school.
We have since lived far apart, but the bonds
formed between runny-nosed school children has
proved impossible to break. She was accepted
into Penn State’s
engineering
program, but
began to think
about taking time
off to do volunteer
work in May of her
senior year in high
school. I was
worried about her
future and I feared
if she left school she would never return. She
discussed and researched the idea and finally
decided that was the path she wanted to take.
The first time she confronted an abusive man
at the shelter she called me, scared but elated at
the same time. She and the other volunteers had
decided to ask the man to leave because of the
way he treated his wife and others. After he left,
she and the volunteers sat up talking and
getting to know each other. The other women
took Eve under their collective wing, and from
that point on she blossomed.
When I went to visit her, I was surprised by
the cleanliness of the CWH. The living room was
bright and cheerful, and the children were
playing peacefully as Eve supervised them. As I
watched Eve in this environment, I realized that
my friend was growing up, and learning things I
would never grasp as a student at Texas A&M.
She handled the children with care, and the
adults listened to her with respect and treated
her as their equal. The volunteers would wake
up at 6 a.m., fix breakfast and take the children
to school. Then they spent the day organizing,
cooking and serving the soup line. After dinner,
the donations and budget had to be calculated,
the residents needed help with their job searches
or homework and someone was always stopping
by to ask for help or food.
Eve would fall into bed exhausted at 1 o’clock
The homeless people were not
dirty, lazy, cruel or dumb. The chil
dren were loved, the parents were
looking for work and everyone
helped out around the house.
in the morning, then begin the whole routine
again five hours later. She and the other workers
were a support system to take care of all of the
traumas that make up everyday life in a
homeless shelter. They received $40 a month and
took one day off a week, if they were lucky.
Eve learned much about herself that year. She
fell in love with a homeless man, searched for
food in garbage dumpsters behind grocery stores
and realized the importance of giving everything
she could to others, while saving time for herself.
The homeless people I met when I visited did
not fit any stereotypes. They were not dirty, lazy,
cruel or dumb. They were regular people with
some large problems that had caught them
unawares. The children were loved, the parents
were looking for work and everyone helped out
around the house. The volunteers all did their
best to give these people a good temporary home,
a way out and help for the future.
Today Eve has just finished her first year at
Pennsylvania State University. She is a
mechanical engineering major with straight A’s
besides a B in chemistry. Her life is now back on
the expected track as planned before her detour.
But sometimes she still calls me to talk about
the people she misses and the letters she has
received from them. She often thinks about the
people she did not get the opportunity to help.
When she comes to Texas, we always drive to
San Antonio and she spends the day in the soup
line helping the new volunteers and
remembering her time there.
There are Catholic Worker Houses across
America, as well as many other shelters, soup
kitchens and volunteer programs. A year seems
like a long time to donate, but Eve swears the
benefits outweigh the costs. The maturity in her
eyes tells me that she’s right.
Elizabeth Preston is a junior English majot
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//
Dittoheads ignore opposing views
Americans should preserve free-thinking independence, consider issues
J. STERLING
HAYMAN
Guest Columnist
L ast month, after taking on a second
job so that I could pay TCA’s cable-
activation fee, the people at their
office failed to mention that their
programming just wasn’t geared towards
night owls like me. After midnight there
just isn’t a damn thing on.
The other night I was sitting on the
couch, flipping through the quality late
night programming. After passing up the
Gilbert Godfrey movie of the week, the
Amazing Discoveries food processor/tooth whitener, and some
militant blonde screaming for me to “Stop the Insanity”
(ironic?), I finally settled down on the Rush Limbaugh show.
Usually I don’t like to watch the show, probably because it
makes me feel out of place. I like my sheets without eyeholes,
and I’m not aware of any swastikas on my body. But perhaps
my main reasoning for avoiding Rush is that I like to think for
myself. This habit of making up my own mind was all I could
think about while the man ranted and raved.
Our society is becoming more and more dependent on the
thoughts and ideas of others. We have increasingly assumed
the role of the follower in the game of “Follow the Leader.”
My assumption seems to be supported by the skyrocketing
popularity of celebrities such as Limbaugh, especially in this
town. I would venture to say that “Ditto” stickers outnumber
the population of College Station.
It is rather disconcerting that so many people can say
nothing else but “ditto” when addressing politics. It’s much
easier than researching, learning about the issues and arriving
at your own conclusion. But is this mass following in the best
interest of our society? Does a “ditto” chant each night before
bed fulfill our duty as citizens of a democracy? Probably not.
I really don’t have a problem with those who agree with
limbaugh. Certainly everyone is entitled to their own views.
The people that bother me are the ones who accept Limbaugh’s
orations as “The Gospel,” without even thinking twice about the
issues. This practice supports conformity, while suppressing
knowledge and independence.
Molly Ivins, an Austin columnist, wrote about one such
naive Limbaugh follower. She overheard the “dittohead’s”
comment at a coffee group in Weatherford, Texas. “Why, I agree
with Rush that racism is dead. I just wonder what the niggers
are going to find to complain about now.”
This example obvious shows a person
who knows nothing about the issue of
racism, yet has accepted Limbaugh’s
suggestion that racism no longer exists.
Any person who studied the issue of
racism, rather than readily accepting the
opinions of another, would definitely
discover that racism is a tremendous
problem that continues to plague our
whole society, not to mention each of us.
Perhaps I’m picking on Limbaugh too much. But the truth of
the matter is that the lack of free thinking can be found
everywhere, among liberals and conservatives. Republicans and
Democrats. Close-mindedness stands out as a reason for so
much straight-party voting in political elections. It is also the
reason our government has such a high rate of incumbency;
people tend to vote for the more familiar name.
We must start focusing on issues rather than the names
of candidates.
Name-recognition voting dominates the upcoming Texas
gubernatorial election, despite the fact that George W. Bush
has virtually no political experience, he trails incumbent Ann
Richards by only eight percentage points. The same holds true
for Oliver North, who admitted to lying to Congress while
under oath and is running a close Senate race in Virginia.
Every citizen has ample information available to make
informed opinions. The media provides us with facts on every
side of any given issue. Yet many people tend to disregard
opposing viewpoints.
We need to halt that practice. Our society works because of
individualism. We don’t have to embrace the same opinion as
everyone else. If we did, we would all be characters in an
Orwell novel.
The next time you hear the almighty Limbaugh preaching
late at night, think about what he’s saying. Much of what he
spews forth is either out of context or just plain wrong.
However, if you agree with him ... that’s great. Just be able to
support your beliefs.
“Ditto” is not the answer to all of the world’s problems. It’s
not even close.
•J. Sterling Hay man is a junior political science major
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Editorial sympathizes
with homosexual agenda'
The June 14 Battalion editorial “Still
Asking, Telling” sympathizes with the
homosexual agenda, not the feelings of
the majority of the military. In a 1991
speech to the U.S. Naval Academy,
4,000 midshipmen gave Defense Secre
tary Richard Cheney a standing ovation
when he defended the ban on homosex
uals. Also, the American Legion and the
National Guard Association are among
the groups that opposed lifting the ban.
Retired Col. David Hackworth, the
most decorated living American veteran,
said he “... cannot think of a better way to
destroy fighting spirit and gut U.S. com
bat effectiveness [than to lift the ban].”
How would you like to shower and bunk
in close quarters with someone of the
same sex that might be attracted to you?
The opinion that opponents of racial
integration in the armed forces used the
same argument as opponents of homosex
ual integration is wrong. Colin Powell ex
plains this misconception. “Skin color is a
benign, non-behavioral characteristic.
Sexual orientation is perhaps the most
profound of human behavioral character-
The Battalion encour
ages letters to the editor
and will print as many as
space allows. Letters
must be 300 words or
less and include the au
thor's name, class, and
phone number.
We reserve the right
to edit letters for length.
style, and accuracy.
Address letters to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
The Battalion
Editorial Board
Mark Evans, Editor in chief
William Harrison, Managing editor
jay Robbins, Opinion Editor
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflert|
the views of the editorial board. They do notf
necessarily reflect the opinions of other’:
Battalion staff members, the Texas A&Mf|
student body, regents, administration, faeui;yj|
or staff.
Columns, guest columns, cartoons a" I
letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for inforrriationr''
on submitting guest columns.
Aggie Wranglers
Dancers help rebuild A&M's public image
This Friday during the halftime show
at the World Cup in Dallas, the Aggie
Wranglers dance team will perform for a
national audience, and hopefully restore
some glitter to Texas A&M’s badly suf
fering public image. Maybe it isn’t a ma
jor coup for Texas A&M’s beleaguered
public image, but it certainly is a two-
step in the right direction.
Sending the Aggie
Wranglers to the World
Cup defines what we
want the world to see
about this university.
With more attention-
getting changes and
shakeups every week,
now is a critical time to
present a confident face.
Most recently, new policies
in reporting suspicious activi
ties at the University resulted
in numerous investigations and
arrests at the end of last semes
ter. Chemistry experiments to
turn lead into gold, the national
story of the “trash-bin baby,”
bad press about rigged stu
dent elections and oth
er exposures of Texas
A&M’s bureaucratic
underbelly have left
us badly in need of
some positive headlines.
Hopefully, the Aggie Wrangler’s per
formance will help bring A&M out of this
miasma of bad press. The Wranglers
have appeared on The Nashville Network
and participated in numerous contests
and activities. They also play a major role
in the cultural education of most Aggies
by offering heavily-attended jitterbug and
country and western dance lessons.
With such a positive track record,
they should serve the University well
as public relations ambassadors.
It will be a nice change to see a
Texas A&M organiza
tion connected to
terms other than
internal audit,
state investiga
tion, or Attor
ney General.
The World Cup
soccer tourna
ment attracts
teams and fans
from all ovei*
the world. Fri
day they will
see some of the
best A&M can
offer. For once
the headlines
won’t announce
scandals among
regents and ad
ministrators, li
brary funding
problems, NCAA
violations or other embarassing news.
When the Aggie Wranglers whirl
their way across the television scre en*
Aggies everywhere will be proud to
say, “Hey, I’m from THAT university.* ,
t£chno- Buto-ier.
istics.” Sexual orientation is so profound
that male rape is a reality.
Military service is NOT a civil right,
rather it is a privilege. People are reject
ed from the military on the basis of
height, size, vision, age, citizenship, low
IQ and health problems. The purpose of
the U.S. military is national defense, not
political correctness.
Heidi Voges
Class of’95