No country for old men
—King Lear
You see me here, you gods, a poor old man,
As full of grief as age; wretched in both!
Swifty pass the seasons of life until only the cold bitter months of winter are left. Youth—it is dead. Its vigor, its hope, its beauty, its passion are no more than memories. Memories of a lost love, of a faithful friend, of a child's laugh, of a mother's tears.
The old man could not sleep. He wanted to sleep. For sleep was the only thing that could take him far away.
The rat watched the old man. Its long pointed tail twitched with impatience for the bowl of sour soup near the old man's foot. Would he never go to sleep?
Far away from the little, dark, $25 a week hotel room, from the always flushing share-all community toilet, from all the petty efforts to make significance of going to the corner drugstore for an egg salad sandwich, or getting the evening paper.
But most of all sleep took him from himself. From that kind of empty loneliness that knew the ringing phone was not for him, that the footsteps would not stop at his door. The haunting loneliness of a million Sunday afternoons in a faceless, nameless, strange city.
Sometime, though—tomorrow, or the next day, or next year (it made no difference)—a siren would tear through the night to answer the phone call of the hotel clerk, who said the
cleaning lady found the old man in 402B—dead.
Thus it is, and thus it must always seem to be. No "Ah Sweet Mystery of Life," but instead the cooing pigeons, the clanging garbage cans, and the sweet refrain of the seven o'clock freight train leaving for Omaha.
A most noble farewell our country pays to many of its "golden" citizens. For only $100 a month, or so, it can hide all the old garbled people from sunlight and life, in crummy hotels, Or in "homes for the aged" where they can sit around and watch each other die.
They need not end their years in such disgrace. If nothing else, they could do what the "brassy" citizens do. They could sniff glue, cause beer riots on the beaches, and have an all-day orgy. Then the nation could get all excited and demand to know what caused such an outburst of venerable delinquency.
But their voices are feeble. Their energy is spent. They are the silent ones—the voice of their indignation should be the conscience of a nation that, at the cost of billions, can hurl an object into endless space.
We need not do more for them than we do for the young, or for those in federal and state penitentiaries. There are fewer of them. They have less time. Their struggle has been long and hard. It would cost but a little effort, but a little time, but a little money to grace their final years with a little dignity.
By JOHN LOVEKIN
The people say...
Should Watkins issue the Pill?
To the editor:
In last Friday's Kansan Dr. Schwegler stated that one of the reasons birth control pills were not given to unwed girls was that the hospital's job "is to watch out for the health of the students and this is not strictly a health matter." If health is the hospital's job and birth control is not a health matter, then the question is simply: "Why should married students be given the pills?"
More than anything else I want to make a satisfactory adjustment, develop meaningful relationships, vote for the candidates
Obviously, the real argument for or against KU's sanctioning the administration of contraceptives by the hospital cannot be founded upon such illogical reasoning. The problem boils down to a moral one, whether the university administrators will admit it or not.
A QUESTION PERTINENT to the problem is this: Who should make the moral decision, the university or the students themselves? If the hospital administers contraceptives to married persons, then they must not feel the moral issue is in the use of contraceptives per se, but in who should use the contraceptives.
Keeping in mind the question we need to resolve (i.e., whether the university or the individual should assume the responsibility for the decision) let us deal briefly with Father Flateisch's arguments against letting the unmarried student make the final decision. Both of these arguments rested upon the assumption that letting the individual make the decision for himself, instead of the university, would lead to more pre-marital sexual intercourse.
He argued for two reasons that such a relationship was wrong. First, he said that pre-marital coitus was "prohibited by God's word." Assuming the chance that Father Flateisch or the Biblical quotes he used to substantiate his belief might just possibly NOT be the beliefs of this Ultimate Being, maybe we better look at his second argument.
THE OTHER REASON premarital sexual intercourse is wrong is that "psychiatrists say it is a form of 'using' the other person as an object." He said that a "total commitment" can only come in marriage. It seems that from this line of reasoning we would need to conclude that the only way one can feel a total commitment toward another person with whom he or she is having intercourse is after someone pronounce them husband and wife. It seems that the commitment about which he speaks can more properly be called "love" and that such a feeling can exist before as well as after marriage.
NEVERTHELESS, as long as
there are people who go around saying that pre-marital sexual intercourse is necessarily a form of usery there will be those who will believe it and feel completely justified in acting in such a way as to make it exactly that. Father Flateisch has a right in this country to say whatever he wishes, including that pre-marital sexual intercourse is necessarily usery; but he should realize that he has no right to expect his followers ever to believe otherwise.
Pre-marital sexual intercourse is a moral issue that must be resolved by the persons involved in a sexual relationship. Regardless of the position one takes concerning the matter the individual himself must make the decision.
IF THE concern over the possibility of pregnancy is the restraining factor in the issue neither Father Flateisch or anyone else should have, in essence, the right to say, "If fear of pregnancy is the only thing we've got to prevent an increase in pre-marital sexual intercourse, then we better not let something eliminate that fear." It seems fair to say that this is exactly what is implied by his saying that making contraceptives available to those who are not married will lead to more pre-marital sexual intercourse.
It's not here being advocated that the university hospital should put on some sort of a campaign for the use of contraceptives by unmarried persons or anything like that, but only that contraceptives should be made available to all those who wish them.
No doubt, a practical concern that the administrators will have to weigh in making a decision in this matter will be pressures from outside the university itself. Those interested in making contraceptives available to all those who wish them could help, therefore, by making known their position to the administration.
Lee Ellis Iola graduate student
2
Daily Kansan
Tuesday, November 8, 1966
DECLARATION!
College students are frequently too busy to keep well informed on the news of the day. So to make it easier for you to stay up to date, and even ahead of date, we have prepared this DECLARATION for you and your friends. (You do show it to your friends, don't you?)
With the formality of another election out of the way, the Great Society can begin tomorrow to start doing again what it has been planning all along. You may already suspect what the Administration has in mind, but, in case you don't, join Pyhrrus and Cineas as we gaze into our crystal ball and look at the major news headlines for the next couple of months. Here is what we see.
MORE TROOPS REQUESTED
SAIGON—General Westmoreland today announced that more U.S. troops would be needed if the South Vietnamese are to remain in control of the political situation. Westmoreland said that additional ground support...
MORE TROOPS TO VIET NAM
JOHNSON CITY, Tex.—President Johnson today announced that additional troops were being sent to Viet Nam in order to help the Government forces retain control of the situation there. The President said that the unforeseen build-up was made necessary by the stepped-up terrorist efforts of the Viet Cong in the...
DRAFT CALL UP
WASHINGTON—Gen. Lewis B. Hershey today announced that draft calls for next month would have to be increased in order to meet the increased manpower needs in Viet Nam. Hershey said that while plans originally called for lower draft calls, the unexpected increase...
RECORD BUDGET REQUESTED
WASHINGTON—President Johnson sent to Congress today a record-breaking budget request which exceeded earlier administration predictions. The request was termed "necessary" due to the increase in costs for the domestic programs and the unforeseen build-up in Viet Nam. The President assured the nation that the budget was non-inflationary...
TAX INCREASE REQUESTED
WASHINGTON—President Johnson called upon Congress today to increase the current tax rate in order to meet increased needs of the war in Viet Nam and also to help dampen the inflationary trends which have recently...
And on the local scene:
MITCHELL CONFIDENT ABOUT NEXT YEAR
LAWRENCE. Kan.-Coach Jack Mitchell of the KU Jayhawkers predicted a stronger team next year. In a news conference following the Jayhawkers' lack-luster season Mitchell said the team had undergone a year of rebuilding and indications were that next year's team...
Until next November we remain.
Pyhrrus and Cineas
KANSAN TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Newsroom—UN 4-364 — Business Office—UN 4-3198
The Daily Kansan, student newspaper at The University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East St. 50 St., New York, N.Y. 10922. Students are required to pay a registration fee and postage paid at Lawrence, Kan.; every afternoon during the University year except Saturdays and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised in the University year are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin.
The opinions expressed in the editorial column are those of the students whose names are signed to them. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the editor's. Any opinions expressed in the Daily Kansan are not necessarily those of The University of Kansas Administration or the State Board of Regents.
EXECUTIVE STAFF
Management Editor manager manager Robert D. Steventh Editorial Manager William G. Walters Jack Harrington, Eric Morgenthalger
NEWS AND BUSINESS STAFF
Assistant Managing Editors Judy Faust, John McCabe,
Barbara Phillips, Steve Russell
City Editor Emary Good Advertising Manager
Feature Editor Nancy Fainter Nat'l Adv. Manager Gayle Scholer
Sports Editor Ron Hansen Promotion Mgr. Robert R. Basow
Nobel Editor Bert Mull Howe
Wire Editor Chester Hutchison Classified Manager Joe Godfrey
Asst. Sports Editor Jerry Klein Mr-chandsing Mgr. Steve Straight
FACULTY ADVISERS: Business; Prof. Mel Adams; News; Malcalm Applegate; Editorial; Prof. Calder Pickett