I AM A STUDENT OF HISTORY


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Posted by TiM in Lock Haven on Sunday, September 16, 2001 at 3:33PM :

In Reply to: Re: Excuse the venting posted by Doctor Dave on Wednesday, September 12, 2001 at 10:18PM :

Ladies and gentlemen. I am a 22 year old college student at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, in my 5th year of study as a Secondary Education Social Science student. I will graduate this year and go out into the world to teach high school students about history or related subjects. For me, this week's incidents are the most devastating thing I have seen in my 22 years of consciousness. I have written in on this forum before, but not regularly as of late.

First of all, I want to convey my respects for all of those killed or wounded in this tragedy. I would also like to say that I read everything posted related to the incidents. Honestly, I agree with some of you and disagree with others. Here are my thoughts for what it's worth:

Fred Reed...Fred, Fred, Fred. What color blood runs through your veins? From what country is your small small brain? I can not believe that any blue-blooded American has the balls to sit back at his computer and tell a bunch of obviously patriotic power wagon afficionados that the U.S. has lost anything! We have not lost. This attack could not have been stopped. It is not anyone's fault. Terrorism, as stated above in another post, happens everyday. This act just happens to be the most recent and most devestating. If it is an act of "War", then it is the first time the U.S. mainland has ever been attacked. Sorry, folks, Pearl Harbor doesn't count on this one. Another thing is that the use of innocents to kill more innocents is completely and utterly immoral. No matter what religion you are, this attack is not ethical. There is no God anywhere who would condone such hatred. The nature of man is to fight, and this is fighting that is well below that of civilized men (and women). This act of barbarism was cruel. It was immoral and hurtful to many people.

Throughout history, the U.S. has been attacked in many ways. We have been under economic sanctions from other countries. We have been poked fun of more times than we care. (and if you think of the Clinton affair in this case, most other countries really didn't care about that one...it happens all the time.) I recently asked a girl from France if America is the a**hole of the world, if we are just jokes. She honestly answered "Yes.", and I believe her. We do some stupid things. Going in with missiles and bombing the hell out of Afghanistan will not help.

Which leads me to this. Good ol' G.W. has declared "War", which is, by definition, supposed to be against another country. What country? We don't know where this bastard is, and if we find him, what makes it ethical for us to take innocent lives in retribution for the ones that we have lost? In warfare, many philosophers feel that the only war that is ethical is that which defends the country from attack. The acts which Bush and many of you describe is, in fact, deterrence, which is close enough to defense. The only ethical war is one that defends the country and deterrs further attacks. When you step on the tail of a snake, it usually comes around and bites you. That's the way it happens...the snake doesn't want to bite, it does out of self defense...that's all I'm saying. The taking of innocent lives, as some argue can be justified only in the case that they die as a result of some sort of "Strategic Accident" such as, the cleaning lady gets killed when we bomb the missile base she works in. That kind of thing. But, if we go out and bomb innocents, then we are doing no better than what they have done.

Now, I am a believer in justified warfare, and am no candy-ass myself. I don't serve in the military, but my job in life is to educate people what it is all about. History encompasses everything, no matter how small the details.

And to my last point. Many believe that we will bomb Israel for this. Not true. Many say Pakistan. Not wise. Many say that we will bomb Palestine. Not Possible. Here is why...Israel is our allie. We send them money because we are a primarily Christian country who sees them as a possible interest of ours militarily. Pakistan is not the wisest place to bomb because they have nuclear weapons...can you say WWIII??? Not good. And Palestine? If I hear one more say that word as if it were a country, I'm going to hit someone. The Palestinians are a nation (of people) without a state (a sovereign plot of land to call their own). We can't bomb Palestine, just as we can't bomb Heaven, Hell, Fantasia, Atlantis, or that little place between asleep and awake. IT DOESN'T EXIST!!! But, don't complain when you hear that we're getting help from Iran on this one. Iran hates the Taliban (Muslim leading group of Afghanistan) more than we do. They aren't recognized as a state by the U.S., Iran, or mostly everybody else. It's possible that we could go in there, and very likely to happen next week, but we will be looking for Ben Laden, not the Taliban. As for the Palestines, damn you anyway. To rejoice for the suffering of people you don't know is very wrong. What did I do to you? Yet you rejoice over my people. That's just not right.

So, in conclusion, this may all fall on deaf ears, but it makes me feel a little better to have this little "Rant" myself. I am one who has to study these things now, and keep them fresh in my mind in order to do my job in a year. I know that many of you have kids, some maybe to small to understand, but you will have to tell them what happened. I beg of you, let them cry. Make them if necessary, just so that they understand what has happened. Pull out a map. Show some tv footage other than Blue's Clues. Educate your children and hope, for our nation's sake, that it isn't all in vain. I have to teach this to my students, and relive it every year from here on out, with that same tear in my eye. I can't let it go. I am young, but I am American. My flags are flown as we speak. My heart is heavy, but my confidence is high.

I am American. I will survive and I will prosper. I will remember...



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