Page 4
Opinions
Sept. 20, 2001
What will become of the world
if we take an eye for an eye?
Ben Moore
Columnist
Ghandi once said, “ An eye for
an eye and we’ll all be blind.”
There are two major ideas from
this statement that apply to our cur
rent situation.
The mentality that follows ‘an
eye for an eye” can blind us in our
pursuit of justice. It can lead us into
a blind rage that makes us lash out
at people who were just as horri
fied by last Tuesday’s events as we
were.
Across the nation last week there
were reports of vandalism at
mosques and attacks, both verbal
and physical, on Muslim-Ameri-
cans.
This is also a type of terrorism.
We are attacking an innocent group
of people who do not expect it or
ask for it. We must learn that we
cannot judge an entire group of
people by a few fanatics. When
Timothy McVeigh attacked the Fed
eral Building in Oklahoma we did
not assume that all Christians were
terrorists. In the same way we must
realize that not all Muslims are ter
rorists.
If we are going to truly be able
to sing, “I’m proud to be an Ameri
can, where at least I know I’m
free!” then we must give that same
freedom to our Muslim brothers and
sisters.
Another idea that stems from
Ghandi’s statement is that we can
not afford to play the game of “an
eye for an eye”. Imagine if the en
tire world lived by the “eye for an
eye” mentality. I don’t believe that
anyone would be left alive on earth.
The Old Testament, also known
as the Hebrew Scriptures, spoke of
an eye for an eye as the most ex-
treme measure that could be taken.
This was used to quell the idea of
revenge in a tribal setting.
Say that even that’s too much,
though. In the song “Sunday,
Bloody Sunday” U2 asks “How
long, how long must we sing this
song?”
Put in another way the question
asks: how much killing will it take
before we realize that nothing is
worth killing?
It is time that our leaders realize
that an “eye for an eye” helped to
get us where we are now. The
people who committed these hor
rible acts believed that they were
just as justified in these killings as
we think we would be in killing
them.
The nation’s leaders believe that
revenge is something that we must
have, though. Their rage and anger
are as fervent as the terrorist’s. Thus
the blind are leading the blind ac
cording to Ghandi’s statement.
I do not believe that the nation
is blind. In fact the unity we have
shown in the last week is one of the
most beautiful and amazing things
I have ever seen. This kind of unity
is what we need right now.
Our nation must now lead the
way to a true freedom, a freedom
from hatred and violence. Let us
make the ideal of this type of free
dom a reality throughout the world.
We can have justice by locking up
the perpetrators of this violence. If
we kill them because we are seek
ing revenge we will still be slaves
to the systems of hatred and revenge
we seek to destroy.
It is time that we stand as a na
tion and embrace all people of ev
ery background - these are the prin
ciples on which we were founded
and we must continue to abide by
those principles. Let us have justice.
But let us not do so at the expense
of other innocents who want the
same freedom.
To die for freedom is one of the
greatest sacrifices a person can
make. To kill for freedom is one of
the greatest injustices on this earth.
Both my hometown and my life
will remain changed forever
Jaclyn O’Sullivan
Columnist
“In the city of God there will be
a great thunder, two brothers tom
apart by chaos, while the fortress
endures, the great leader will suc
cumb. The third big war will begin
when the city is burning.”
- Nostradamus 1654
I went to bed at 2 a.m. Monday
morning following hours of read
ing and thanked God that I could
sleep all day and only have to get
up for class at 5:30 p.m. that night.
Suddenly loud ringing in my
dreams woke me and I stumbled out
of bed to find my phone. Groggily
I answered to hear my Mom’s fran
tic voice on the other end, “Tum on
the TV, we are under attack.” I
chuckled, thinking my mom was
still trying to get me up early even
though she was 500 miles away.
Only the picture on the screen
erased my smile and I stood frozen
as the two tallest buildings in my
hometown stood engulfed in a tow
ering inferno. My roommate was
gone, my suitemates gone; all go
ing about their lives, and mine was
slowly shattering. My family, my
friends, I was helpless. I could not
cry. I could not breathe. My mom
and I, miles away from each other,
watched in horror as the skyline that
shone so brightly at night from my
window was reduced to rubble. I
walked the halls looking for some
one to talk to. Silence. All of a sud
den the impossible happened, the
first of the towers collapsed, and
then deafening silence. I lost com
munication with my Mom. The
only response was my echo,
“hello,” “hello.” My family, every
one was silenced. Slowly people in
my hall began to emerge and it was
then I realized my helpless state.
More and more people tried to call
home, only to find that both DC and
NYC were shut down. My Staley
girls all watched: scared and horri
fied. Our fears came to life and all
we could do was console each other
and dry our tears. I fmally regained
fTTH W T • A H A A
The United States
must defend itself
Adam Mossoff
Guest Columnist
Northwestern University
School of Law
In 1941, America was the tar
get of an unprovoked, unmiti
gated and unjustified attack that
left thousands dead and many
more wounded.
Americans understood the
meaning of this day of infamy
and responded appropriately—
the sleeping giant was awak
ened. War was declared and
the evil was eventually van
quished.
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001
America was again the target of
evil.
Make no mistake about it:
what happened that Tuesday was
an act of war. America must now
rise to the occasion and defend
itself, or it will only face simi
lar vile acts of destruction in the
coming years. An unequivocal
declaration of war by Congress
must be adopted today.
But against whom? In 1941,
Japan at least had the honor of
acting in the open in its attack
on the U.S. naval base at Pear
Harbor. During the military en
gagement, Japan’s colors and
insignia were displayed on all of
its planes and ships for any and
all to see. The slaughter that was
perpetmted last week against in
nocent civilians was committed
by cowards who have hidden be
hind a veil of secrecy and sui
cide.
America fchows^ however, the
countries who officiaiiy sponsor
such terrorist oi^anizations. The
ntunes of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran,
Syria, Libya, and Sudan easily
roll off the lips of any American
official asked to Identify the
countries who have provided ter
rorists with training facilities,
asylum and financial support.
A declaration of war against
terrorism should simply contain
a list of every countiy and orga
nization that has in the past, or
stated an intention for the future,
of committing or aiding terror
ist acts against tl|e U,S.
It has been America’s Inac
tion against these countries and
organizations for the past 30
years or more that has permitted
terrorism to fester and grow like
a cancer. And just as cancer kills
healthy bodies, terrorists killed
thousands of innocent Ameri
cans and forever marred a bea-
con of civilization and
progress—the New York City
skyline.
It is time to cut out and oblit
erate the cancer of terrorism—
and its supporting ideology of Is
lamic Jihad—before it spreads
and ultimately consumes more
innocent and healthy lives.
The memory of the gleaming
twin towers of the World Trade
Center and its thousands of pro
ductive inhabitants who perished
on Sept, 11 deserves no less.
contact with my family. Though
some were still stuck in Manhattan,
everyone was okay. I guess my pur
pose for writing this article is more
therapeutic than anything else. I
now know that we as a nation are
not invincible, or indestructible. I
watch in horror as my city- my
downtown playground becomes the
graveyard of lost bodies. I watch on
as my nation tries to stand proud
and tall when most of us want to
weep at the devastation we have
suffered.
I pray for all those who wait for
a call undelivered. I pray for those
who never got to say good-bye. And
I try to stand tall for everyone who
is still standing at this point. We
should not let our lost brothers or
our bumt fortress bring us to our
knees. Our cities will bum, but we
will not let them destroy us. For the
first time in my life I say, God Bless
America!
I want to try to start a group of
some sort or if there is one can you
let me know about it. Ijustwantto
talk about what would happen if
there is an all war and how we as
Elon students can get involved and
deal with it.