Stop And Think RACHEL GREENBERG SPECIAL To THE JEWISH NEWS cally want to find out for themselves. Stop and think. This is some- thing that should be done with someone you love and care about. It should I 1:1 ‘1111411:1:::::1: take place somewhere romantic — not in the back seat of your mother's car. I may sound like a mother myself, but I have seen too many friends get hurt by lovers who don't call the next morning. When it comes to ex in the '90s. sex, the most important thing This is a topic that to remember is: Set your own most parents take rules. Don't let anyone force you too seriously and most teen- to do what you don't want to do. agers take too lightly. In their And when you want to do it — stringency, parents do not want be careful. to confront their children to find Teachers in most schools out if they are having sex. They teach their students about dif- believe that if they don't think ferent sexually transmitted dis- about it, then it won't happen. eases, teen-age pregnancy and Wrong. Sex is a very common contraceptives. This is great, but activity among teen-agers today. students aren't listening. It is happening among middle- They're experimenting. school and high-school students. The worst part is that parents In past generations, dates usu- are not enforcing the lessons ally ended with a kiss goodbye. taught in school. Parents do not Now, a kiss leads to sex. have to teach abstinence; they Some of you might think that don't have to hand out condoms; I sound extreme, but I'm only but, they should teach the being realistic. I graduated from meaning of making love and high school last year, so all my when it is appropriate. information is up-to-date. I dis- Many students are not using tinctly remember a friend of protection because they are too mine crying to me because her embarrassed to buy it or ask boyfriend had just broken up their parents for help. If you are with her. I tried to tell her that too embarrassed to use protec- she would have many more tion or ask your partner to, then boyfriends. Then she threw you are too immature to be hav- some dramatic news at me. She ing sex. had lost her virginity to this boy This is what parents should a week before. She was only a be emphasizing. freshman. Sex is taken too capriciously I was in shock. What was a these days. I am afraid that chil- freshman in high school doing dren and teen-agers will not un- having sex? Especially with a derstand the seriousness about boy she had only been dating for sex until it is too late. "Too late" a short time? This story soon is when pregnancy occurs or the started repeating itself among blood test comes back HIV-pos- many underclassmen and fel- itive. low high-school seniors I knew. To parents, I say: Please talk In the last eight years, AIDS to your children. And to my has become a serious issue peers, I say: Think before you among teen-agers, but the rate have sex because the result of teen-age sexual activity has could be far from pleasur- increased. Peer pressure is a able. ❑ heavy factor. Friends tell each Rachel Greenberg has finished her other that it was the most won- freshman year at Oakland Com- derful thing that ever happened munity College where she is to them. Teen-agers who haven't studying law enforcement. experienced sex yet automati- ot .1 'SHIM: in. t • .114 'WO ll •11111111111 1 1111111t41.1 ak1., t 11 ■•■ 111 o , , 1111 III" 11 It AI • 1 111111 • tI• ■ '11111 , 1111 ■ 1 , 1.. 1 1 , 1•11111 , 1t1. , 11 1, 11 • 1,1111.11 , H..it 1,11 1011.1.. 1 1,1, W 11 , 11 to.* •1/1 , ■ •• Finding Our Overleniti 1 n late February, Dr. Baruch Goldstein en- tered the Tomb of the Pa- tnarchs in Hebron and brutally murdered more than 40 Mus- lims at prayer. This incident and its implications for the Middle East peace process were plas- tered on the front pages of news- papers everywhere. As a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, I want to make Jew- ish News readers aware of the responses from two Jewish stu- dent groups on campus. First, let me make it clear that I believe the Hebron mas- sacre was exactly that: a mas- sacre. It was a slaughtering of innocent people at a most cru- cial time in Israel's history. I ac- knowledge and condemn it like every thinking and feeling Jew should. Dr. Goldstein commit- ted a horrendous act that, sad- ly, had the power to make the world again question its judg- ment about the Jews. There was no silence — and rightly so. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, along with nu- merous Israeli public officials and Jewish leaders internationally, expressed their deepest condo- lences to Yassir Arafat and the Muslim people. To do so was a personal choice and profession- al obligation to other members of the Jewish community. University of Michigan stu- dents responded, as well. The Islamic Circle and the Arab tral campus and distributed fliers. Segments of the flier read: "The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip are the un- derlying causes of the Hebron Massacre. We, as Jews and Zion- ists, take responsibility for vio- lence committed in our name..." A few days later, the Univer- sity Hillel ran an ad in the Michigan Daily expressing con- dolences to the families of the victims. The advertisements cost upwards of $550 and Hillel members asked Jewish stu- dents to contribute money for payment of the ad. Eliot Goldstein, a PZC cochair who helped write and distribute the fliers, feels that "you can be both a strong believer in the State of Israel as well as in jus- the Palestinian position on cam- tice for the Palestinian people. pus nor anywhere else, I un- These views are generally shared by PZC members." derstand and expect it. Darone Ruskay, a Hillel The Palestinian students used the incident to their best board member who helped write advantage. They mobilized the advertisement, said, "After worldwide political sympathy in the massacre, I felt badly for their favor. This was a smart those who lost family ... I didn't move. The Arabs on campus did want the already-tense rela- what they needed to do for their tionships between the Arab and Jewish (student) communities cause. It is, in fact, the Jewish stu- to get worse." In fact, after Ma'ariv (evening dent organizations' responses services) that Friday at the Hil- I feel the need to address. The Progressive Zionist Cau- lel house, Mr. Ruskay an- cus (PZC) is a Jewish student or- nounced to the congregation: ganization on college campuses "Although I am upset that they throughout the United States are holding the vigil on Shab- and Israel. After the massacre, bat, I encourage everyone to go. the PZC posted a banner on cen- I must warn you, there will be American Student Association held a midnight candlelight vig- il one week after the incident oc- curred. Participants marched from central campus to the Rackham Graduate School building in utter silence. That Friday, they held a public rally condemning Israel and its oc- cupation of the territories. They called for an interna- tional presence there and a re- moval of settlers. These, however, are not the protests to which I am responding. In fact, although I neither agree with I want to make readers aware.