- For a brief moment after 9/11, we recognized some genuine
heroes in our midst, those who put their lives on the line to rescue strangers
and those who put their own needs in back of the needs of others in the
middle of tragedy. The celebration of this heroism may have become a little
gaudy, but it was sincere.
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- Since then we seem to have become a nation of cowards
celebrating illusions.
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- There is a president, who, in reaction to the devastation
of 9/11, does not act with forbearance, curiosity to understand the root
cause, and as a world leader. Instead he lashes out at blurry targets with
more force than we were met with. This is not the act of a brave man. This
is the act of a coward.
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- There is a senator who sees his country yawing dangerously
off course and, for the first time in its history abusing its power openly
and shamelessly. The senator says nothing, though he knows better, because
he is afraid of an emotional backlash if he engages in rational discussion.
He is afraid he will lose the next election. This is the act of a coward.
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- There is a citizen who is unable to think. He succumbs
to fear, believes every scary story he hears, buys duct tape for his doors
and windows, when a bit of thinking would tell him he is in more danger
from getting into his car. This is the act of a coward.
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- There is a journalist who knows there are young children
dying in hospitals in Iraq, with their bodies horribly disfigured as the
result of our countryâs doings, yet he will not show pictures of
these children so that people can weigh the consequences of war for themselves.
He shows pictures of massively-armed Americans and reports every ãcoalitionä
news release as gospel truth. This is the act of a coward.
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- There is an attorney general who is so scared by events
that he is willing to subvert the very essence of what we would normally
be fighting for. He wraps his subversive activities in a cloud of confusion.
This is the act of a coward.
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- There is a citizen who hangs a flag out on his house
as a sign proclaiming that he cannot think, that it is enough to ãsupport
our troopsä whether what they are doing is right or wrong. This is
the act of a coward.
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- There is the soldier who fires into an oncoming vehicle
carrying a family with women and children because he thinks they are coming
after him. This is the act of a coward.
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- There is another soldier who fires into a crowd of civilians
when someone throws a sandal at him. Sure he is young, scared to death
by the situation he has been unfairly drawn into, but he doesnât
wait for a real reason to fire. This is the act of a coward.
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- Another soldier trains the barrel of his tank on a hotel
full of journalists and fires. This is the act of a coward.
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- A soldier stands by while hospitals and museums are looted
and anarchy descends on a great city. This is the act of a coward.
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- Many of these are scared kids put into an impossible
place. We should pity them, but that does not make them the heroes.
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- There is a reporter who forbears to report how scared
and unnerved these kids are, for fear he might undermine his president.
This is the act of a coward.
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- A member of the United States Congress goes into his
cafeteria and renames French Fires, Freedom Fries, because he he is unable
to take any criticism from another country, even the country that helped
pave the way for American freedom. Is this the act of a brave man? No,
this is the act of a coward.
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- A scholar who advises the White House concludes that
force and fear are the only way to end a cycle of terrorism that perpetuates
itself because of force and fear. He does not even think about finding
the reasons for the problem, or the solutions. This is the act of a coward.
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- And the president comes forth smirking and swaggering,
dressing in military garb and gloating. We have seen this from the worst
of world leaders before, the Stalins and Hitlers, and though our president
may not rise to the same level of evil, he resembles them uncomfortably.
They are the leaders that did what they did and smirked and swaggered while
they did it because they were essentially cowards too.
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- We have, it seems, at last become a nation of cowards.
Cowardice has woven itself right into the fabric of our lives. A nation
of cowards÷except those who arenât, and there are many. And
in the heart of every American there is a bravery waiting to emerge. If
someone would come along who would call on that bravery, if another Martin
Luther King came suddenly into our midst, you would see bravery flower
everywhere overnight.
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- We are, all of us, after all, just human.
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- Sidney Hall, Jr. is a poet and publisher who lives in
New Hampshire. He is the owner of <http://www.hobblebush.com/>Hobblebush
Books and may be reached at <mailto:sidhall@charter.net>sidhall@charter.net.
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- http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0508-14.htm
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