OPINION
7B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
>> COMMENTARY
College date reveals 'criminal' activity
"Matt, we gotta go," my date said to me. Outside of the club, I had just learned that he saw someone, who, in his words, "fucked him over."
He told me that he had to take care of something. He got out his phone and dialed.
Then one of the most awkward moments of my life began.
"You got to do me a huge favor," he said into the phone. "You know what I'm talking about...You remember, that Doug guy?...No, don't call me afterward, just send me a picture...Oh shit, there he is...purple Honda, plate number...You got his car? Good, now follow it until he gets home..." and the conversation trailed off into my misery.
My date hung up the phone. "Did you just put a hit out on someone?," I asked, afraid I might be next. He just smirked. I started to freak out a lad, and asked him again. "No one's going to die, Matt," he answered. "But let's just say he won't be walking at graduation. Crutches, maybe, but definitely not walking."
After that night, I couldn't see the harm in being asexual. I would rather try to be attracted to no one than him.
I don't want to think that this is what casual dating had become. On our third date, he was comfortable enough to threaten another human's life in my presence. Granted, I don't really know that anything illegal or violent actually happened, but I didn't want to think what was in store if we actually made it a month.
I am not starved for attention or romance enough to feel the need to impress someone by conjuring a "hit" at the touch of a button, feeling polite and taking care of your mafia-esque business in your own free time is all I need to be impressed.
After contemplating the asexual thing for a good 15 minutes, I folded. As horrible as dating can be, the end result in some cases can be worth it.
Sure, there will be dates who are constantly late, call you by the wrong name and kiss like there's no tomorrow (and your tongue is the key to their survival).
There will also be the dates who smile every time you look at them, still open doors for you and notice things about you that you didn't even notice yourself.
At the end of my I-could-have just become-an-accessory-to-battery evening, my date said he would keep in touch. I smirked, just as he had earlier that night, knowing that it was probably the last time I would see him.
I put myself out there, resulting in the worst date at this point in my life, and that's all I can do until I find a relationship that doesn't involve me being a potential witness to a crime.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta junior in journalism.
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
Tyler Doehring
COMMENTARY
Students suffer under health insurance costs
I'll be surprised if I make it to 45 years old. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who suffers from a thing called insurance. I get sick a lot and not having insurance is not an option for me.
It all started when I went into the "real" world and got a job. I was covered by BlueCross BlueShield within a month. It was nice until I found out that I needed to have surgery. I was pretty lucky because I was insured at the time, and they helped cover my surgery.
After I lost my job and decided to go back to school, the trouble began. Not at first, though, because I wasn't yet 25. But last December I turned 25, and realized I no longer qualified for my parents' insurance and had to find my own.
My dad and I decided to try BlueCross BlueShield again because they had a student-specific insurance plan. They reviewed my application and after seeing I'd had one minor surgery, which I had completely recovered from, I was charged an extra $150 from the original plan's cost.
When I had a full-time job, I could barely afford their rates. Now as a full-time student with a part-time job, there is no way I can afford it.
So we found a different provider, United Healthcare.
They had a student option as well, and it cost much less. The only qualification was you that needed to be a college student enrolled in at least nine hours, which I was.
So I applied, got accepted and paid for the coverage. Then I got sick.
I got sick with a viral infection in February. Then I suffered from a migraine, and I had to get a check-up for the previous migraine. But I also had a yearly visit to my dermatologist, which is
not covered under the plan.
United was alarmed by all this and sent me a five-page letter requesting a lot of information. Because the visit to the dermatologist was denied, it seemed they got suspicious and wanted me to verify I was indeed a student.
It made no sense to me that they'd accepted my application and my money, and then wanted verification that I was a student. So now I have to go to the University of Kansas registrar's office and get someone to sign it, verifying I'm a student and send it back to United.
United is trying to get information that could prove that I've had or still have other insurance just so they don't have to pay for my doctors' visits. They are trying to disprove that I'm a student so they don't have to cover me.
Isn't that backwards? Shouldn't health care companies want to give Americans better health and care? Shouldn't we feel safer now that we have insurance coverage? But instead, I fear the day I cross a street and get hit by a car. I fear
every time I turn on my blow dryer or the leak in our basement that threatens to collapse the entire house.
But worse of all, I fear some lengthy illness like cancer, any form of cancer. It seems the longer the disease and the more the treatments, the less the insurance companies want to cover you.
I know a lot of students face this and will continue to face this when they get out in the work force. I wish I could offer some solutions like a unified health care system for everyone, but that just doesn't seem feasible. The insurance companies have gained too much power to be brought back down to Earth. My only suggestion would be to fly across the world in order to get the specialized treatment or go to Canada and wait in line. Hey, it's better than having to sign your life away for one simple surgery.
Earles is an Olathe senior in journalism.
》 GUEST COMMENTARY
Withdrawal from war not remedy for foreign policy
Incurring a precipitous or phased withdrawal is not a way to correct a foreign policy decision made five years ago. Leaving would not erase our presence in Iraq. We are connected with it now whether we like it or not. There are no take-backs in foreign policy.
No war is scripted. It is true; there existed a large amount of hubris with the initial expectations of post-invasion Iraq with regard to how easy it would be to redesign Iraq's civil polity. Policy makers did not appreciate the complexity of the task and what would be unleashed with the removal of Saddam Hussein. However, now, the ship has been righted with the current strategy and we are progressing in the right direction with the right policies. Abandoning the advances achieved would dishonor the Iraqis and Americans who have pledged
The proponents of withdrawal seem to forget that an evacuation from Iraq would, most likely, doom it to a lack of civil order and would only increase the negative opinion of U.S. foreign policy domestically and abroad. Anti-war activists exalt the anti-U.S. foreign opinion as an exemplar of the necessity for a withdrawal from Iraq. They fail to understand that a withdrawal would only engender even greater anti-U.S. opinion as a country which does not stand by the consequences of its actions and takes responsibility for them. It is necessary and right to stick to General Petreaus' current strategy and the advances made in the past year and to continue in its direction to ensure civil order for their future.
and given their lives to achieve a secure and stable future for Iraq.
in 2007, I witnessed many conflicting images of triumph and defeat. Most importantly, I witnessed many Iraqis pledging and risking everything they had, including their lives, working with Americans to improve their society and build a better future. It did not always go well and there were many hurdles, but progress was made, significant progress. Therein lays the ingredients for success; for, in liberal societies, the structure of society is reinforced through the daily actions of countless numbers of citizens. This is where success lays in Iraq and withdrawal would abandon the gains accomplished and dishonor those Americans and Iraqis.
As a reservist who served in Iraq
Karl Rubis Doctoral student in history
@KANSAN.COM
What do you think?
America has been at war with Iraq for five years and lost 3,989 troops.
Time to withdraw?
Do we have a duty to stay?
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