|
Volume CXXXIII, Number 3 |
 |
Learning from within us
TODD BUELL
Never before has an event left such a mark on our nation
as when four hijacked airplanes crashed into both World Trade Towers,
the Pentagon, and thanks to heroic acts of passengers, a field outside
of Pittsburgh. It is probably a safe bet that not only did everyone in
this country feel a natural emotional response of grief and outrage, but
for most it was personal too. New York and Washington are metropolises
of such magnitude that almost all Americans know someone who lives near
those cities. Bowdoin College is not unlike the rest of the country. Dozens
of students live in both affected areas and sadly many knew individuals
who perished, some even lost immediate family members. Yet like the rest
of the nation, our campus united in this time of indescribable grief and
loss.
One of my dear friends whose hometown lost dozens of residents
lives in Stowe Hall. Last week, as I went back to Quinby House after commiserating
with her I was often inspired by the quotation that is on the plaque as
one enters her dormitory. It reads "an atmosphere of sympathetic
influence encircles every human being." I imagine most of us have
neither noticed nor taken the time to appreciate the meaning of this wisdom
prior to this past week's events. I know that I hadn't. But never before
have I seen Harriet Beecher Stowe's wisdom so clearly embodied than in
the support that the Bowdoin community gave each other in this unimaginable
time of crisis. I have never been prouder to be a Bowdoin student than
I was at both candle light vigils on Thursday and Friday night when members
of all religious faiths overcame any fear or hesitation that they had
in expressing their beliefs. They prayed openly and passionately and were
warmly received by the community. Our uniting in hugs, songs, and expressions
of concern and sympathy showed the rest of the community and country that
even the often impenetrable "Bowdoin Bubble" had been shattered
by these cowardly acts of terror. I wish to thank the administration,
Residential Life staff, and professors who allowed students the opportunity
to express their grief, concern, and love for each other publicly.
Although the actions of Bowdoin's administration and students
seem natural, not all colleges and universities showed the same respect
to those who died innocently or those who suffer and sympathize. At Cornell,
students were banned from draping American flags outside their windows.
A student received applause at a UC-Berkeley candlelight vigil when she
proclaimed that we "originated state-sponsored terrorism." A
girl at the University of Wisconsin said that the attacks reflect our
"interventional and often coercive use of military and economic capital."
In addition, other friends of mine at other universities tell me that
this attack is entirely the fault of President Bush for neglecting to
walk in lockstep with the rest of the world on Kyoto and Anti-Ballistic
Missle treaties.
These people seem to have forgotten the attacks that took
place in the World Trade Tower in 1993, on US Embassies in Africa in 1998,
and on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen last October. President Clinton
was in office during all of these tragedies. I find it ironic also that
many of these same students argue on the one hand that our being attacked
is in some way a moral equivalence to supposed injustices that we commit,
yet they oppose us in attacking Afghanistan. It really makes me wonder
who is teaching them that our country has ever done anything nearly as
evil as purposely killing nearly 6,000 innocent civilians in a peacetime
ambush.
Thankfully, students or faculty that share these absurd
opinions are a quiet minority here at Bowdoin and they have met appropriate
resistance from people of all political affiliation. We know as a campus
that this was an attack focused not on any particular group of people,
but rather on all of us as Americans. Consequently, last week we came
together in public and private to show our grief, our horror, our outrage,
and our resolve to get through this time of pain and peril. On a peaceful
day recently I encountered a memorial on this campus that remembers the
last Bowdoin students or alumni to die in a terrorist attack: the bombing
of Pan Am flight 103. On the plaque is inscribed a beautiful quotation
from Ralph Waldo Emerson that should serve as appropriate guidance through
what could be a prolonged war: "What lies behind us and what lies
before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."