On 4/18/07, Robert G. Seeberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > ... his heroic acts during the > tragic events of April 16th 2007 in the Virginia Polytechnic Institute > and State University campus, when professor Librescu saved his > students' lives at the cost of his own".
The sort of thing that happens every day in Iraq... I heard today that Stanford held a memorial in which they read the names of the Virginia Tech students who died. I can't help but feel frustrated that while they were so quick to identify with the victims of that insanity, where are the memorials to the mostly college-age people who are sacrificing themselves in the war? If it makes sense to identify with unwilling victims of senseless violence, doesn't it make even more sense to identify with those who willingly put themselves in harm's way, even if you believe that the cause in Iraq is just as senseless as the crime in Virginia? About a year ago, I watched a high school senior speak with tears pouring down her face about the story she had helped a Gold Star family produce about their son who was killed in Iraq. She said that what made it so very powerful was that he and the the others whose stories we were telling were only a year or two older than she was. David Brin has written and spoken much about "otherness." One of the most discouraging things about living with Wes' sacrifice in Iraq -- and all the others -- is that they seem to be treated by most people as "other," rather than the strong identification that students have with those killed in Virginia. Or their fascination Anna friggin' Nicole Smith, etc. Right now, I feel shouting at every college student who is thinking, "That could have been me," to consider that the same is true for the 3,300+ who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq. Today I had the pleasure of telling another Vietnam vet, "Welcome home." Nick -- Nick Arnett [EMAIL PROTECTED] Messages: 408-904-7198 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
