Get together and address what is happening

Tuesday, (Oct. 9) morning the campus sidewalks were littered with
phrases stating
that everybody from “Greens” to “Finch
Fieldhouse” support
President Bush. My favorite was the one that declared
“Nadar backs Bush.”
While I don’t know who or what “Nadar” is, I am
fairly certain
that Ralph Nader does not support the U.S. airstrikes against
Afghanistan.

Further, the Campus Greens were demonstrating in opposition to
the airstrikes
outside of the Bovee University Center all day on Monday; we
surely do not endorse
the current actions of the president. While these chalkings are
obviously a juvenile
attempt to … something (I can honestly say that I do not know what
these individuals
hoped to accomplish), there is a larger issue that needs to be
addressed.

Everywhere we look, we see messages urging the citizens of our
country to come
together. I also urge people to come together, not to decry the
beliefs of others,
but to discuss the issues which now face us. The CMU campus is
a community, and
as in any community, individuals have the right to believe whatever
they wish.
However, the fact that it is a university community allows us to
engage in intelligent
discussions with those who hold different beliefs. While one
would be hard pressed
to find somebody suggesting that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11
were a valid
way to deliver a message, there are many different opinions
regarding what the
response of the U.S. should be.

If you have done research on these events and know the effects of
the responses
you advocate, excellent. Feel free to support whatever view your
research has
led you to. But do not shy away from discussions with those who
hold different
views. Engage in discussions with your friends, family,
classmates and professors.
This is not an issue with a clearly defined solution, and you will
surely encounter
other individuals who have done their own research and arrived at
different conclusions.

By participating in discussions with these people you may learn to
see the issue
from a different perspective, or you may use their critiques to
strengthen your
own view.

There is no need to write editorials or letters to the editor claiming
that you
are the last word on the events in the world since Sept. 11, and
that everybody
should put on blindfolds and follow you. If your opinion is valid and
well supported,
people will not need to follow you blindly, because they will be able
to see your
point and come to their own conclusions.

There is no need to deface the sidewalks of campus with asinine
comments claiming
that everybody and everything holds the same beliefs as you. If you
feel so strongly
that your pro-airstrike sentiments are correct, talk with members of
the Campus
Greens, the ACLU and other groups and attempt to find out why
they do or do not
share your opinion. Likewise, members of these groups should
actively engage in
conversations with others, who may hold different views.

While the type of in-depth discussion I am advocating takes time
and effort, we
should not be apathetic, especially when faced with such a
complex issue. When
your children ask you what you thought about the “War on
Terrorism,”
in which a great number of people died, would you rather say,
“I thought
whatever the president told me to think,” or “after
looking into the
issue and discussing it in depth with my peers, I came to the
conclusion that
[fill in the blank]?” I will certainly say the latter.

This is not the time to attack members of our community, no
matter how much our
views differ. This is the time to engage in an ongoing discussion
with people
of all beliefs and backgrounds about an issue that will have
repercussions for
the rest of our lives.