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Editorial Opinion
It’s the end of the world as we know it!
As many students in the Atlanta
University Center prepare to return home
to their respective cities, the last thing on
their minds is their institutions.
Christmas dinners, Kwanzaa
celebrations and New Year’s Eve all rise
to their annual places in many of their
lives. However, if this year was any
indication of the semester to come, maybe
it is the end of the world as we know it.
Will there be a place to stay in the
dormitories next year?
Will there beenough students returning
in your major to have special classes that
need at least five people in them?
Will the Student Center be open?
Will you get your student loan?
Will you get your refund?
Will there be student publications
throughout the AUC or will it all be
underground?
Will you care?
What is so horrific to me is that many
students do not care and that is allowing
for the “world they created” in the AUC to
become a bitter-sweet memory to tell to
grandchildren who, unfortunately, might
care even less.
Maybe the “end” is needed so that, like
the mystic phoenix, a new world can rise
from the hell of complacency.
Maybe next semester there will be
students who care enough about their
respective schools that they want to do
better and get better.
Maybe students will go to class not just
to talk to “Shanae-Nae” about her clothes
or “E-Dog” about his next party. Instead
they would realize that there is no
knowledge that is not power (yep MK
fans!) and that a powerful people is the
first step to universal empowerment.
Maybe even those who have their own
hidden agendas will see that the only
important one is that which will lead this
chosen generation out of the “cesspool of
civilization” that some of us are forced to
exist in today. They say that if* you want
to reach Nirvana, you have to at least try to
move towards it. If this is what will
happen next semester, let me just say one
thing:
“It’s the end of the world as we know it
The idea of Christmas had always been
pretty obscure in my youngerdays. “Inner
City Christmas’” has never struck me as
the holiday to stay up all night for.
However, thanks to my maturity and my
acceptance of “Inner City Christmas” (due
to the repeated participation in it that I
have beep forced to endure), I now realize
the true message behind Christmas.
Christmas is not about the number or the
quality of gifts, or the fact you get a
vacation., it’s really doesn’t have to be
about religion. It’s about exploiting the
good side of your hetirt in a way that can
make others happy. Once I got the
understanding of this, I became at ease
with the Christmas ora. It was much easier
for me to get up and dig deep into my
Christmas stocking and say to myself,
“So what that this is my daddy’s church
socks which is immune to water”.
As I grasp the true meaning of the
season of perpetual hope, I am able to
kneel down and decorate our tree with
Gold Medal Flour, shredded aluminum
foil, and my grandmother’s century old
bauble without being embarrassed. One
thing I too realized that this man that
keeps eating the cookies and milk that I
leave for Santa Claus is Santa Claus, just
disguised as a crook and that maybe I
shouldn’t light the match and spray Lysol
simultaneously in his face.
People need to recognize the big picture
of the upcoming season. It will make
people much more at ease. At our “Inner
City Christmas’s”, we have taken heed to
this concept and so now, the holiday is
smoother. No one complains when
someone steals something from them and
give it back to them for Christmas. You
know why? Because it’s the thought that
counts.
I encourage all people to give all you can
this Christmas, and not because you know
that you will get something back, but just
because that’s what it’s till about - giving.
As a matter of fact, I encourage everyone
to take part in an inner city Christmas. You
are guaranteed to learn many valuable
morals and also you will inherit the true
meaning of Christmas. It won’t be
necessary to repossess a gift you have
given because they didn’t spend as much
as you did. You wouldn’t have to punish
your children for beating up kids with
better gifts (Instead, they will ask can they
play with it and then run). Everyone can
just be happy and be a family.
It never matters anymore to me that all
we have is turkey tuna, sweet potato Now-
&-Laters, Boston Baked Beans, StoveTop
Ramen. and stolen grape juice from church
communion. I was happy to be with my
family and to be healthy and alive. Gifts
are not what make Christmas. Just have
one “Inner City Christmas” and this will
be evident to you as well.
,..And A Child Shall Cead Them
Panther
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Bah Hum bug! What’s with this whole
Christmas thing anyway? What sense
does it make to treat people with kindess
and respect for one day per year? Why
bother at all? People should either be their
normal nasty selves all year round or revert
back to their infantile state of sublime
general niceness. Have you ever noticed
how happy and nice little children are?
There is a passage somewhere in the Bible
that says that a child shall lead them. My
wish for all of you this holiday season is to
look at the children and watch how they
behave. They don’t care about the color of
a person’s skin or about their sexual
orientation. Kids like other kids because
they're kids. It's just that simple. Don't use
this time of rejoicing in the birth of Christ
to mis represent the feelings of goodwill
and brotherhood that should naturally
exude from each of us on a daily basis.
People always say, "tis the season." For
some it is the season of coldness, loneliness
and despair. While you're nestled all snug
in you bed with visions of sweet potato pie
and stereo systems in your head, take a
moment to think about those people all
snug on some grate in some dark alley with
visions of food and a home in their head.
That's right, wake up, there are people
living in your neighborhood that do not
have an address. For that matter, they
don't have food, jobs, family nor friends.
Christmas morning you wake up to find
that new stereo that you've been hinting to
your parents about all year, while some
people wake up, just greatful to have
survived the frosty night. And while
you’re sitting around a cozy table stuffing
your over priviliged face, a child in your
town is crying from the naughing in his
belly.
Did I depress you? Have I ruined your
Chirstmas spirit? Good! Maybe now
your guilty concious will stir you to take
action. Perhaps you'll trek down to the
local food closet and donate your time.
Hopefully the urge to visit the town
orphange and spend some time Christmas
day with those who don't have wonderful
parents like the ones you say get on your
nerves so much. And if you really listened
to what I've been saying, your feelings of
good will toward man will carry on over
into the new year and wel 1 beyond. I hope
you got the message. At any rate, Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year. Love,
the Irate Student.