Letter From the Editor: Peace and Picking Up Your Trash

Walking back from a class on Wednesday afternoon, I took a shortcut to my room through Walker Beach. The protest had ended about an hour before, and there was trash all over the grass. Signs, napkins, paper, salsa containers, and protest chant lyrics were strewn across the beach. It was sad to think that after an afternoon of raising awareness about peace and respect, some people did not think to respect housekeeping and the groundskeepers enough to clean up after themselves. The scene left me feeling like students sacrificed their days from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and as soon as the event was over, people walked away without a second thought.

I did not strike on Wednesday. I did not even think about striking. While I disagree with the idea of our government invading Iraq, and I have since President Bush first began to discuss it months ago, somehow striking did not feel right. I could not figure out why people insisted upon striking, specifically instead of simply holding a protest. It seemed to me that a protest held on a Friday or Saturday night, which would conflict with weekend plans, would show more commitment than providing an essentially excused absence to attend a protest.

A common explanation I heard for striking was that by sacrificing a day of classes (or other normal activities) students could stand in solidarity with people whose daily lives would be affected by the war. I found this response appalling. To draw a comparison of solidarity between those "sacrificing" class and those who fear war will erupt in their back yards is absurd.

Even more absurd, for me, was the suggestion that "sacrificing our education makes a powerful statement," which one protestor claimed. Strikers did not leave college to volunteer to work for international peace organizations, they missed a day of class. The following day, they returned to class and went on with their lives and their semesters. I think missing class to attend a protest is completely valid, but saying that you are consciously sacrificing your education or sacrificing your day in solidarity is a bit of a stretch.

The peace movement is large and diverse; the movement against this particular potential war is even more so. While I am somewhat critical of the symbolism purported in this particular demonstration, I am glad it occurred on campus. I know that sounds contradictory, but it is not. I believe in peace, and I support others who believe in peace. I support their efforts to be proactive, even if I choose not to participate in some that do not appeal to me. The fact that I was initially bothered and felt alienated by the form that the protest took was not as important as recognizing that there were people who believed in it as a way of expressing their opposition to a war in Iraq. The strikers and I wanted the same things.

I hope that the students who wore red and/or decided to strike did not look around at their peers who did not participate and think that they must support the war, or that the non-participants simply considered their own daily activities to important to forego. Individuals chose to strike for a multitude of very different and probably very personal reasons, but those of us who chose not to, particularly those of us oppose the impending war and still chose not to strike, had reasons equally multitudinous and personal. With all of us sincerely working toward peace, we need only agree on our goal - we can each approach it differently... but whatever forms of activism and expression we choose, they should involve cleaning up after ourselves.