November 2019Opinion 3

Coming up short for being tall

By Amber BuhmanStaff Reporter

“Okay, we’re going to move you to the back because you’re the tallest here.”

This is a classic phrase I hear all the time as a 6’1”

girl. Short people all around the world constantly com-plain about the struggles of being short and don’t under-stand the constant challenges of being tall. They think it would be so great to be tall. However, being tall is not all it is cracked up to be.

Being shoved in the back of every picture is disap-pointing. Finally, as a senior, I get to sit in the front row for team pictures, but this is new territory for me. Every other year, I’ve been put in the back.

I can’t even remember how many times someone has asked me to reach up to the top shelf and grab something for them. I remember being at a hotel one time, and there

were cups up on a high shelf. Three ladies asked me to help them grab a cup from the top.

Going shopping is a struggle in and of itself. As a tall girl, there are few cloth-ing stores that have clothes that will actually fit me. Jeans are too short, every shirt looks like a crop top, and sleeves will never go all the way down to my wrists.

Speaking of finding clothes that fit, meeting the dress code for school dances is nearly impossible. Ev-ery year the teachers read through the dance dress code, and I sit there waiting to hear about the fingertip rule. With my body type, every dress is short. No matter how hard I try to find a longer dress,

meeting the fingertip rule is difficult.

I decided to wear a long dress for homecoming this year, in the hopes it would actually look long enough on me. Unfortunately, a dress that would cover someone else’s feet and flow partially onto the ground left my an-kles obviously exposed. Now, that might not be scandalous, but it isn’t flattering either.

My 5’1” friend always complains to me about how tall I am, and I get it. Being tall does have its perks. I can see over people when they stand in front of me, I can reach high places, and it can be helpful in sports. Being short has its perks too. How often does someone go up

to a short person and say, “Wow! You’re really short!” That doesn’t happen very often, but I have been told that I am “so tall” a countless number of times.

Being tall is rough though. It doesn’t help that guys seem to be getting short-er and shorter. The guys in the senior class are relatively tall, but still, every school dance, there will always be something said from one of the guys who has to stand behind me in a class picture.

Ultimately, few people are completely happy with the height or body type they’ve been given. There are so many problems or cir-cumstances that matter more than how tall you are or what

dress size you wear. I know in today’s culture people are always talking about body positivity, but then the media still gives girls a nearly impossible idea of what a woman should look like.

What it all comes down to is being happy with the body God has given to you. Someone out there probably wishes they looked more like you, just like you wish you looked like them. So, the next time you look in the mirror and you have to crouch down or stand on your tiptoes to see yourself, remember God made you in a way that is unique to only you.

By Lauren OstdiekStaff Reporter

You are walking to Cal-culus, fretting about the quiz you have, the essay due next period for English, wonder-ing if you remembered your jersey for tonight’s game, and

Don’t be sorry, not sorryjuggling just as much in your hands as in your head. All of this leads you to miss the 7th grader walking on the left side of the hallway, plowing full speed ahead until BAM- you drop your books and nearly hit the ground while he walks away unscathed. “Sorry,” you hear yourself mutter under your breath.

But why? Multiple times a day, I hear students at Scotus apologize for doing nothing wrong. In the above instance, you should be the one asking for an apology, not absentmindedly giving one.

I often find myself using “sorry” as a filler word to try to sound polite or make my opinions more accommodat-ing. However, using “sorry”

to begin all my sentences makes me sound and feel less confident in what I have to say, and I catch myself doing it all the time.

“Sorry, this might be wrong, but I think the answer is...”

“I’m sorry, but I just don’t agree...”

There are things worth apologizing for, but having a wrong answer in class when you tried your best or having a different opinion than a friend do not fall into that category.

Instead, trade an apology for “thank you.”

Try “Thanks for waiting for me,” instead of “Sorry, I’m late.” Swap “Sorry to complain,” with “Thank you for listening to me.” Ex-

change “Sorry for being so needy,” for “Thank you for being such a great friend.”

When we use words of gratitude, the focus shifts from ourselves to the other person. Instead of being self-pitying and making the other person feel like they need to make the apologizer feel better, we recognize our appreciation for their actions.

Taking an extra second to think about what I actual-ly want the other person to know transforms my lan-guage and how I feel. When I want my friend to know how much I appreciate her being with me, I can say that instead of apologizing for wasting her time.

I have found women are quicker to apologize

than men, which may be due to women believing more actions deserve an apology. I do not believe men feel too proud to apologize; rather, men have a higher standard for what deserves an apology.

Some may say we all should simply apolo-gize more, but I disagree. When we frame our words, thoughts, and opinions with apologies, we perpetuate the idea that thinking a certain way is a mistake. Apologiz-ing when somebody hurts me makes me feel like it was my fault.

In our society, we say sorry out of habit, and I know I say it many times without even meaning it. By saying “sorry” when we do not need to, we devalue its meaning

for when we legitimately need to apologize. I am not saying you should never apologize. Rather, do it purposefully. If you hurt someone or make a serious mistake, take the time to reach out and make amends. Say sorry, take responsibility, recognize the person’s hurt, and figure out a way to stop it from happening again.

Make your words meaningful, be strong in your beliefs, and never apologize for being yourself. I refuse to frame my thoughts or actions with “sorry.” If that offends you, I’m not sorry.

Think about driving into Lincoln, Nebraska, on a Saturday and seeing the huge sea of red that fills up the Memorial Stadium for a Nebraska football gameday. Or seeing the thousands of people entering the Devaney Center to watch the Huskers play volleyball. Have you ever wondered where all the money from the parking, tickets, food, and revenue goes? Well, a recent law was passed in California, allowing

Getting paid to play

By Tyler PalmerStaff Reporter

collegiate athletes to be paid for their athletic performanc-es and brand they bring to the school. This new law has sparked a lot of controversy nationwide.

All states, excluding Cal-ifornia, do not allow college athletes to receive compensa-tion or any type of monetary advantage. This is the way it has been for as long as the NCAA has existed, but as the idea gets more popular, more states are looking into it.

Schools get paid millions of dollars from their athletics, and the biggest reason is not the coaches, athletic facili-ties, or fans but because of the players’ abilities to make games entertaining and do their best to win. This is noth-ing against the coaches as it cannot be done without them, but the players are what make the school’s athletics thrive; therefore, they should be re-warded with a portion of the revenue that school brings in.

A common misconcep-tion of college athletes is they get everything paid for,

live glamorously, and are treated like kings and queens on campus. That, however, is not always true. What most people do not know is that full scholarships come few and far between in the college athletic realm. Most college athletes either receive preferred walk on offers, or a small amount of money to pay for their college. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of perks of being a college athlete financially, but it is not free money willy-nilly like the majority of people would think.

A recent study by Sporting News showed 86% of college athletes live under the defined poverty line. This means the athlete is getting by with small amounts of money to pay for their room and board, food, and tuition. This is very eye-opening, and something needs to be done to help with this. Receiving compensation would not only help these athletes pay off their student loans and ne-cessities but would also help

those who got them there in the first place, their families.

Another problem student athletes face is that they are not allowed to apply for any major scholarships schools offer such as the Husker Pow-er scholarships at the Uni-versity of Nebraska. Student athletes are prohibited from having an actual job as well. This rule was set in place to keep student athletes from overexerting themselves and make them choose between a job or a sport.

This ties to my next point—being a college ath-lete is a full-time job. A 2011 study by the NCAA showed the average student athlete will spend 43 hours on their designated sport, and 38 hours on academics. That is an 81-hour workweek, which is double the hours the aver-age American adult will work in a week. The average day of a college athlete consists of a morning lift, classes, practice, and depending on the day, more sport-specific exercises required by the team. There

is virtually no way (if it was legal) for a student to have a job, because there is little to no time to do that in the day.

Paying all student ath-letes would end the corrup-tion when it comes to agents and undercover payment of athletes. There have been many issues with this hap-pening, and usually it is not even the player’s fault but a misunderstanding of rules.

All these aforementioned points bring me to my main agenda—college athletes should receive some type of compensation for their hard work and efforts to show off the school in their athletics.

The main issue people have with this recommen-dation is that there will be loopholes and athletes, coaches, and even schools that will take advantage of this and abuse the system. This can be said about nearly every topic in today’s world, but it is important if this rule gets in place, there are strict guidelines, and it is regulated constantly by the NCAA and

the school. Another argument

against student athletes getting paid is that this would make student athletes priori-tize the word “athlete” more than student. This would still not be the case as there are still ineligibility lists, tests, and grades in general, which would insist on good school-work to be able to play their certain activity or sport.

Scotus, a school of exemplary extracurricular activities, has students that go on to play a sport at the next level each year. As a future college athlete, a big role that played a part in my commitment process was how much debt I would walk out of college with. If you are considering playing a sport in college, it is important to know what that school is offering regarding money and to stay informed on which school will cooperate with you to ensure you have an affordable college athletic career.

Ava Kuhl/Rock Bottom Staff