Opinions and Editorials
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Opinions and Editorials
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Volume 88, Number 2February 3, 2009Published by the students of the University of Massachusetts Lowell
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Optimism leads to a happy life
Did you ever notice that peo-ple have different styles toexplain things- especiallyaround challenges that happento them? Optimism, a ‘Yes ICan!’ attitude is helpful inmaking things better. It canhelp you achieve what youwant and even help maintainor improve your health.Pessimism, on the other hand,promotes helplessness.It feels like whatever youchoose to do will have noeffect on what happens. Thisoften leads to depression. Welearn our ‘explanatory style’mostly through the way thingswere explained to us by ourparents when we were grow-ing up, though others caninfluence us all throughoutour lives.If we believe that whateverwe do doesn’t matter, thenwe’re more likely to quitwhen things get tough. Wemay think pessimisticallyabout ourselves, about events,and take things personally.“Everything is going wrong(this is pervasive). It’s just myluck (taking it personally) thatmy back would also give out,and I don’t think it is evergoing to get better” (it’s goingto be permanent).Optimists are usually muchhappier. They take a differenttact even to the same situa-tions, and often reach out tofriends and others who can besupportive. “What a bummerthis happened (a single event).I am exhausted lately (tempo-rary). It will be good to startdoing some exercise. It willmake me feel better all over. Ithink I will go work out at thegym with friends,” (takingresponsibility for the positive-having hope).Pessimistic thinking leadsto feeling passive and deject-ed, while an optimistic expla-nation gives you energy.When you’re feeling down,anxious or angry, be mindfulof what you say to yourself!If your belief turns out to be justifiable, concentrate onwhat you can do to changethings to prevent the situationfrom becoming a disaster. Butusually these negative beliefsare distortions. Challengethem. Ask yourself, “Is therereally evidence for this?”(Pessimists usually overreact,finding the worst explana-tion!) Maybe there is anotherway to look at this-- some-thing that is less destructive?It is helpful to not take thingspersonally, and focus on whatyou can specifically change.Just because you have nega-tive thoughts doesn’t meanthey are true. They may justbe old, ingrained patterns of thinking. You can changeyour style. Being optimisticdoesn’t mean being unjustifi-ably positive. There is Powerin non-negative thinking.Please stop by or contact usat: UML Counseling Center,McGauvran 363, SC, 978-934-4331. We are open M-F,9-5. Our services are free andconfidential.
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At age 25 you are supposedto be getting your life togeth-er, with a steady career, maybeeven starting a family. If youare spending this time memo-rizing the menu for the ninesrestaurant, you really need toget your priorities in order.Let us look at the generalduties of being part of a waitstaff at any number of restau-rants. First, you say hi tosomeone, then you rememberwhat he or she tells you, thenyou bring him or her his or herstuff. Realistically and objec-tively, a 5 year old could dothat job.Sure, you have to balanceplates, walk on a slipperyfloor, and ignore the greasy,hairy fry cook’s awkward sex-ual advances but technicallyyour job is very simple andnot very rewarding.And before you begin to sendhate mail my way, let memake a confession to you: Iwas once part of the foodservice industry as well. Infact, my first two jobs werebeing a part of that very indus-try. Being a bus boy, dish-washer, and then a server andice cream scooper at two dif-ferent establishments gave memuch perspective.However, part of this per-spective is that every serverover 25 had some sort of prob-lem. Drug addictions, abusivehusbands, mental disabilitiesall ran rampant in the over 25crowd at both establishments.If you are of a well body andmind, do you really want to belumped into these categories?I think not.Look back on the last wait-ers/waitresses that you hadbeen served to that were of theolder age bracket, how didthey look? Not exactlybangable, right? The rigors of the job plus the habits men-tioned earlier do a number onthe face plus all those numberfour’s at McDonald’s don’t doa body good, resulting in a bigole’ mess.I totally understand if you arein Los Angeles or New Yorktrying to pursue a career inshow biz. However, if you arein Lowell and still waitingtables at that age, you shouldreally look in the mirror andreconsider your life.
You’re THAT old? And STILL waiting tables?
J
OHNNY
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Why don’t you just...sell food?
Last weekend, I met an inter-esting, nice, young man dur-ing a night out on the townwith friends. Only, he wasn’tvery young, and some wouldargue that he wasn’t veryinteresting.We began chatting, and toldme that he and his band wereout celebrating his 29th birth-day. More drinks turned intomore conversation, and moreconversation turned into himsharing details about his lifewith me. One such detail washis job; he is a waiter at achain restaurant in Lowell.Many women would proba-bly tell me that a guy that oldworking at a job that low pay-ing is pathetic; however, Ireally don’t see anythingwrong with it.It seems that waiting hasbecome a profession sociallyaccepted only for teens oryoung adults, but I reallydon’t see why those over theage of 25 serving food isviewed as such a negativething.Waiting is definitely not a jobfor everyone; serving foodtakes a lot of patience, and Iknow by vicariously livingthrough many restaurant-working friends, that there aremore downs to the job thanups. But still, racking inmoney simply from bringingfood from one place to anoth-er does not seem too shabby.Although I do admit that itwould be hard to pay for awedding or support a familyon a waiter’s salary, I don’tthink older waiters- say, 25years old or above- are pathet-ic. Sometimes selling food isthe quickest, easiest way torake in some money, and thereain’t nothing wrong with thatin my eyes.Another reason I give moralsupport to those older waitersout there is this: I really loveold people, and old people thatserve me food really just treatme right. Old women wait-resses are so sweet andadorable, and make restaurantdining all the better.Waiting tables, at any age,takes patience and kindness.People who work at restau-rants, despite contrary belief,have a future. Even if itinvolves working long dayson their feet catering to otherpeople’s needs, it is a future.I have no doubt in my mindthat my new friend will makea very happy life for himself waiting at his restaurant. Andeven if he doesn’t, he alwayshas that dream of his bandmaking it big to fall back on.
A
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Being a 25 year old waitress
Web comments left for “So tell us really, how much do you love terrorism?”
That’s ridiculous. That inci-dent is like a story youwould certainly imaginewould and does happen butcould never happen in reali-ty to a real-life person. Andwhile I am more of a “ter-rorist” sympathizer than theinnocent Chris, I couldtotally understand their sus-picion of him from havingclass with him. That doesnot mean what this govern-ment (not “our” governmentany longer) did was right,legally, morally, ethically,etc..; in fact, incidents likethis are the reason why 9/11happened in the first place.How we can believe in acountry that preaches egali-trianism, yet seperates aman’s belongings into “nor-mal” and “terrorist” things,is unfathomable to me andhopefully to everybody elsesubjected to this treatment.Thank goodness the admin-istration changed, and hope-fully these professional bul-lies will be out of a careerand working at the localMcDonald’s soon (not that a job at McDonalds is dishon-orable). However, I do notbelieve things will change.The government of thiscountry has lost any and allbenefit of the doubt for mepersonally, and I hope aserious drastic changeoccurs sooner than later,hopefully within our life-times, hopefully caused byour generation. We ought toowe 100% of our allegianceto our individual conciousand to one another, not tothe finite and disillusionedbeaurocracy of the empirewhich is America. Chris,you are a grain of sand inthe Sahara that is injusticeperpetrated by those fewwho hold our power, and letyour struggle be a wart onthe ugly, ugly face of America’s government.George Washington is inhell watching what hishandywork go to wasteevery day
J
OSEPH
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What a stupid article. People canmake up whatever they want thesedays and have it published. I thinkthis guy has been watching toomany episodes of “24”. maybe jackbower was following him too. whatan idiot.
“R
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