America covering the war

When I found out that The Colonnade was going to be printing a special edition for the ongoing war against terrorism that our nation is fighting, I was generally excited.

There are many things about this conflict that stir up emotions deep within me. Different parts of all of us have surfaced during this troubled time. This conflict has shown us who really is loyal to our United States of America. It has shown us where we draw our strength. It has shown us that President George W. Bush is anything but the feeble leader his opponents have made him out to be. Most of all it has shown us that just when America thought it had defeated all its “enemies” it was wrong.

There is a real and calculated enemy out there. Many would have us
think that the line between friend and foe is not so definable anymore. They are grossly mistaken. When World War II started and we joined in the fray, America knew exactly who its enemies were. Today our President has stated the exact standards by which our enemies should be judged. Anyone that is a terrorist or harbors terrorist’s is our enemy.

So as we as a nation stand at a crossroad of our future we need to realize what the word “War” means. That bombs hurt people, missiles blow up, and that man nor machine is not infallible. We are all in this together and when we stand apart we will fall one by one. There is a reason why we signed a constitution to become the United States of America. In the articles of confederation we were to weak to defend ourselves, we could not function apart so we joined together as one nation. Let us then be one nation, let us have one goal, and let us look back towards the principles on which this nation was formed. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness gets thrown around a lot and many people forget that our that we adopted the constitution to “form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”

Now, as I always am quick to point out, this nation cannot function under one point of view. The support of one point of view is the only was to accomplish a goal. For example, the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America must pass legislation that is identical in its wording and intent, the President must then sign that document in its entirety. Neither has the ability to pass it’s own individual bills nor does the President have to ability to remove and add whatever he pleases. What a mess that would make. Just as those examples are impossible, fighting a war against an enemy without a common end game will not prosper. How can a military function if it does not have a singular goal and perspective? They can each have different approaches, but ultimately they must have the same goal.

Until we as a nation realize this, we will remain in fear of Anthrax, we will not pass any legislation, we will not defeat terrorism and it will all be for nothing.

Many people I have heard lately have also been blaming the “media” for many of the problems surrounding the recent Anthrax scare. People have accused the media of stirring up fear, and even giving terrorists ideas for attacks on this nation. For those people I would like to remind them that without the “media” no one would have seen the terrorist attacks against America on September 11. We would not even know except by word of mouth about the recent Anthrax outbreaks. So many people fear the “media”, they fear the inaccuracies, the hype, the crooked perspectives, and some have legitimate concerns. But for the most part, as I have learned oh, so well these past two years, that our job is to inform you the public. Granted we air commercials, print ads, and play jingles, but those only allow use to inform you the people. As Ryan said last week, The Colonnade’s motto statement is “Your Right to Know, Our Duty to Inform.” Pay attention to the ongoing struggle our nation faces; don’t take everything at face value, and, to once again steal the famous line, “think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!” God Bless.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 9 2001. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry