Editorial

Gather Strength

This is a time when words are wholly insufficient in expressing reality.
The simultaneous, coordinated attacks with hijacked airliners on both the World Trade Center Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. have in one short morning redefined the way Americans see the world and fundamentally altered the way we live. No longer can Americans live in a bubble of assured safety and prosperity; no longer is America an exception. Many people in the world live and have lived for centuries with a constant threat of death or torture at the hands of known or unknown oppressors, and now we must do so as well.
This tragedy has thrown shock waves through the fabric of American life. Oberlin was deeply and tragically touched by many deaths among the untold thousands who perished in the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers. And given the close-knit nature of the Oberlin community, even those not directly affected by the attacks are not far removed from some personally affected. The people killed yesterday morning –– lawyers, financial analysts, economists, secretaries, government workers –– are the people that Oberlin students become. Even those not affiliated with Oberlin are our kindred spirits, and even those stories not directly our own are intimately ours in a more universal way. Our hearts, minds, prayers and thoughts go out to these people.
The people covered in ash, the people jumping from windows away from fire and planes, the people blown to nothing –– these are the people made to suffer or die for the agenda these gruesome acts were committed to support. They have died for a war that may not even be a “war,” a war whose terms and goals are uncertain and a war that has been raging, unknown to most, for the better part of a century. The great unspoken war of our time is the war of ill will and deceit between America and the rest of the world. We have been firing shots at the rest of the world, some with guns but mostly with dogmatic and oppressive foreign policies. We have received plenty of dogma in kind –– from the Soviet Union and other Communist nations, from Third World countries where American industry sets up shop, from fundamentalist Islamic nations –– but save for Vietnam, we have received very few bullets in return. This is a big bullet, right between the eyes of thousands of innocent Americans.
Now that the initial veneer of invulnerability has been removed, the question becomes, how do we respond? This is not just a question of how the America of the White House, State Department and Defense Department responds, it is a question of how we as American citizens respond. The issue of response and identity will be discussed ad infinitum in the popular press and at the water coolers and in the coffee shops of America. This is a good thing, for it has been too long since Americans had frank discussions of national identity and purpose.
There is another level of discussion that will unfortunately not take place on a large scale on the national stage. Therefore, Oberlin and similar communities must bear the load of this discussion. Now is a time of crisis in America, potentially as important as any before, and Oberlin must decide if it wants to once again step up to the plate as one of America’s progressive consciences. We have been equal to the task before, and always proclaim pride in official literature for the “history of progressive activism.” But talk is cheap; it is only in the face of potentially hostile resistance that our principles are truly defined. So we must stand up, and as quickly as we denounce these attacks for the horrible acts of evil that they are, we must also guard against the all-too predictable American responses of xenophobia and militarism. We must question, loudly, the normal and generally racist assumptions made by many in this country –– the popular news media included –– about Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent, and guard against the normal assumptions of their involvement in or support for these horrible deeds. We must question the use of force as a way to resolve conflicts, and question the use of these events as a possible motivation for increased defense spending and misplaced budgetary priorities. We must stand up for what we believe in now more than ever, because now it can really count for something.
The events of the past two days may mark the beginning of a scary and uncertain new time to be alive and American. Yesterday was a tough day, but it will likely be the first of many tough days ahead. To make it through this uncertain and dangerous future, we will need to be strong and stand together as humans, as Americans and as an Oberlin community. We must not answer hate and destruction with the same, but rather use this tragedy as an opportunity to understand the awful power of fear. Only by understanding fear ourselves can we begin to develop a greater understanding of the confusing, angry world in which we live. To not learn these lessons would be the greatest tragedy of all.