"Words From The Ivory Tower"
I was sitting here wondering what to write about,
when as if by magic, this appeared in my mailbox
from The Feminist Peace Network:
"Tired of hearing of September 11th?
Bruce O'Hara is.
He's a writer on Vancouver Island.
Today on Commentary he says it's time to move on."
Here's his opener:
"I have to say at the outset,
I think September 11th has been done to death."
After that stupid and insensitive remark,
he is SO off my Christmas card list!
He says we should knock off fighting terrorism,
and use the money to solve world hunger.
It was not his people murdered,
it's not his money,
it's not his country being threatened,
and nobody is going to argue against feeding the hungry.
I know I won't.
He sends his lofty opinions down from the safety of his ivory tower.
He says: "More people are killed by domestic violence, auto accidents,
etc.,
than were killed on September 11th, 2001."
I say: The people killed in the 9/11 attack
are above and beyond the yearly death statistics.
The incident is separate and special.
My priorities work from the closest ring outward:
Immediate family, then friends, and so on.
I am for making our country safe first,
and for charity starting at home, if that's where it's needed.
I'm a liberal on most issues (That should get some mail.),
but I'm not a flower child.
The homeless are everywhere here,
and the prisons are overflowing.
Our older citizens can't get the medicine they need,
and medical care is on a third world level.
And so on and so on.
There are things wrong here that should be attended to
before we try to play Mother Teresa to the world.
I wonder if it's an either/or situation?
Maybe we could fight terrorism
AND help feed the hungry.
If we try to help the people in our personal daily life,
and work on the problems we see with our own eyes,
that's a load for each person to carry.
When that's taken care of,
we need to go to work on the planet.
Fellow humans in trouble deserve our best efforts,
wherever they are.
He can write about the whole world's problems from a distance,
because it doesn't require him to actually DO anything.
There's an old gag line that goes like this:
"My wife makes all the small decisions,
like buying a house or car,
and I handle the big problems
like world hunger, the ecology,
and the possibility of life on Mars."
Hey, Bruce! Pay attention!
Don't blame us Americans for everything bad.
We're just trying to protect ourselves here,
and we're not going to forget September 11th.
Copyright © January 24, 2002 by Jack Blanchard. All rights reserved.
