TUESDAY, JANUARY 24. 2012
PAGE 5
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
opinion
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Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
It's that time of year when the abnormally tan girls become painfully obvious to spot while trolling around campus.
I've decided that KU calves are not only from the hills, but also from jumping up and down at basketball games.
I get it, you think you are good at everything. Now shut the hell up about it.
These new library printers are literally the most unnecessary thing to grace the KU campus ever.
Finally got this hot guy's number, yet can't focus on anything but all of his spelling mistakes.
curseofthehelenmalior
Helping all my friends with their boyfriends makes me realize how happy I am that I don't have one. No boyfriend, no probs.
You know you're in Lawrence when the only two people dancing at a concert is a girl with a hula hoop and a guy who looks homeless.
Every time I walk through Fraser Hall, it has a different funny smell. Do psychology majors just not bathe or something?
I wonder if you send bad messages enough times if the FFA editor will ban a number...
Editor's note: I never thought of that, actually. Thanks for the idea.
Missed connection: attractive guy walking through tunnel from Union to Spencer Art. Your coffee mug and "Good morning!" made me smile. Hope to see you again.
Fake Jeff Withe totally made real Withe famous.
The reason we bash on frat packs is because we don't believe in buying friends. It's kinda like not believing in prostitution.
Anthro professor dancing out of the room? I think I like this guy.
Something FFA-worthy finally happened to me today! A coked-out hippie wants you to vote for her president. #Wescoeproblems
I went to The Hawk for the first time in my three years at KU...looks like I haven't missed much.
Is it safe to go back to the gym yet? I haven't been back since last week for the fear of being trampled by all the New Year's resolutioners.
Is it a problem that I can name every Digimon and Pokemon, but can't remember the name of my coms professor?
Editor's note: Yes.
Mother Nature has obviously been smoking crack. And I'm so ok with it.
Congrats, everyone on the bus now knows your family issues because you talk so loud on the phone.
There is no way I have enough Xanax to make it through another class like that.
This is the awesome time of the year when we realize that we really don't have to deal with the awful roommate of last semester that we made move. It's so beautiful.
Don't forget Syria: Assad about to crash
INTERNATIONAL
Superstition surrounds 2012; some claim the end of the world is only months away. While I think few people actually believe the world will end this year, for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the year 2012 might indeed be his last.
My geology teacher just said that geology can always be turned into a sexual joke. No.
In mid-March of last year major protests began springing up in Syria, especially in the southern city of Deraa. Since then, thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest.
Just like his father Hafez, Bashar has countered these protests the only way he knows how - with violence. But unlike his father, Bashar has not been able to stile the protesters or quell the uprising. In fact, the opposition to his regime appears to be strengthening, not weakening.
The Free Syrian Army (FSA) announced its formation on July 29, 2011. The group is currently headquartered in Turkey and has filled its ranks with an increasing number of defectors from the Syrian Army. While the FSA is not yet a completely cohesive military organization able to conduct large coordinated
operations, its increasing size and capability could transform it into a formidable opponent to the Assad regime.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
On August 23, 2011, Syrian dissidents announced the creation of the Syrian National Committee (SNC) to coordinate country-wide protests. The SNC is an umbrella organization consisting of many of Assad's political opponents. Another group, the National Coordination Committee (NCC), is a Damascus-based political opposition group also coordinating protests.
So far, these two groups have been unable to unite. The NCC supports dialogue with the Syrian government while the SNC is opposed to it unless talks include a plan to replace the Assad regime.
Protests wave Syrian revolutionary flags during an anti-regime protest in front of the Syrian embassy in Amman, Jordan on Friday. Jan. 20, 2012.
and Jordan; emphatically called for Assad to step down, the region's other countries took their turn to condemn the Syrian government. In November, the Arab League voted to suspend Syria's membership.
After Syria's neighbors; Turkey
Eventually, a small number of Arab League observers were allowed into Syria to document and report on the activity of the protestors and the Assad regime. After their arrival, both the Arab League and the United Nations have reported an increase in the killings of protestors.
If this were 1983, Assad would simply crush the uprising just like his father did. Instead, Bashar has opted to intimidate the opposition. But the Syrian people are no longer scared of the Assad regime.
It's time to start planning for post-Assad Syria. The SNC and NCC must come together and strengthen their relationships with the Free Syrian Army. Nations such as Russia need to offer Bashar and his family a safe location for exile. Syria's neighbors should prepare for the possibility of refugees entering their countries.
President Obama recently met
embargos, against the Syrian government and continue to push the international community to freeze the assets of the regime's top figures.
with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and he again called for Assad to step down and described the violence in Syria as unacceptable. Obama should also encourage Jordan and especially Turkey to facilitate negotiations between the SNC and NCC. The U.S. should develop diplomatic relations with the SNC, NCC, and Free Syrian Army and encourage other nations and the Arab League to do the same. The U.S. should propose more sanctions, especially arms
Assad may have been talking tough in his most recent speech, but it appears his world is beginning to crash down on him. If Bashar al-Assad does see the end of this year, it is unlikely he will do so as the president of Syria.
Jacob Keptar is a junior from Rosalia, Kan.
SOCIETY
A country with no military
Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 after a rugged civil war. It is difficult to even begin to describe how such a change affects a country, but seeing the country today offers a glimpse at how society could operate on a large scale without a military presence.
I studied abroad on a shortterm program over Winter Break in Costa Rica, visiting very different places: city life in San Jose, a cloud forest in Monteverde and a Pacific beach in Manuel Antonio. From all of these areas, it is easy to see how life is different compared to ours in the United States.
It is hard to ignore the positive effects of being part of a society without a military. On a social scale, there's no talk in the city about what their military leaders are up to, what conflict they'll be meddling in next, or a need for anyone to protest for withdrawal from any country. With these avenues absent, there's more room for tackling other issues such as environmentalism, education and other social issues.
Awareness is compatible with action. I clearly saw a society in Costa Rica that cared deeply about those issues that affect
them on a large scale. Recycling was encouraged everywhere. Visitors to our hotel in Arenal were invited to plant a tree, which was something we all did as a group activity. Seeing the diverse wildlife in the cloud forest was inspirational, while hearing our tour guide speak about climate change in the same moment was depressing.
It seems impossible for a similar chain of events like this to happen in the United States. Though no one can predict the future, it's hard to see one without the military, an entity which has guaranteed our citizens' freedom for more than 200 years and counting. It is also difficult to imagine our lives without our constant political elections focused on the issue of wars and military interventions. It would be nice to see one less huge issue on the news airwaves, even though 24/7 news channels
would likely fill this time up with more celebrity gossip or Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck sound-alikes instead of more implicative matters.
Imagining what life would be like is daunting. While some GOP Presidential candidates wish to abolish the Department of Education, surely such a possibility would be nonexistent in a military-less' society. With less attention focused on the military, citizens and politicians alike would focus more attention on issues like education. The United States covers a vast territory, one with a diverse collection of populations and environments. The possibilities of what could be accomplished if the amount of time we spend daily debating on our military ventures simply did not exist are vast.
What would we concern more of our time with if we didn't have a military? Perhaps thinking of this possibility would help us spend our time and thoughts more wisely today.
Brett Salsbury is a senior in English, history of art, and global and international studies from Chaaman.
CAMPUS
CHIRPS BACK
What's the best part about being back on campus?
levoaminoacids
@UDK Opinion There are people here who are just as odd as I am.
campus?
them.
Follow us on twitter @UDK_Opinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish
levoaminoacids
m2marcus
@UDK Opinion The utter disregard for all things decent that occurs about 3 a.m. on a Friday night. And of course basketball. #hawkaholic
amandanelson @UDK_Opinion reading the FFAs. Every. Single. Day.
madison_mears @UDK_Opinion Seeing that girls still think leggings are pants.
from the OP-ED editor's desk
Perfection doesn't equal happiness
Having survived the first week of classes of what will be a chal
of what will be a challenging semester, I find myself thoroughly exhausted, energized for the week to come, and also slightly worried about the mounting pressures as I prepare to tackle another semester.
I am certainly not alone in this feeling as many of you may face difficult classes, graduation, or job searches. There are a lot of you who juggle classes with family or a job. College isn't known for its easy living situations, and I'm sure many of you have had a taste of the unsavory side of communal living. Although college is one of the best times of our lives, it's undoubtedly also one of the most difficult times as some of us grow into adulthood, and some of us juggle adulthood with student life.
And one of the biggest fears that may accompany all our responsibilities is the fear that we may fail at those responsibilities or a fear that our life isn't going to turn out the way we wanted or expected it to turn out.
We all have this exalted idea of perfection whether it's from the model on TV, the top-notch attorney who makes so much money that it's coming out his ears, or that kid on scholarship who can play basketball, juggle and do calculus. We seem to think that being the best, brightest, most ambitious, most talented somehow implies perfection which somehow also implies happiness.
Why, though, do we expect that every second of our life has to be spent in exuberant happiness? Whatever happened to being content with life? Whatever happened to examining our lives to make sure we're doing what makes us happy, not what we think should make us happy and
President Reagan once said during a speech given after the Iran-Contra affair, "You know, by the time you reach my age, you've made plenty of mistakes. And if you've lived life properly - so, you learn."
certainly not what society tells us should make us happy? When did we begin to expect perfection in an imperfect world?
Contentedness in our society has come to have a negative connotation. It is as if a content person is someone who has no ambition or has given up on attaining more from life, but I argue that a content person has the truest form of happiness. Content happiness lasts longer than exuberant happiness. The content person isn't going to look at life as a way to constantly gain possessions, one up his or her neighbor, or be the best at everything.
This isn't to say that contentedness and ambition or desire are mutually exclusive from each other, but contentedness implies knowing your priorities and how to be happy with what you are given.
We are never going to be happy if we fear life and its downsides; we are never going to accomplish anything if we let fear of failure stop us; and we are never going to be happy if we first can't be content.
So, as a student, I don't know what is going to happen to me once I graduate. I don't know what I will be doing in ten or thirty years. Stressing out now about the future will only make the time we're supposed to be spent enjoying our college years miserable.
What I do know, though, is that every day I want to wake and be content with the person I look at in the mirror. After all, the only person you have to live with your entire life is yourself.
Alexis Knutsen is a sophomore in classical languages from Overtand Park.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Ian Cummings
Lia Curran, Alexis Knutsen, Angela Hawkins, Ryan
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