Editorial
Be
Understanding
We
seem to be living in one of the few places in the country which
doesnt automatically support war. Resist this belief. First,
there is no black and white line between those who support war
and those who do not. Is war indiscriminate bombing? Few advocate
that. But more support some sort of military action against those
protecting the terrorists, be it a bombing of military targets or
a ground invasion. Maybe no one supports a peace that leaves criminal
parties completely alone, even though that seems to be a natural
outgrowth of some of the ideas floating around.
The U.S. has yet to declare war on a country; the attacks were not
carried out under a national flag. Some Americans seem to believe
that since the Taliban is involved, the Afghan people as a whole
are responsible. The average Afghan is as responsible as the average
American, less so in the case of women not permitted to leave their
homes. Be aware that on the memorial on College Street an anonymous
citizen wrote Kill Bin Laden and those Afghan bastards.
There is much potential for growth here, and already the black letters
have been crossed out and are surrounded by messages of peace.
Just as we ask what is meant by war, though, we must ask what is
meant by peace. Can there be peace without justice, another quote
asks. If necessary, there has to be. We must accept the terrible
realization that if whoever is behind the bombings is never brought
to justice, we must take the first step toward peace without it.
We must find a new way to build from our loss. We must revise our
ideas of what it means to be just in favor of what it means to be,
finally, at peace. To honor the memories of the dead, instead of
creating more death we must reach forward with an open hand to the
rest of the world and say no more. Not as an act of
acquiesence but as an act of a new kind of justice. If he
asks for your shirt, wonder why he needs to ask and give
him your coat also.
Continue Learning
A sexual assault was reported on Friday night. These
are never easy words to stomach, but this past Saturday morning
was a particularly tough time to read and hear them here at Oberlin.
Most students were just beginning to make sense of the world again
and trying to recover as best they could from the shock of last
Tuesday when they received this very real reminder of the possibility
of human brutality.
The Review makes no presumption as to the guilt or innocence of
the accused; these are judgments rightly left to the criminal justice
system. And the Review will, of course, endeavor to provide the
facts of the case in a sensitive manner and as they become available.
Even the report the very possibility of
a sexual assault in the Oberlin community is a punch in the gut
to an already confused, angry and sad campus. On the heels of such
an unreal tragedy, the effect of other more immediate and direct
violence is both magnified and diffused. It at once makes us lose
a little more faith in good while also presenting yet another atrocity
in a series of unfathomable and impossible to process atrocities.
In short, the whole situation makes you want to give up
to give up on school, on humans, on this country, on this planet
but only for a minute. We must not be callous, or without
understanding, or without sorrow, but life must continue in something
approaching normalcy. Life cannot become a constant contemplation
of horror.
Make no mistake: it will not be easy. As difficult as this last
week has been, the coming weeks and the struggle for routine and
normalcy will be at times even harder. It is hard to concentrate
on hydrogeology, or Weber, or impressionism when questions of the
human capacity for evil are brought to the fore again and again.
At times it will indeed prove impossible; but the effort must be
made. We must all make the effort, in whatever ways we always have,
to better understand the world through our studies. This last week
has not made chemistry or history or dance irrelevant; if anything
it makes everything more relevant.
At the end of the day, we are all humans, and must never lose sight
of this fact. At Oberlin, we are also a special kind of humans:
students. We are blessed with the opportunity, the privilege, of
spending our lives learning. This past week we have learned some
terrible things. We must continue learning as humans,
as students, as Oberlin students so that those terrible
lessons are not taught to our children and theirs after. We must
continue learning, because that is what we do.
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