It’s pasted onto bumper stickers, typed across Facebook profiles and inseparable from condolences: Everything happens for a reason.
Whether your boyfriend dumped you, your dream college rejected you, or you get caught in a traffic jam, this expression is the explanation for everything.
Except, it isn’t.
People break up because they aren’t compatible, college select applicants to create a diverse campus and traffic jams always happen. Claiming there’s some greater purpose to daily downfalls in life is as ridiculous it is unhelpful. Often people say this to try to comfort others or cope themselves, but blaming disappointment on external uncontrollable factors shields us from reality and responsibility.
Sometimes these failures have actual causes that must be addressed but labeling them as esoteric occurrences prevents people from considering ways to correct them; maybe someone should have worked harder at a relationship or studied more in school. Conversely, some things, like tsunamis, are senseless and tragic, and attempting to ascribe a greater meaning to them only trivializes the suffering at hand.
Such a silly statement should remain on the bumpers of cars, not in the hearts and minds of reasonable people.

As bombs have begun falling in Libya, the focus seems to be solidly on creating an atmosphere in which a no-fly zone can be enforced. Following a UN resolution, the old boys of NATO and company took to the skies to ensure Qaddafi’s forces can’t. But the mess of destroyed airfields and ruined satellites after these actions pales in comparison to the political shambles that will become even more evident as the dust settles.

While the hope of protecting civilians and rebels from the dictator’s forces is humanitarian, the world community must be cautious in action. To assume western forces can simply sweep in and save the day is naïve. The fighting in Libya is an internal issue and there are no easy exits when other governments get involved. The point of a no-fly zone is to stop fighting, not resolve leadership disputes. The UN would do well to focus on peace, not politics.

A teenage boy was sold into slavery and taken away from his homeland for six years. When he finally escaped he entered a monastery to study the God he had turned to during his captivity. After years of study and work as a priest he returned the land of his captivity to teach the inhabitants about his faith.

St. Patrick spent his long life spreading the Gospel yet Americans spend his feast day doing almost anything but. How did a man who devoted himself to God inspire generations to devote themselves to the bottle? The traditions of pinches, kisses and green beer are often fun, but a far cry from the life of the man in whose honor we celebrate.

For UD students, it’s a word synonymous with good times and great stories. For some Americans it means poverty and crime. And for others, the place conjures images of death and loss. We’ve all been there, we’ve all said it, but have known at all what it meant?

“I live in the ghetto.” It’s simple enough on our campus, but I learned the hard way during a semester abroad that the name isn’t as innocuous as it seems. Explaining the statement to Americans from across the country took a little bit of description – “no, the houses are actually quite expensive and the crime rate is relatively low” – but when I made new friends from Poland I didn’t know where to begin.

The places that word called to mind for them were neighborhoods of death in their grandparents’ generation.
While “student neighborhood” doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily, perhaps it’s time we came up with something else to call the streets where we’re lucky enough to live.

As reported by Zenit.org, at the recent March for Life in Washington, D.C. some 34,000 people gathered to celebrate mass while protesting the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. At the service, Father Patrick Riffle, parochial vicar at St. Peter Church in Olney, Maryland, preached about the downfalls of “the culture of death” surrounding abortion. He said it “is the mentality that lies behind violence, terrorism, and discrimination. It is what is behind drug and alcohol abuse, pornography and pre-marital sex and contraception.”

Such strong words reflect the passion in the anti-abortion movement but also the way in which the Church has allowed this fervor to cloud its perception and teachings. While abortion is understood by some as murder, it is nowhere near the same scale of hateful destruction of terrorism. Furthermore, to compare a condom to acts of violence and abuse is as absurd as it is harmful. Father Riffle preached to thousands of people, many of them young. Instead of using his pulpit to promote positive change and reconciliation, he decried healthy and normal aspects of society – sex and birth control – in a way that vilifies those who disagree with him. Compromise is key to progress, and even more important than that is respect. The leaders in the Catholic Church must stop teaching their followers that those who support ideas different from its doctrine are akin to terrorists if any progress, for pro-life policies, or simply Christian love, is to be made.

A recent match.com commercial claims that one in five relationships begin online. Such a statistic was striking and made me wonder – in an age in which we seem to be dedicated to streamlining all aspects of our lives, is it really all that odd we attempt to digitalize our relationships?

To me, one in five digitally made relationships seems incredibly high. When we live on a college campus in which we are constantly surrounded by people our age, the idea of turning to a computer to find us someone seems silly. Half the fun of relationships is how naturally they form in unexpected ways from class projects to KU tables. Wouldn’t an online dating site remove this messy mystery?

Nevertheless, we’ve grown accustomed to using technology to tell us what to do: we take quizzes to determine what major we’d be best for, we use GPS devices to direct us on our way as fast as possible, perhaps it was just a matter of time until we turned to match-making machines.

On January 14, Pope Benedict XV1 announced he will beatify the late pope, John Paul II, this year in May. Beatification is a step to sainthood that comes only after the Church verifies a miracle stemming from prayer to the person in question. More post-mortem miracles must be attributed to the candidate before he can be canonized, or recognized as a saint.

The former pontiff passed away in 2005, making this beatification one of the fastest in history. The Vatican waved the normal requirement of a five year waiting period to begin the beatification process. Such swift action perhaps indicates the Church’s desire to focus on a popular person in an otherwise tumultuous time of scandal. Yet one is left to wonder, if sainthood is a recognition of eternal attributes, why the rush?

The year Harry met Sally and first debated the possibility of inter-gender friendship most undergraduate students weren’t even alive. Yet the question of friendship between the sexes remains relevant today. Despite its difficulties, most people claim at least one friendship with someone of the opposite sex. But what about that elusive exclusive category of best friend? Can a man and a woman be just best friends?

On the surface, it seems possible. A best friend is someone trusted, who listens, understands, and cares, all actions applicable to either sex. But isn’t a best friend also someone who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself, and loves you still? Thus, is it really possible for a couple to feel that way about each other and not want to be something more than friends? Despite the generational gap, the fictional New York City sweethearts might have been onto something.

As the New Year begins, there is talk of what the greatest online threats will be in 2011. While this conjures up images of viruses sent through emails and pop up links on the computer, the real weak spots might actually be in our pockets.

According to MSNBC.com, these newest online threats, such as information stealing viruses, will be attacking not only desktops and laptops but phones and iPods capable of going online. While the newest phones and iPods have always been a symbol of status and technological advancement, there’s something to be said for the being safe, too.

If all of an individual’s personal information could be lifted from a Blackberry or iPod touch, perhaps the traditional non-wireless flip phones are going to become cool once again.

With the first real snow of the semester blanketing campus, a myriad of opinions surrounding the blindingly white groundcover have surfaced.
Some students express hatred for the frozen and slippery tundra the campus has become. Even simple trips for fun or studying have become longer, colder and more dangerous. Snow means winter and cold days. The coming days are darker and getting shorter.
Yet others love the snow and can be seen frolicking around campus in it. They celebrate the instant beauty it gives the campus, as well as the magical spirit it seems to bring. Snow means winter and break soon. The coming time will surely be filled with joy and peace.
Whatever your metrological preference, there’s no denying the snowflakes are heralds of change.