Re: Please, No Ribbons

Rachel,

Thank you for urging everyone not to resort to the "usual banality" of
ribbons, etc. This is a time for deep, personal reflection. Each of us is
trying to sort this out with friends, loved ones, and students. As to what
each of us can do to help, I won't repeat the many good, common sense
suggestions that have been made on this listserv, other than to say that
there are many non-profit organizations to which one can make a financial
contribution that will directly aid those in need.

I have also seen from prior emails this morning that tomorrow is "U.S. Pride
Day" and people are encouraged to wear a flag. I won't. If the government
declares a national day of remembrance, I shall do so in quiet contemplation
of Tuesday's events, continuing to ponder what could cause such outrageous
behavior among our fellow man. While I consider myself to be a loyal
American, and I love my country dearly, I refuse to make what happened
yesterday a "national pride" issue. I am a global citizen who happens to
have the incredible good fortune of being born in Iowa. 

Having traveled over the past three years to Northern Ireland, the Middle
East, and Western Europe, I have returned to the US with a different
perspective of how the world views us as the lone hyperpower in the world. I
was surprised to learn how much, in general, Americans are disliked because
of our, as one European referred to it, "spendid isolation."  Our military,
political, and economic policies have, on occasion, killed or maimed
innocent people. When that innocent person is your brother, hatred moves
from the philosophical to the personal. When it gets personal, we get
terrorists.

What to do? Service learning is one small answer. Service learning, I
believe, can help students transfer from the philosophical to the personal
by getting them involved in real issues, for a good and just cause, rather
than for hatred. And the more types of service learning projects we, as
faculty, can create for students that help them understand international
issues from more than one perspective, the better off we all will be.

After yesterday, we no longer live in splendid isolation. 

Sincerely,

Curt DeBerg
Business Professor
California State University, Chico


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rigolinr@aol.com [SMTP:Rigolinr@aol.com]
> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2001 8:36 AM
> To:   service-learning@csf.colorado.edu
> Subject:      Please, No Ribbons
> 
> Everyone,
> Here at the State University of New York at New Paltz, about 90 min. from
> the World Trade Center, our campus community and our local community have
> been personally devestated. 
> While I know we are all searching for "something to say or do," I implore
> instructors not to reach for the usual banality. Symbolic ribbons (there
> are now so many we don't even know WHAT COLOR TO USE) are a trivial
> commercialization of a unspeakable, devestating event. Please, don't.
> Rachel Rigolino
> SUNY at New Paltz
> rigolinr@newpaltz.edu