BYU students mock Stanford volleyball player
As a longtime BYU volleyball fan it was disappointing to see students mock the Stanford player who took a Fa’agata Tufuga heater right to the face and was forced to play the rest of the game with a wad of Kleenex up his nose. Students took to mocking the player by stuffing Kleenex up their noses while the athlete continued to play through the pain and likely some degree of concussion.
Come on guys. Opposing athletes deserve respect. And what does that say about the values of the university?
—David Draper
Hurricane, Utah
Gun control response
The Feb. 13 op-ed opposing gun control was seriously flawed. The author claims the top 10 causes of death are not gun-related, but her source lists suicide as the 10th-largest killer in the U.S. Firearms account for 51 percent of suicides. But even if she were right, should we only care about the biggest killers? That excludes childbirth, HIV/AIDS and murder. Are those off-limits because they missed the top 10?
The author presumes that time or money spent on gun control is wasted because “people kill people; guns don’t.” Well, cars don’t kill people — drivers do, but we regulate cars and make them safer to minimize the frequency and severity of accidents. The same reasoning applies to firearms. Ironically, the author refers to European countries to support her argument that gun control won’t reduce gun deaths. In 2010, gun deaths in France were 2.8 per 100,000 people. The U.S. rate is a whopping 10.2. I have a hard time believing cars-as-weapons make up the difference.
Despite the polarizing picture presented by politicians and media, Americans agree widely on gun control. According to Gallup, at least 70 percent of Americans support universal background checks, mandatory 30-day waiting periods for all gun sales, and mandatory registration of guns with the police. There’s a lot of room between allowing all guns and taking all guns. But we can’t even begin the discussion until we get past empty rhetoric like “people kill people; guns don’t.”
—Nick Hafen
Southfield, Michigan
Eliminate early-returned missionary stigma
Staring out the window of an airplane — the closest an average human could ever be to heaven while living here on earth — is where I felt the farthest away from God. In a whirlwind of nine months, I left to serve a mission in the Utah Provo Mission but was sent home when I was diagnosed with depression. On the plane home, the only thought running through my head was, “Am I returning with honor?”
On top of the pain early-returned missionaries experience due to mental or physical health issues, spiritual trials or other issues, judgment just
makes things worse. It’s time the early-returned missionary stigma gets torn out of LDS culture.
The stigma exists. Perhaps the most disturbing evidence is that 47 percent of early-returned missionaries become less-active or inactive after they return home from missions. Church often becomes a place of judgement. This stigma puts the eternal lives of almost half of these early-returned missionaries in danger.
With over 10 percent of missionaries coming home early, chances are you will meet a missionary who has just returned early from his or her mission. As a family member, friend or fellow member of the church, I encourage you to: 1. Give them a hug. 2. Say you love them. 3. Tell them “I am so happy that you are home.” 4. Give them the honor they deserve for their service.
—Jake Johnson
Hickory, North Carolina
Nonprofit organizations
Most people think nonprofit organizations do not yield a profit; how misled humans have been. While nonprofit organizations do not generate a gross annual income for the institution itself as a business would, with little research a person can learn how to turn a profit with a nonprofit organization.
An organization paying over a million dollars per year to its CEO may not generate a profit as would a business, nevertheless said organization does not merit the title “nonprofit,’ as it misleads and brings others to spend money on products or services sold to naïve people who believe they are helping a good cause much more than the little aid they actually are giving.
Nonprofit organizations are not in all reality non-profit: in order to keep the title “non profit,” the CEOs should be paid less or the name should be changed to eliminated confusion.
—Kirk Sovereign
Gilbert, Arizona
