University of Virginia Library

AHEAD By Paul Larsen

'Do Not Laugh, Do Not Cry, Try . . .'

So we're sitting around listening
to the Stones and trying to think
of a name for this column when
through the headphones Brian
Jones questions, "Where's that
joint?" We've heard it close to a
hundred times but its never had
quite the effect it had then. I
thought back on the times when
those words came over the stereo
and someone laughed because he
thinks he really understands what
its all about or someone said what
a groove that is and so on.
But if it means anything to you,
if you understand why Jagger put
it in, then you don't laugh and
you don't question. These thoughts
brought to mind the words of
Spinoza, who said "Do not laugh,
do not cry, try to understand."

That's all I ask. In this column
and on this page for the next
year will no doubt be many words
and thoughts with which you don't
agree. There will surely he times,
like my Marijuana interview, when
you won't believe what is being
said. And there will be those of
you who don't know what I'm
talking about and therefore believe
it's a fault on my part, not
yours. That's all fine with me.
I only ask that you listen, that
you are open to these thoughts
and that you "try to understand."
You won't agree, you won't believe,
you may not understand, but
try. To use an awful clich?, that's
what education is all about and
that's why you're here, and if you
don't want to take the time to try,
Then you belong somewhere else.

In the coming year this page,
at least the five columns to the
right, will be not so much an editorial
page or a features page,
but an open forum for ideas of
any kind. It will speak of movement,
of newness, of the future.
It will speak in poems, in pictures,
in thoughts, and in quotations.
But what is important is
that I believe it will speak, not
just talk, and thus I ask you to
listen.

For years and years this University
has been symbolized by the
Lawn, the Rotunda, and the coat
and tie. And for years this paper
has glorified these symbols almost
to a deformed extent so that it
has become a rule book to what
represents the University and what
does not, and has lost its value
as a voice of the University. This
is not to say that these particular
symbols aren't representative of
Virginia, but only to say that there
is much that goes on here that
is also representative and has never
been given space on these pages.
It will be our endeavor to fully
represent this University's spirit,
ideas, and people.

In the upper left hand corner
of this page is the credo under
which this paper operates. Yet if
we are to follow the truth, we must
realize that it is found not only
on the Lawn, or under the Rotunda,
or behind the guise of coat
and tie, or with what these symbols
and those who adhere strictly
to them represent. To criticize these
symbols of the University is not
an attempt to understand. But
further, to criticize those who step
outside these limitations the past
has established is to completely
destroy the words of the University's
founder. Borrowing from
Mr. Nutter's letter elsewhere on
this page, "A University is supposed
to be a community of scholars
dedicated to the pursuit of truth
through freedom of enquiry,
wherever it may lead. Scholars
may be justly censured for dogmatism,
intolerance, dishonesty,
hypocrisy, immorality, or incompetence,
but not for candor, a
critical outlook, or nonconformity."

So, in the words of Mel Lyman,
"That's where it's at." Forget
about the double entendre the
name of this column implies, and
as they say, open your mind. This
column will appear whenever I
feel I have something to say, or
more importantly, whenever I can
say something I feel. For too
long this University has been stuck
in the muds of heritage and tradition
and it is now time to move
ahead.