4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 10, 2002 OP/ED a a~1je Iairbiua guu Iu 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE ((They took matters into their own hands. Now they are searching for the official drink of the Security Council." -U.S. Mission to the United States spokesman Rick Grenell, on United Nations representatives who brought their own mineral water to Middle East Peace talks, as quoted by Reuters. Recent United Nations budget cuts have ended the availability of glasses of ice water at meetings. ~fi~kf CHIP CULLEN GRIND(NG THE Nm S~- ME~AN~ WH.A1 I: AP*.. 'ON"T kM'AEME COME C 4- :3- 6 6 The worst good-bye ever MANISH RAIJI NOTHING CATCHY 40 he importance of symbolic action is not lost on me. I see no particular prob- lem with limited symbol- ism, even if it's destructive. After a particularly bad time in my life, I took some old journals into the woods behind my neighborhood and burned them. To celebrate a trying but ultimately satisfying summer, I purchased a very expensive bottle of whiskey for the sole purpose of smashing it on a sidewalk. I once cut my arm so I could bleed on a farm in a rural village I was working at, as some sort of reminder to come back. These were all symbolic - not to mention ridiculous. Pardon the preten- tiousness, but there were some good things written in those journals; I've more than once wished I could read them again. My money would have been better spent on something I would actually use. And let's face it: Cutting yourself is always dangerous - physically and mentally. Symbolically, though, these things were important to me; they were cleansing and, in the long run, not regrettable. But symbolic actions tend to build up. The danger isn't in one, two, three, four symbolic actions; the danger is in the sum of them all. Before you know it, symbol- ism becomes tradition, tradition becomes habit, habit becomes a problem. The pro- gression is frighteningly easy; the reversal can seem impossible. Worse yet, the line between one sym- bolic action and the next is fairly inconse- quential. An individual action, to com- memorate something good or escape something bad, seems excusable - "man, I totally deserve/need/desire this right now." Only once, it's always only once. Maybe twice; it worked so well the first time. Until suddenly you have no idea when the first time was and can't compre- hend when the last time will be. "The only foundation you have in life is yourself. Don't let it crumble." Flash of brilliance from fading grace: An old friend told me this - soon thereafter, he broke his own advice. The major problem, as I see it, is an unwillingness to over-dramatize yourself or, worse yet, to join that club. Everyone knows someone who knows someone whose dad showed up at their soccer game with a stutter in his step and a disconnect in his speech. Everyone knows someone who knows someone whose mother embarrassed him by obnoxiously hitting on all his friends at graduation. Cue the nervous laughter. Symbolic action is dangerous because it leads to bigger things. A symbolic action is done to show control, to prove that you've "got balls," that you can hang. That maybe, just maybe, if I can hurt myself hard enough, no one else will have the power to. But when the progression from symbolism to tradition to habit to problem starts, the very control that meant so much is lost. Symbolism is wiped out. "I never saw him sober," or "Man, that guy was always on something" becomes your whispered eulogy. It's funny at first, but there is nothing Hemingway about such a life. It's not a romantic lifestyle - it's barely a life at all. Loss of control is the beginning, mid- dle and end of the crumbling of your foun- dation. As soon as that control is lost, the game's over. Do not pass Go, do not col- lect 200 dollars (excuse the cliche). It's over. If symbolic actions define your life, stop. It's easier to stop before the progres- sion has started. If you're worried about over-dramatiz- ing your life, if you're scared to admit that you have in fact joined that club, stop kid- ding yourself. Stop being narcissistic about it as well; stop pretending that you're only damaging yourself. Symbolic actions taken to their debilitating conclusions tear unhealing scars on everyone around you; the real over-dramatization in life lies in assuming that battles are fought only within yourself. There's no nervous laughter in the end. The justice that's served is not poetic, it's neither noble nor pathetic. It's noteven justice. It's just an empty sense of loss - of a railroaded potential, of a light gone out. Jack - We had a deal. Past tense. Daily - Take your place behind me. I'm ready for my spot in the library - I think I've earned it. 4 This is Manish Rayji's last column for the Daily. He can be reached at mrayi@umich.edu. t LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'U' administration correct to take action against 'disgusting' Naked Mite TO THE DAILY: The Daily's editorial concerning the Naked Mile (No thank 'U', 4/9/02) has some valid points. I agree that the Univer- sity should not try to undermine the event through devious advertising and implicit threats. That destroys students' trust. At the same time, there is a deep assumption in this editorial; that is, the Naked Mile should be preserved, endorsed, condoned or whatever word you might want to use. I could not disagree more. Simply because it is a tradition does not make it right. The University is a body of the state of Michigan and should never allow such blatant violations of state law to occur on its campus. As mentioned in the editorial, run- ning naked is illegal. The University should not try to promote such activities, period. If the University will allow the event to happen, then I agree that it should pro- tect the runners. Let's keep in mind, though, that there are huge numbers of people who turn up to watch this event and there are very few Department of Public Safety officers. It is impossible to effectively patrol all areas of the Mile. The Naked Mile, while a time-honored tradition, is disgusting and I am glad to see our University take a stand. I just wish it would do so openly instead of trying to manipulate students in the process. STEPHEN LUND LSA junior Hanink misrepresented role of Christianity in Middle East conflict TO THE DAILY: Once again the truth has been ignored! The blatant media misrepresentation of Christianity's role in the current conflict in the Middle East has gone too far. Johanna Hanink wrote in Monday's column (Caring about Israel doesn't demand identity politics, 4/8/02) that Pales- happen to be in what was Palestinian con- trolled territory. Does Hanink think that the Jews worshiped in the church where Jesus was born? So you see, the conflict has always been "personal" for the Chris- tians and there is no need for you, Ms. Hanink, or the media to start welcoming Christians to the conflict in Israel as they have always been there. DELIA DUMITRESCU Engineering senior Hanink's column paints inaccurate picture of church occupations To THE DAILY: Johanna Hanink's column, Caring about Israel doesn't demand identity politics, gives readers the impression that the Church of Nativity is under Palestinian occupation, and she seems to have fallen for the false press which says that the priests and nuns are being held hostage by Palestinians. Yet all the reports and eye witness accounts say otherwise. These Palestinians were given refuge by the Latin Patriarch Michel Sabah with the condition that they put down their weapons, which they did, for the Church wanted to protect the Palestinians from the imminent slaughter they would face had they been left to battle Israeli tanks and Apache helicopters. The Church of Nativity has been held hostage by one group alone, and that is the Israeli Army. The IDF has completely sur- rounded the Church, blown out the back wall and reports say that the Israel Defense Forces set the Church ablaze, and executed a man who was trying to put out the fire. Father David Jaeger, spokesman for custo- dians of Catholic sites in the Holy Land strongly condemned the attack as "an act of indescribable barbarity., Perhaps Hanink should reassess which side she supports. SALAH HUSsEINI LSA sophomore Daily letters, articles do not intelligently analyze incomplete perspective. I am not so arrogant as to assume that I have anything resembling a "solution" to the bloodshed, but I can assure all of you that this is not the way to engage in something so modest as a debate on the issue, controversial though it may be. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is wrong, as are many if not most of said government's policies per- taining to the aforementioned occupation. The immorality of the action, however, is comparable to many instances of United States intervention and occupation, both over its long and "democratic" history and even in recent years, most notably our numerous illegal paramilitary inter- ventions in Latin America. It is incumbent upon the Israeli gov- ernment, as the ultimate source of the con- flict, to backtrack in its actions and make the concessions it has promised to the Palestinian Authority, including allowing for the peaceful creation of a Palestinian state, but first and foremost including the withdrawal of its military presence from Palestinian civilian centers. That said, Americans who jump to criticize Israeli military action must pause and reflect upon the hypocrisy of that stance. It is not perfectly analogous to our own government's military operations in Afghanistan and other areas, but it is no stretch of the imagination to sympathize with the motivations and goals of the Israeli government. Furthermore,talthough Palestinian grievances are genuine, they have vilified themselves by repeatedly resorting to bru- tally terrorizing Israel's civilian popula- tion. Yasser Arafat has demonstrated time and again what is either a reluctance or inability to control the radical factions within his country and Israel is, in many ways, backed into a corner. The truth is that both sides must reach a viable compromise and that neither will get everything it wants. However, their stubbornness cannot be condemned out- right; as the often virulent discourse here on campus, halfway round the world, has shown, the issues are complex and there is not necessarily a simple right answer. To a certain extent, each side is at fault and each side has been wronged. The solution to this situation will require understanding and amenability to com- promise far exceeding what University 0