‘In her shoes’ event improved campus awareness

My hat goes off to the men who “”walked a mile in her shoes”” the other day. I am so grateful that the UA sponsored an event like this. Having walked home late at night many times, I understand how scary it can be, especially down Tucson’s dimly lit streets; it seems like every shadow is someone waiting to attack you. It’s hard moving from a small town to a big city like Tucson and realizing that the danger is real; your mentality has to change. That is why I am so glad that the UA sponsored this type of event. The best way to keep our campus safe is to educate people about the dangers out there and tell them how to keep themselves safe. I think a lot of times girls, including myself, don’t want to be burdens to anyone so they feel bad about having people go out of their way to walk them home or to their car. I also think that a lot of times we as women believe that we are just being silly and paranoid. I think that this event helps girls to realize that we need to be more assertive in keeping ourselves safe. I think it also helps guys become more aware and sensitive to the dangers that we women face. It also taught men that they can really make a difference and help stop these horrible crimes. I say a job well done to the organizers; the event was a success. Also thanks again to the guys that suffered through a little high heel pain; your sacrifice was appreciated.

Religious fundamentalists of all creeds part of the problem

The letter by Niall O’Connor in Friday’s Arizona Daily Wildcat is nothing but a gratuitous rant and evades the real issue. The real threat is religious fundamentalism. I get irritated be the crap being spewed from Presidents Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, both crazy religious zealots. I also take issue with the same fundamentalist baloney from the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Zacharias Moussaoui and Osama bin Laden. Fundamentalists are really enemies of our creator, since they are obsessed with worldly power and wealth. Their invoking of God is but a very deceptive and equally dangerous facade. The Bible even gives a warning about this.

To put it bluntly, the real problem is not Christians vs. scientists. The real conflicts that should worry everyone are fundamentalists vs. God and fundamentalists vs. humanity.

Organ donors shouldn’t be first to benefit

I am writing in response to David Undis’ Friday letter. Undis proposes that those who elect to become organ donors be the first recipients of organs should they be in need of them. It is true that there is a problem with too few organs available for the number of people waiting for transplants. Many of those people die while still on the waiting list. However, issuing sanctions against those who do not choose to donate is a coercion of a free choice. Organ donation is a gift. Gifts should always be freely given, not coerced or forced upon another. A gift that is demanded is no longer a gift; it becomes an obligation.

If we issue sanctions against non-organ donors by placing donors first on the lists ahead of them, we must then issue sanctions against those who do not donate blood to the Red Cross. Would those of us with blood disorders, have traveled out of the country, or have tattoos be exempt from these sanctions? Or would tattoos and travel be punished as well, since those are elective situations? Who would decide what situations were considered “”admirable”” enough to be exempt?

I believe if you want to make a change in a community, you need to educate and involve the community, not threaten it. At this point in time, Undis, I still have the choice as to what happens to my body. I would appreciate it if other people would keep their emotional rhetoric away from it.

Religious, scientific worldviews mutually exclusive

In what must be the largest and most persistent act of deceit in history, religion has blinded people to the fact that their good lives are solely the result of science. For centuries the secular and heretical thinkers have improved our lives with advances across the board. Living alongside them, the worshippers have been able to simultaneously reap the benefits of science and condemn it as well. Every Christian, indeed every member of any religion, is an absolute hypocrite unless he or she lives in a mud hut in the forest. This is all their world would consist of if not for science.

Year after year, science pushes the limits and makes our lives better. Following suit, the religions quickly alter their own dogmas to allow the benefits of the latest breakthrough while making sure to denounce the rest of science. Later on, when another life-improving advancement is made, they will repeat the entire charade again. At the opposite end of the spectrum it is science, not religion, that is responsible for the advances in human rights we enjoy. The pseudo-equality that all citizens of Western nations now enjoy was not secured (or even advocated) by the priests of the religions.

What the worshippers do not realize is that their material lives and their religious beliefs are mutually exclusive. The logic and reason that creates their cell phones, televisions, automobiles, medicine and everything else lead to answers to the questions of existence that are very different from what they will find in the “”scriptures.”” If people are religious and choose to benefit from science, then so be it. I just hope they know that their lives would be those of savages if they were left to their own devices.