Eddie Ricard

Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize last week and sparked headline news broadcasts to spend several days debating the event. The controversy was over whether Gore deserves the Nobel Peace Prize at all. On the days that preceded the announcement, opponents of Al Gore said that he hadn’t done anything to deserve such a highly esteemed award. Once he did win however, opponents said that Al Gore should give it back because the award was tainted by a terrorist (referring to Yasser Arafat’s winning of the award in 1994). I find it interesting that no matter what the outcome had been, people who don’t like Al Gore and namely his crusade against global warming will turn to any means to taint his image and his cause.
I personally don’t find Al Gore to be that bad of a guy. Although he’s a little reserved at times, I find a lot of value in what he has managed to bring to the forefront of the media in terms of global warming and the environment. What I don’t understand is why people get so bent out of shape about global warming. Critics say that the theory is wrong and exaggerated, but if you watch how mad these people get over a movement to better our planet’s environment, you would think there were ulterior motives for their contest of the issue. Even if global warming isn’t as eminent a threat as we think, what is so bad about limiting the amounts of pollutants and waste we throw into the air everyday. I do not entirely discredit alternative scenarios to global warming such as the Earth is warming naturally and will eventually throw us into the next Ice Age in a few hundred years. But, natural or not, the fact that our pollutants are in any way contributing to global warming (debatable as to what degree) is enough cause for action. It’s not like all the gases we have been pumping into the air for years have ever been considered “good” for the environment anyway. In the end it comes down to dollars, and unfortunately saving the world is a bit pricey for the American taxpayer. Well, at least when it’s the environment, going to war is entirely different. I apologize for the confusion.

Melissa Nacy – Music Man

 

You know that little arch at East U & South U between West Hall & Shapiro? Well, I’m walking through that little courtyard yesterday, upset at my professor for being unnecessarily harsh, at life for Grandma’s skin cancer coming back, at Grandma for blowing off doctor appointments, at Dad for telling me the news in the midst of a bad day and at my roomies for scheduling a dinner outing in the middle of English when, in true Ann Arbor style, a man sitting on a garden ledge catches my attention with the music of his harmonica. A white piece of paper leans up against the wall. I continue on.

With a second glance, I strain to read the message: “There is no time like the present.” No, wait, that’s not right. What’s it say? “There is no time like the pleasant.”

Well, duh. Thanks.

However, as I walk away, a smile crosses my face. I wonder if that man is out today to make a difference. If so, how does he know if he succeeded or not? Does he need to know? Does he care to know?

I always liked the quote “There is no time like the present.” As Jefferson said, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” We have to make the most of our time, of our lives. We have to make a decision to be driven, to get things done, to go after what we want. Can’t we apply the same to “the pleasant”? Can we decide to make a time a happy time? I do believe we can on a small scale, such as making a class enjoyable or being in a goofy mood to ensure a good time with friends. We can decide to make a dreadful family picnic a good time just by deciding to be in an upbeat, funny, easy-going mood. Can’t we then, make time pleasant on a larger scale?  We can make those small-scale decisions over and over again or simply set our minds to achieve a larger picture, a happy period in life. I could decide I hate college and Ann Arbor, I miss home, I’m not having fun, I don’t fit in, I made a bad decision – or I can decide that I’m going to make the best of this. I think that by choosing our mindset and being optimistic or pessimistic we can determine how we feel about things, events, places and people.

Perhaps Grandma doesn’t share her health problems with the family because she doesn’t want to interrupt or destroy “pleasant time.” And again, I prove to myself, with Grandma’s sickness and a music man’s inspiration, that it’s not worth it to be upset over a professor in a bad mood or a missed appointment – life has larger meaning than that.

“There is no time like the pleasant.” On the surface, it has obvious meaning. But what does it mean? It can be taken in a million different directions.

Just a thought I had yesterday.