The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 26

March 16, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 11 Opinions I’m tired of having the ethical vs. great debate Letting out a good cry When crying, most people are so quick to shut it down and ask themselves, “What is wrong?” “Why am I crying right now?” or “Why can’t I stop crying all the time?” Most people hate crying and never want to do it nor let anyone else know that they do. This is understandable. Most of the time, when we cry, it is because we are feeling huge waves of sadness, and obviously, sadness isn’t a great emotion. However, crying is so important. With the year that we’ve all just experienced, we need to let out a good cry now more than ever. Letting out a good cry is borderline meditation. I might not be a sensitive person where I cry at everything, but when I do cry, it is a very long, drastic and dramatic cry because it’s buildup. If we go months and months without crying and we let our emotions build up inside of us, in the end, the waterworks are bound to occur in a huge wave -- and I believe that’s a good thing. Crying allows us to relieve stress, lower our blood pressure and helps us embrace our emotions. Crying is so beneficial to our mental health because, sometimes, when you have a good cry about something that may be bothering you, you can begin to move on and heal from that situation. Crying is the breaking point, and simultaneously, it’s the start to the healing process. We’ve all heard the phrase “Crying is a sign of weakness” or “Crying isn’t good If you’re a woman, a person of color, a member of the LGBTQ+ community or a part of any other minority group, you’ve probably had the ethical versus great debate. It always goes something like, ‘They were a bad person, but…” -- and there is almost always a “but.” It turns out many people who we considered great, whether it be politicians, writers, actors or otherwise, turn out to have performed some not so great actions or said some not so great things. Just recently, the estate in charge of managing the legacy of the classic children’s author Dr. Seuss announced that they would be halting the printing of several of his books due to racist undertones. It has caused a lot of discussion surrounding whether it was appropriate to effectively blacklist or “cancel” people, even if hundreds of thousands of people loved their work. The short answer for me is yes, it should be. I’m tired of having the ethical versus great debate when it comes at the cost of the discomfort of different minority groups who continue to have their comfort and safety debated publicly just for some randomperson to stay relevant. I don’t care if you loved Dr. Seuss as a kid -- I did, too -- but when his own estate is admitting that some of his books are inappropriate propaganda, you have to give up defending him aimlessly. It doesn’t just pertain to Dr. Seuss, either. Lots of other authors, like J.K. Rowling, or musicians, like R. Kelly, who are considered greats in their field apply to this kind of situation. It’s okay to admit that people who we once looked up to were not good people all of the time, especially because doing so creates the space for new people to tell better stories, make better art, pass better legislation and so on. My biggest problem with having the ethical versus great debate is that it not only makes peoplewho are genuinely affected by their offenses uncomfortable, but it leaves for the soul,” but I wholeheartedly disagree. There’s no way that crying can be a sign of weakness if you are being strong enough to face the emotions that bring you pain or sadness and react to that in a way that will help you to get on to the track of healing. You are letting yourself down if you choose to ignore your emotions and continue to let them build up inside you. Crying is a healthy way of releasing those emotions and preventing that guilt and buildup. So, whether you have just failed a midterm, lost a loved one or even if one of your favorite fictional characters just died, go ahead and let out a good cry. When you do, I’d say congratulations. Your humanity is showing. them vulnerable to further harassment and abuse. Defending someone from something like sexual assault charges, racist or homphobic remarks and so on is the perpetration of a toxic culture. If we excuse everything that someone did just because their work was considered great, we are only showing the people of this generation that they will not face consequences for the same offenses. What will stop them from doing the same things if we keep excusing every person who says or does something offensive? What are we showing those who are close to us that may be personally affected by those actions or remarks? If we stopped excusing “the greats,” maybe we wouldn’t be facing as many arguments over social justice issues today. I’m tired of having the ethical versus great debate. Let it go and let someone new have a chance at achieving greatness. By: Sofia Gallus Arts & Entertainment Editor I am done with DB As my sophomore year comes to an end, I have begun looking back on some things that have caused me the most stress during my college career, attempting to work on these things and finish out the second half of my undergraduate experience with a bang. As such, I have come to a retrospectively, unsurprising conclusion: mandatory meal plans at NSU are quite frankly horrible. For those of you who have been lucky enough to avoid the meal plans at NSU, there are two different required “options’’ for students living on NSU’s campus. The first is a $1,595 declining balance plan (DB) for students with no kitchen living in The Commons and Leo Goodwin, which I was able to experience my first year at NSU. The second is a $450 DB plan for students living inMako, CLC, FFV and Rolling Hills, which I am currently experiencing. Now, let’s get into all the problems with these two meal plans that have caused me a fair amount of stress duringmy time at NSU. To start, nothing about the meal plan is optional. If you are a student living on campus, you are required to have one of the two meal plans, depending on which building you are living in on campus. Despite Mako, CLC, FFV and Rolling Hills having full kitchens, students are still required to purchase a meal plan. This makes no sense to me. If I decided that I wanted to cook everything and do all my shopping off-campus, I should be allowed to do so instead of being tied down to a meal plan. Now, maybe spending this money would not be a problem if we had genuinely good options on campus. Starbucks is not the worst place to spend this plan, but honestly, I try not to drink a venti iced coffee every day in the attempt to give my heart a break. Outtakes is severely overpriced, and oftentimes, it looks like their shelves have been ransacked. I do not even bother wasting my time at Flight Deck whose menu is equal parts scarce and gross. Einstein’s would be great, but they are never open. Is it too much to ask for a bagel on a Saturday? To top it off, this, honestly, would not be so horrible if they just allowed students to transfer the meal plan from one semester to the next, but for some odd reason, this is only possible from the fall to winter semesters. Is it too much to ask for a refund? I did not spend the money, so why can I not have it back? I have a funny feeling that there are numerous students on NSU’s campus who just lose money every year when their meal plan gets wiped at the end of the winter semester. I am done dealing with the meal plan that residential students are forced into using. Either give us better food options or let us have our money back. Like an elementary school bully, it is not fair to squeeze students dry for their lunch money, NSU. By: Rick Esner News Editor By: Jaden Wilson Contributing Writer PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF C. MCLAUGHLIN PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF C. MCLAUGHLIN PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF C. MCLAUGHLIN