By Nicole Demouth
Too liberal, less hero
On this particular week of last year, I decided that I would continuously support our military, trust in our president, and confide my confusion and anger in God after what I had just seen. I remained unearthed from my position as I wrote for this page, even as I read numerous counter-opinions stated by peers.
Those who are quite liberal individuals were miraculously not affected by the awesome events of September 11, and began by demanding a nice, safe, day-spa for the prisoners in Guantanamo and/or a spoiling or two of the President’s decisions. This while our own troops were lucky to receive one hot meal a day, leaders of other nations were planning more terrorist attacks, and bodies were still being extracted from the earth. Meanwhile, leftist government representatives who believe themselves to be immortal escaped anthrax deaths without a sigh of relief, and the majority of leftist media reported everything but the good civilians who took criminals into their own hands when they refused to be pushed around anymore.
We are constantly surrounded by actions such as these, and it is unacceptable. There are instances when we quickly comment on recent events or debates, whether we are serious or whether we just need to laugh for a change. But to write about the “war on terror”, mocking it and suggesting that “innocent people will be senselessly murdered” is belittling those who died in America last year. Anyone who is killed in a terror attack, with exception to the terrorists themselves, deserves to be honored. A monument? An organization? Perhaps. But for a majority of those who are affected, what is best is an “eye for an eye”.
There is a direct correlation between someone taking what individuals loved, and getting revenge for what they did. It is more prevalent than you will ever know. Yet somehow, it still remains a secret to many people. Maybe you needed to stand on top of the towers on a clear day. Maybe you need to stand a little closer to the walls of the Pentagon in Washington D.C., our nation’s capital – a capital that provides for all of us, no matter who you support politically, if at all. Maybe one day, your plane needs to go down. At which point, it will be too late for you and you will have spent all of your life babbling on and on about the state of the nation instead of going out there and experiencing every inch of this nation.
What I don’t think some of the writers on this page understood and still don’t understand, is that knowledge is not a reason to think that you are superior over someone who may not be as textbook-educated as yourselves. Many times, it is the touch, the smell, and the sight of the real thing that you contemplate or remember that teaches you the real lesson, or provides you with the right answer. So close the historical websites, the books of statistics, and take a trip to see some real Americans.
Fittingly, over the summer, a respected neighbor who wore the names of his lost brothers offered a story with a bit of a sneer. It was a story about a man named Pauly. Pauly’s apartment building caught on fire while Pauly and all of the other tenants were asleep. Pauly’s dog, beloved by the entire building, ran to wake him, and he in turn woke everyone else up as the fire trucks and medics arrived. As the sleepy tenants became more aware of what was happening, they asked Pauly where his dog was? Pauly had left him inside. He hadn’t even thought to save the very grace that saved him. Needless to say, the other tenants turned on poor, selfish Pauly.
Thanks to my brother Vic, Pat, and Gary, for being heroes.
