Often times, I feel lucky to live in the day and age I do. This generation — despite seeing such horrors as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine massacre and the Pearl Harbor of our lifetime, Sept. 11 — has domestically lived a quiet and peaceful existence.

In retrospect, I know I take for granted the life I live. I never had to fight for my right to vote, to end the injustice of segregated schools or do battle with the tumultuous times of the Vietnam era. I will even take the liberty to say that most of us live the life of the “American dream” that our ancestors only enjoyed when they closed their eyes and the stars came out.

But, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Certainly this is what Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, wants us to appreciate by proposing a bill to reinstate the draft.

Since 1980, men between the ages of 18-26 have been required by law to register for the Selective Service. According to CNN, however, Rangel wants to adapt this plan.

In the Jan. 8 article, “Rangel introduces bill to reinstate draft,” CNN reports that the New York representative wants to extend the draft to females as well, and allow no exemption for university students. High school students of age would be allowed to graduate before being drafted.

The article states there are two reasons for this. The first would be to get Americans thinking about what war with Iraq could actually cost them. It isn’t just some John Doe going overseas to fight for this nation. Rangel, who opposes action against Iraq, wants Americans to know these people fighting and possibly dying in the name of this country will be our brothers, our friends, and quite possibly ourselves.

The second reason he introduced the bill was to make sure this was not a poor man’s war. Rangel seems to feel all should be given a chance to prove how much they love this nation. He stated, “For those who say the poor fight better, I say give the rich a chance.”

His fears of the affluent escaping the hardships of war are by no means unfounded. This country’s hate relationship with the draft goes all the way back to the Civil War. Union conscription was incredibly biased toward the rich, allowing citizens to basically pay their way out of the draft for $300. Back then, that was a lot of money. New Yorkers took particular offense to this stipulation. In 1863, a four-day riot erupted that left a thousand people dead in the streets of New York.

Martin Scorsese’s new film, “Gangs of New York,” gives some insight into what happened in the summer of 1863, but it is likely that nothing can recreate the tension and panic that engulfed the city for those four days. It is something I personally never want to live through.

Nothing has been as violent in relation to the draft as the riots of 1863. The Vietnam War caused its own wave of pressure, however, on America and the government. Opposition to the draft and the Vietnam War in general sparked protests nationwide, specifically on campuses. In California, Berkeley was the hotbed for protest, often holding demonstrations against the war and on noted occasions the burning of draft cards.

Possibly nothing is so notable as the tragic riot at Kent State University, what Life magazine labeled as “four deaths at noon.” Kent State students and other protesters took to breaking windows, destroying automobiles and setting a building on fire in May of 1970 in protest of Nixon’s action against Cambodia. The Ohio National Guard was called in and opened fire on the crowd when one of the guardsmen thought he heard a sniper shot. When the blaze of the approximately 35 shots fired cleared, four Kent State students lay dead.

Currently, the imposing war with Iraq has not caused as much unrest as Vietnam or the Civil War. Thankfully, students at Iowa State who do oppose unilateral action have decided to fight for peace in a peaceful way. From standing on street corners with signs to taking buses to march in a parade in Washington, D.C., or even more impressively, walking all the way there, scholars here have found nonviolent means to protest.

Rangel’s proposal of reinstating the draft is noble for its reasoning, but it is a tad frightening as well. Could a new draft cause the turmoil that Vietnam caused? Would I be drafted? A thousand questions come to mind, ones that I thought I would never face, especially as a female.

Action in Iraq could well bring this generation’s “American dream” to an abrupt wake-up call. I am filled in doubt that Rangel’s draft bill will go through, but it brings to attention things many of our generation have not thoroughly explored. Let us enjoy living the “American dream,” before it ends and becomes the nightmare that our ancestors endured.

Ayrel Clark is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Johnston. She is the opinion editor of the Daily.