Life is not black and white
Liz Fallon
junior
Issues like chalking color on our sidewalks arise through Viewpoint articles. Laughter, offense, discussion and even silence result. How cool.
Matt Sullivan says to be thankful for the right to protest. Beth Jeub says she is. Paul Graham says workers need rights. John Litle says the leftists are classists.
I don't think the threats from/onto Iraq are justified enough to warrant a war. Conveniently, on a chilly Thursday afternoon, the president came to visit my hometown. So as an exercise of my wonderful First Amendment right to be there, I stood in the area allotted for protesters. A variety of opinionated people accompanied me, all on the same yellow-police-taped patch of grass, each with a different intent. I saw my mom and sister across the street, in line with their tickets to go see their beloved president. What's the moral of the story?
Life's not black and white. We live in the middle-ground.
I'm one big hypocritical gray middle. I am a member of the Progressive Student Allicance, but I completely agree that the extreme left is classist. I've written "Killing is not the answer to killing," on sidewalks, but I don't think unionization is necessarily a good thing. I cannot support Bush, but I melt when I think of how cute my Bush-loving mom is. I preach about how awareness is one of the most important things, but I rarely pick up multiple new sources in one day.
What's this have to do with the Notre Dame community?
Political beliefs are important, but there are some human things like family that will always be trump. Our political system bifurcates all issues into "right" or "left," and while it is beautiful to see that there are many causes which can bring people together, it limits arguments. The benefits of First Amendment are exceptional.
So let's not hastily clump. Let's not get too heated by all this debate. It's wonderful that it's going on, but let's all just recognize the middle-ground.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, November 19, 2002
