So, here I am at the end of my first semester at Saint Louis University. What a ride! That was awesome. I find it ironic that I come to the end after finally getting to that protest. In case you don’t know what protest, about 134 people affiliated with this institution went down to the gates of the army base Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., and peacefully kept vigil while calling for the closing of the School of the Americas (SOA), which is located on the base. It was incredible.
Like many of you, I didn’t believe that large parts of our population were capable of existing in a peaceful environment. I don’t mean peaceful like in the way that we didn’t cause a riot and break stuff. I mean peaceful in an even more incredible sense. You could talk to anybody. You could go anywhere within the vigil and feel safe and comfortable. You could show a peace sign, and always get one back. We were in a state of solidarity unlike any that I have ever felt in a group larger than 30 people. Yet, there were 12,000 people!
I know all this sounds like a bunch of sentimental donkey dung, but talk to those who were there. We were there for a peaceful cause, to send a message in one voice. The message was beyond a call for legislation. It was a demand for our leaders to take a fresh look at the place our country holds in the world; to look at the effects that we have on the lives of millions. That November weekend, eyes were opened, minds freed (and no, that didn’t include the use of drugs).
In a commentary in the last issue, a man who I have come to respect greatly expressed concern for the direction of this movement and of others. He was concerned that the issues have become too mainstream; that maybe we should look at the effect of making our issues “cool.” I want to respond that his initial concerns are understood, but I can testify that he need not worry. Personally, I believe that the point of working on issues is to make them a common concern of the people. In the case of the SOA, I think that we are beginning to do that. This whole issue was kept under wraps. But a lone priest, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, found out what was happening, and began to say to himself, “This is wrong, and I bet that others will feel the same way.” He started telling people, and people were “bothered.”
Now, in the beginning, the people who listened were the activists. Activists listen to most concerned people. They find such atrocities as those that are pinned to the SOA more easily believable than many Americans. But Roy kept talking, and many people became concerned. Representatives of many different kinds of people met down there at that base, and we joined them. Rich, poor, black, white, Latino, male, female, old, young, educated, “streetwise,” conservative and liberal people all gathered. And we were peaceful.
Talk to those who went. Ask them about the sacrifice that people went through to send this message. Ask them what they think now about the goodness of human beings. Many of us believe that we saw a glimpse of Utopia down there, and the image and effect will forever be burned upon our memories. But we were so lucky. In Seattle, protesters are being tear-gassed in the streets. They are speaking out for the rights of laborers around the world, making a vocal and physical appeal to the leaders of the world’s industries to stop killing the world around us, and to take the value of their many workers into consideration. And they are gassed. The thought is appalling, if we think about it.
Our leaders know that the eyes of the world are on us, and they are attempting to minimize the disturbing cries of our own people. In so many ways their appeals and the concerns of our gathering are much the same. They are calling for the change of the industry leaders, and we are calling for a change in the military structure that secures the environment that allows such environmental destruction and unfair labor situations to thrive. So, know that as we return next semester, I will still be making a call for concern about our sisters and brothers worldwide. In addition to that, columns of baseball swim through my head, as I think, “Only 78 more days till spring training.”
And for those of you who are STILL interested in the topics raised in last week’s column, I am afraid that we will still have more to talk about. Please rest assured that I am confident of all the concerns raised in that article. I am sure that those who are concerned about the messages sent in the column will try to destroy the point by slinging mud at those who were my sources.
But the fact is, while those I spoke to may have behaved no better than the activities that I described last week, I don’t feel that they made all this up. They may have less than honorable intentions in giving us the information they gave us, but I am convinced that the info is still true.
Personally I am sick of the whole thing. I did what I had to do to open the eyes of the school to the real goings-on of some of our leaders, but I really am not enjoying all this nasty, ugly dirt. I want to talk about more important things, but I will defend my story if I have to. I feel I have spoken the truth.
In the end, I just want you all to know, that I am concluding the greatest semester of my college career, and it has been the wonderful people I have met here and worked with that has made it so great. To my honorable brothers in Sigma Phi Epsilon, thank you for showing me true brotherhood. From the people in the Greis complex, to our student government, to The University News staff, to my brothers and sisters concerned with the SOA, thank you for a great few months. I look forward to all the times to come.
To all of you , have a blessed and relaxing holiday season. I’ll see you next year.
