S

eeing 
the 
classic 
call 

me when you get a sec 
text from my stepdad 

Tuesday morning, I knew my 
day was about to get much 
worse. Walking out of East 
Hall to a quiet place to call him 
back felt like a lifetime. I was 
soon informed of a series of 
events that led to my mom in 
the ICU after her salt levels fell 
dangerously low sometime late 
Monday night. She had tremors, 
couldn’t speak and her doctors 
were concerned about possible 
brain damage from the drastic 
change in equilibrium. After 
I hung up the phone with my 
stepdad, uncertain about the 
true gravity of my mother’s 
physical state, all I could think 
about was how lucky I was that 
it was raining and my tears 
would be hidden as I walked 
back to my apartment.

Upon arriving home, I had 

exactly one hour to bawl my eyes 
out, collect myself to continue 
on with my day and make myself 
presentable. All my friends were 
in class, so I was very much alone 
with only thoughts of the worst-
case scenarios. Even worse, I 
felt guilty for feeling sad and 
spending so much time thinking 
about how my mom was doing 
because I had homework to do 
and office hours to attend.

Though my mom will be 

fine and was released from 
the hospital on Monday with 
high hopes for her mental 
capacity after a bit of therapy, 
I can’t help but question my 
instinct to hide emotions and 
attempt to power through my 
classes 
and 
extracurriculars 

like nothing ever happened. 
There is something about the 
college environment and fast-
paced lifestyle of trying to 
succeed in life that seems to be 
incompatible with, well, life.

The activities and classes we 

have to complete to advance 
ourselves into a future career 
hinder our ability to live as 
human beings and experience 
pain in the ways that are 
necessary to carry on with 
the day. How could I continue 
learning 
organic 
chemistry 

and taking care of the cells in 
lab and volunteering if I wasn’t 
capable of taking care of myself 
and my own mental state first? 
I couldn’t; I was dysfunctional 
and my work ethic suffered. 
I should’ve taken the time to 
allow myself to cope with the 
realities of my family life before 
I continued trying to go about 
my school life. However, this is 
easier said than done.

These hindering pains in life 

don’t have to be catastrophic 
either. Seemingly insignificant 

hiccups 
can 
have 
negative 

consequences for our everyday 
lives. I can’t tell you how much 
time I have wasted on being 
upset after getting a point off one 
quiz. Sometimes it takes hours 
for me to truly grasp the fact that 
the one point I lost out of 400 will 
not be likely to hurt my grade. 
But this is the environment we 
live in, one focused on achieving 
and 
striving, 
sometimes 

forgetting about simply living 
and surviving.

We 
walk 
around 
each 

and every day together on 
this campus, each with our 
own problems and thoughts, 
unaware of what the people 
around 
us 
are 
feeling 
or 

experiencing. I doubt any of the 
people I encountered over the 
past week would’ve guessed 
I was struggling internally 
and, in their defense, I tried 
my best to hide any indication 
that 
something 
could 
be 

wrong. As human beings, we 
should 
allow 
ourselves 
to 

break down sometimes, to be 
dysfunctional, even with the 
most mundane of things.

We should allow ourselves to 

experience the pain and stress 
of our lives and not drown 
in responsibility. We should 
actively create an environment 
— not only for ourselves, but 
also for others — where mental 
health and emotional well-
being are just as important as 
the grades and accolades we 
strive to achieve.

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, October 26, 2016

— U.S. Representatives John Conyers, Debbie Dingell, Dan Kildee, 
Brenda Lawrence and Sander Levin in a letter to the U.S. Justice 

Department pushing against the Receivership Transition Advisory 
Board, which could limit the City of Flint’s ability to sue the state.

“

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

At its core, this predominantly 

African-American and high-poverty 

community has been deprived of 
all ability to influence the most 

basic decisions affecting its health 
and safety at enormous human and 

economic cost. ”

No time for troubles

MICHELLE SHENG | CONTACT MICHELLE AT SHENGMI@UMICH.EDU

Policy still matters

MAX RYSZTAK | COLUMN

A

fter a long, hype-filled 
summer prepared us 
for 
the 
showdown 

between Donald Trump and 
Hillary Clinton, we are finally 
done with presidential debates 
for the 2016 election season. 
Unfortunately, these debates, 
if 
anything, 
hurt 

the morale in this 
country and severely 
damaged 
our 

political credibility.

In 
what 
are 

typically 
policy-

intense, 
mature, 

educated discussions 
about the direction 
presidential 
candidates wish to 
take this nation, this 
year’s debates lacked substance 
or 
meaningful 
discussion. 

While in past cycles one-
liners often stole the show, 
the debates themselves were 
usually 
extremely 
detail-

oriented 
and 
professional. 

Mitt Romney and President 
Barack Obama’s 2012 debates 
were 
intense, 
but 
policy-

oriented. 
Their 
discussions 

always 
remained 
civil 
and 

constantly referred to certain 
tax 
percentages, 
specific 

legislation or their differences 
when it came to policy.

Not this year.
Unfortunately, with Trump 

and 
Clinton, 
we 
arguably 

endured 
the 
three 
most 

immature political debates in 
this nation’s history. The two 
candidates attacked each other 
personally. 
Petty 
bickering 

drowned out what little real 
policy was discussed, like when 
Trump referred to Clinton as 
“the devil.” Candidates spoke 
about topics ranging from each 
other’s 
marriage 
fidelity 
to 

Clinton’s email scandal, and it’s 
embarrassing. 

It seems as if both candidates’ 

strategies were to tear each other 
down, to argue against the other, 
instead of running on a positive 

message based on their own 
proposals. This type of rhetoric 
highlights their desperation to 
win for themselves and not for 
the people.

The only positive moment 

from all three debates was 
when 
the 
candidates 
were 

asked to say one 
thing they respected 
about 
the 
other. 

Clinton referred to 
Trump’s 
children, 

symbolizing 
his 

strong 
role 
as 
a 

father. Trump called 
Clinton 
someone 

who can “fight hard” 
and “doesn’t quit.” 
This was one of the 
few times in any of 

the debates when the candidates 
came across as respectful. It 
shows what this country and 
what our politics have the 
potential to be, but sadly, the 
candidates went back to the 
same old tactics the next day. 

Our 
debates 
demonstrate, 

on a larger level, the increasing 
irrelevance 
of 
policy 
in 

politics. When our presidential 
campaigns and debates largely 
focus on personal traits or 
actions, and not on policy, we 
don’t get to hear the candidates 
talk about the real issues. We 
deserve debates in which we 
learn what they actually want to 
do on topics that will affect each 
and every one of us.

When politics aren’t focused 

on policy, it affects all of us down 
to the most grassroots level. 

We are faced with heightened 
tensions in our communities, 
in our classrooms and all over 
campus because all we hear our 
leaders do is attack one another 
on anything but their ideas. I’ve 
seen political differences strain 
relationships on this campus, 
peers judging others for their 
disagreement, students calling 
one another names because they 
think differently. A lot of this is 
fueled by Trump and Clinton’s 
campaigns. They divide us more 
than they unite us, which many 
are failing to recognize.

So where do we go from here?
While it seems too late 

to change the tone of this 
campaign, 
changing 
the 

political discourse starts with 
us, with those involved at the 
grassroots 
level 
of 
politics. 

Having educated discussions 
on policies and ideas, and 
not on candidates, will serve 
those beyond our campus. We 
should seek out conversations 
in which we can learn others’ 
justifications for their opinions. 
Learning how to deal with 
the opinions of the opposition 
in a respectful and informed 
way can quickly spiral into a 
meaningful change of discourse.

For now, we just have to get 

through the next few weeks of 
this election and suffer for only 
a little while longer through 
an embarrassing political cycle 
until we can look forward to 
the next election. Hopefully, 
by then, we will have learned 
from 
our 
collective 
voting 

mistakes this year. Maybe we 
can even become more diverse 
in opinions and more educated 
on 
actual 
solutions. 
And, 

hopefully, we will nominate and 
have the opportunity to vote for 
candidates with real and positive 
proposals for this nation, because 
policy still matters.

MAX

RYSZTAK

LAURA SCHINAGLE

Managing Editor

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

E

arlier 
this 
month, 
a 

Walmart executive gave 
a 
surprising 
campus 

talk. Chief Sustainability Officer 
Kathleen McLaughlin outlined 
how the company is raising 
wages, reexamining relationships 
in its supply chain to limit 
environmental 
degradation 

and working in communities to 
broaden economic opportunity. I 
was impressed, yet while walking 
out of the Ross School of Business, 
I wondered if other businesses — 
like an independent shop on South 
U — could have the opportunity 
to act for environmental, social 
and economic justice. Walmart 
must be an exception, I thought. 
It’s so large and successful that 
it dictates business terms. Its 
success translates into having 
money to spend on new initiatives. 
I felt unconvinced others could, 
or would, follow their lead.

This skepticism was deflating, 

producing a sense that nothing 
can change. It led to another 
feeling that many students and 
adults, particularly those just 
entering the workforce, might 
relate to: In a world with more 
than 7 billion people, there’s little 
one can do to make a net impact.

Bernie 
Sanders’ 
visit 
to 

campus, 
however, 
served 

as 
a 
counterpoint 
to 
this 

way 
of 
thinking. 
Smaller 

businesses alone may not affect 
environmental, 
economic 
or 

social structures, but individuals 
can. Young people have made 
Bernie’s campaign a success 
by 
collectively 
expressing 

principles 
they 
value 
and 

demanding change on issues like 
college affordability.

Economists call what many 

Bernie supporters have done “foot 
voting.” The original idea said 
that individuals with preferences 
for taxes and services move to 
the cities within a region where 

the taxes they pay and services 
they purchase have maximal 
utility for society as a whole. 
One’s location reveals what he or 
she wants and values, and other 
actors in the market see this and 
adjust accordingly.

Critics, like The New York 

Times’ op-ed contributor Mark 
Schmitt, have argued Bernie’s 
campaign displays the limits 
of collective action by young 
people. His supporters shouted 
loudly, but the campaign likely 
accomplished little in the long 
run. Others might conclude the 
issues that young people can affect 
are limited. They can demand 
ethically sourced products, yet 
have little influence on larger 
issues like the minimum wage 
or trade agreements. Business 
students might echo this point, 
arguing 
bottom-line 
analyses 

determine business decisions, not 
aspirations or values.

But the reality is starkly 

different, both on and off campus. 
Many of us already vote with 
our feet every day when making 
routine purchases. For example, 
Espresso Royale serves fair trade 
coffee, in part because many 
students care what goes into their 
cups. A similar story explains 
Chipotle 
serving 
“responsibly 

raised” meat.

Demanding 
products 
that 

are fair to individuals, and to 
the communities that produced 
them, doesn’t have to be a luxury 
either. McDonald’s is removing 
GMOs and antibiotics from its 
foods, largely in response to 
changing consumer awareness 
and preferences. Target has aisles 
of sustainable supplies. As more 
people think about the origin and 
impact of their purchases, what 
originally seemed like small-
scale activism transforms into 
systematic changes: Companies 
like Walmart adapt. Others will 

follow or be forced to follow.

Though purchases are likely 

the most common way students 
vote with their feet, the most 
impactful choice we make may 
be what we do after graduation. 
Thousands of businesses recruit 
University of Michigan graduates 
each year. We’re in demand, 
and in this way, we’re not 
unlike Walmart in that we have 
bargaining power.

Campus 
recruiting 
is 
an 

opportunity 
to 
exhibit 
your 

priorities and influence those of 
large businesses. When sorting 
career opportunities by prestige, 
salary or visibility, also consider 
asking questions that reflect 
your values, like “What is its 
impact on local communities?” or 
“How are employees addressing 
discrimination?” Employers will 
notice which booths are the most 
popular at career fairs and adapt. 
What we do after graduation can 
create a ripple throughout the 
labor market.

But 
small-scale 
activism 

on campus doesn’t have to be 
restricted 
to 
older 
students 

thinking about post-college plans, 
or those with spending money. 
Project Callisto, a sexual assault 
reporting system, offers another 
example of students effecting 
meaningful change. It started 
last year with two schools where 
students 
advocated 
for 
new 

solutions to the sexual violence 
endemic on campuses. Now in 
its second year, it’s working with 
many more universities, receiving 
funding 
from 
Google 
and 

influencing policy in Washington.

As students, we should vote 

with our feet more often, on 
more issues, even after the 
November elections.

Anothony Cozart is a 

graduate student in the 

Ford School of Public Policy. 

Vote with your feet

ANTHONY COZART | OP-ED

I can’t help but 

question my 

instinct to hide 
emotions and 

attempt to power 

through my 

classes.

Caitlin Heenan is a senior opinion 

editor at The Michigan Daily.

CAITLIN HEENAN | OP-ED

Max Rysztak can be reached at 

mrysztak@umich.edu.

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When politics 

aren’t focused on 
policy, it affects all 

of us down 
to the most 

grassroots level.

