As inevitable as death, by the time this letter has a chance to be printed we will be at war — a very different war than any we have fought in the last century. No matter the spin that the administration puts on it, we are the uninvited aggressor this time around. No matter our intent or reasons, we will be forever marked by it. It was said that world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, but now it is about to change again. Our question now is: What to do about it?

Those that have supported the war will need to look closely at causality reports, both of soldiers and of civilians, to learn the true price of their support. Is dying by an American bomb a better death than that dealt by a tyrant of your own people? Are we better than those we replace if we want only to destroy families and homes in the process of replacement? Do we make the world safer by raising up yet another generation born in destruction and hatred of the West?

Those of us who have struggled against war must now reassess our positions. Even if we cannot support the war, we must not abandon our soldiers. We must not again confuse the war with those that fight it; our country has not yet fully recovered from the mistake it made during the Vietnam conflict.

We are not supporting the administration or its actions when we give support to those that fight in the field; they are our fathers and brothers, our in-laws, our aunts and uncles. We protest against what they have been put in the position of having to do, but we must not protest against them. They need our support, not our blame.

Safe in our homes, we are not in a position to judge their actions. When the time comes, we must voice our objection at the polls; we must remove from office those that see a war of aggression as a valid political tool. Our fight must be with the president and administration that sent our soldiers there, not the soldiers themselves. Our hope must be that they come home safe and that they come home soon.

Ray Jasinski

Graduate Student

Teacher Certification Program