Re: Please, No Ribbons

Hi Curtis, my response is a few days from yours but I still wanted to make a few points, but   I will restrain my email to your last statement regarding our "splendid isolation."   My comments are in two parts and I am sure neither will be a surprise to you.

 

1.  Actually I wonder, when folks from countries who have suffered war experiences express resentment/hatred toward Americans who by luck of geographical location have been spared, I really wonder if this is an irrational envy.  I have traveled in Europe and the middle east and I have heard such comments.   They are made as tho to infer  that we Americans can never know or feel their experience, never having been through bombing, invasion, etc.  Well, maybe Americans didn't exactly know or feel that experience, but we have always been helpful to those who have suffered.  I often facilitate grief emotional support groups and it does help survivors know of my own losses, yet, we all know that grief and suffering is unique to the individual.  That's all, no real point, other than  the poignancy of, did we really have to know?

 

2.  We no longer live in "splendid isolation;"  recently I wondered about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, actually I propose that that incident really signalled the end of our isolation, only we let ourselves complacently continue to  think we were invulnerable.   

 

There are so many ways to cope constructively with this  and any tragedy and I am very pleased with the suggestions made on this list/serve  as well as New Yorkers specifically and this and foreign countries generally.

 

Joann Jelly

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: DeBerg, Curtis

To: service-learning@csf.colorado.edu;Rigolinr@aol.com

Sent: 9/13/01 9:22:17 AM

Subject: 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

 

 

--- Joann Jelly

--- joannjelly@earthlink.net

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