4 -The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 9, 2001 OP/ED 4 olbr aliiun ttiU 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS NICHOLAS WOOMER Editorial Page Editors NOTABLE QUOTABLE (( Air drops make great TV but they often represent a failure to respond to a food crisis." - Will Day, chief executive of Care International, as quoted in an article appearing in the Oct 8 edition of The Guardian. The article outlined the case against food airdrops: high cost and risk, as well as the creation of a false link between humanitarian aid and military action loq0 ,t7 I Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. I A digression into love DUSTIN J. SEIBERT THE MANIFESTO 4 's two o'clock in the ing ... that feeling that makes you, more than morning ... I have happy to wake up and attend an 8 a.m., two- been having trouble hour lecture just to see your object of affection. sleeping lately, and I don't That feeling of sheer hope and anticipation for know exactly why. Perhaps what could possibly be. That feeling, man :.. it is because of my two- Absolutely nothing can come even close. That foot-wide university sup- feeling has made me haul my ass to the store, in plied bed that I can't roll my pajamas, in ten-degree weather, at three over on. Perhaps it is o'clock in the morning, just to get flowers. because this is the first time Insane, isn't it? in my life that I am actually sleeping in a room So where is she, eh? Where is the girl? I that I can call my very own. Or, perhaps it is don't see her. Being a romantic at heart means because I do my deepest thinking when I am nothing when there is no one to be romantic laying down to sleep. What's on my mind early with. My arm has not a soul on it. You see, I this morning? have the problem of being contradictory when The one thing that I really yearn for, yet it comes to these things; I am fully aware that seems to constantly elude me ... the best, longest-lasting relationships are those I promised myself that I would never write that are not jumped into, yet my characteristic a bleeding heart column about love ... it's been lack of patience makes me very anxious for overdone, and it is often used as a means to try something that I know cannot be rushed. There to hook up with someone. However, I am going is only so far flirtation can go before it loses on a rare, insomnia-induced, Jerry Maguire- purpose. There is only so far that casual sex can esque change of character, and I am going to go before it becomes a yearning for something follow my heart instead of my cerebral ... just with more depth. I always promise myself that I this once. will keep it nice, and easy when I first meet a There exists no all-consuming definition of lady that tickles my fancy, but I can't help love. It transcends all boundaries of race, age, myself - I get to thinking about what could and, well, sanity. Love is not designed for sci- be, and ... I fall. Is this how it is supposed to entists, psychiatrists or any other analysts to work? Do all guys have that trigger within dissect, as it will always defy all human com- them that, when pulled just the right way ... prehension. Love will make us reach so far Or is it just me? away from ourselves, even with the I can't tell anymore. It is very late and I omnipresent risk of failure and heartbreak - have long ago gotten beside myself in writing we either fall to the tune of a hurt that no physi- this. Yet the issue at hand remains: Where is cal pain could parallel, or we rise to a level that she? I can't find her, try as I may. What, am I no drug invented could achieve. I view love as looking in the wrong places? My mother once one of many inherent human weaknesses, but asked me, "Why is it that you don't keep any this is the one that so many more of us could girlfriends?" I said to her frankly, at the risk of use; this weakness is forgivable. - sounding arrogant, "'Cause Ma, I haven't Men enjoy putting up a facade for one found any one yet worthy to bring home to another when it comes to matters of the heart, you." And this is the unbridled truth ... if I but I challenge the hardest hard-rock to turn his- were simply searching for a woman that repre- back on his emotions. That feeling you get ... sented my idea of physically attractive, I would you know, the one where it feels like someone have long ago been in a relationship. Silly me, is running fingernails around your stomach lin- though ... I like my women with some depth. Answering instead of condemning Don't let this whole distinguished university thing fool you - poking around, dating, and meeting people like I do, I realize that there are an astounding number of people, both men and women, with massive air pockets between their two ears. Where is that woman that will cut the mind- less crap and engage in a meaningful conversa- tion with me? Where is that independent woman with the inner strength that won't take any stuff from anyone ... the woman with a mind of her own who isn't afraid to disagree with her man if necessary? Where is the woman that I can stay up all night with on a weekend and lose all sense of time just talking with her? Where is the woman with the outer beauty that can only be balanced by her inner beauty? Where is the woman that I could never get tired of just holding? Where is the woman that I can look at everyday and safely say that the sun rises and sets with her? Words lose relevance after some time ... I can just say that somewhere out there is that overlooked, winning lottery ticket, and I just have to keep wading through the garbage to find it. Again, I know that these things can't be rushed, and that I need to adopt the patience that may benefit me in this situation. My ace kept it nice and simple, "If it was meant to be, then it will." If you have it already, and it's real, then you better do your damnedest to maintain that beautiful thing, because you are one step ahead of the game already. If you truly love a person, and you have that jones deep inside that only that person can give you, you gotta tell them! What do you have to lose :.. besides everything? It is what it is; not always fair and not always genuine, but I would be playing myself if I didn't respect love as that which makes the world spin. Someday, right? 4:12 a.m. Time for bed. Knowledge. Dustin Seibert can be reached via e-mail at dseibert@umich.edu. . PETER CUNNIFFE ONE FOR THE ROAD s soon as the first mention of an American response to the recent terrorism was made, there were those who started complaining that we should do nothing, sometimes because we brought this upon our- selves. Answering them is, of course, complicated. As to the claims that we created Osama bin Laden and people like him, the explanations as to how tend to revolve around us sticking our noses where they don't belong; our arming and training of militants fighting the Soviets who then turned on us and our continued med- dling in the affairs of Middle East. But in the 1980s, were we wrong to arm Afghani freedom fighters? Their battle against the Soviets cost that nation so much in men, money and morale that it was undoubtedly a major reason for its collapse and the subse- quent freeing of nations and peoples across Europe and Asia. The Afghanis would have eventually won by themselves and the Soviet Union would have eventually collapsed under its own unworkable weight, but so much the better that we sped those events, saving many lives in the process. Whatever weapons we gave them, bin Laden and the Taliban were not our creation. If anyone deserves that honor, it is Pakistan, a nation whose government deliberately fostered and injected the most extreme brand of reli- gious fundamentalism into their politics and society and into Afghanistan's, though we never complained. And our other meddling in.the Middle East? It is true that what we have done to Iraq is a great tragedy. We are rightly concerned about holding in check the depredations of the inhuman tyrant who leads them, though we supported this madman in the past. In our effort to keep him contained, we left millions of Iraqis penned in with him, suffering horri- bly. But that all started at the request of his neighbors. When, in 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait we rushed to help it as well as protect the terrified Saudis. Now we hear that our troops in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, are one of the great offenses for which we must suffer, never mind that we were invited. As for the plight of the Iraqis, our government should have moved faster, but has been trying to modify the sanctions on Iraq. They couldn't have just been dropped. Who can argue that a man who uses chemical weapons on his own people should not be prevented from getting the chemicals to make them? Then there are the Palestinians. When, in the wake of the first strikes on Afghanistan, bin Laden said he wanted peace and security for Palestine, he meant he wants Israel destroyed. What he is concerned about is not what is happening to the Palestinians, but all those Jews where he doesn't think they belong, which is anywhere actually. Our sup- port of Israel greatly angers many people in the Middle East, as well as some Americans who have gripes with Israel for personal rea- sons (or who like to call themselves liberals, but are usually just misguided, college town fetishizers of poverty and weakness). We seem to have little choice but to endure this particu- lar source of foreign anger because if there were a Palestinian state tomorrow (which, with due consideration to Israel, there should be) the anger would live on. Judging by the fiery anti-Semitism of much of the Middle East's press, this sore spot isn't about Palestinians, it's about Jews. And they, as well as our sup- port for their state, are not and should not be going anywhere. The rush to use these issues to pin the blame for terrorism on the United States was swift. But all these arguments have answers, good ones. I wasn't thrilled to almost immedi- ately hear discordant voices among the over- whelming solidarity, but I was even more disturbed to hear the shrill condemnation of "un-American" against them. These people should not be merely hectored, but answered. True, there is no sufficient answer for some, because their gripe is not really with U.S. foreign policy, but the U.S. as a whole. I wonder if the Chomskys and Sontags of the world would be calling Americans who had flown planes into buildings full of civilians in the Middle East brave? Or is it only those they consider "oppressed" who are capable of virtue? But they are the exception. Most people opposing what we are doing are more rational and less motivated by per- sonal grudges against the United States. Those who support our policies should be happy to have the chance to explore why by hearing and responding to their critics. Despite Ari Fleish- er's apparent distaste for freedom of speech, I don't think anyone is or should be any more apprehensive than normal about expressing unpopular views. Bill Maher's right to have FedEx sponsorship was infringed, but his right to free speech is intact. We are indeed remarkably unified at the moment, but that unity is done no favors by hysterical condemnation of dissenters. People and leaders should concentrate on making and pushing the right policies, not worry about keeping errant columnists in line. Are the naysayers objectively pro-terrorist - as Michael Kelly calls them? Sure, by his logical construction, but let's not get carried away. Treating someone who doesn't like what our government does as a traitor or somehow un-American is pointless and forget- ful of a few things about America. I don't agree with the peace protesters, but you're wasting your breath if you think you can berate them into silence. Their concerns are valid and deserve response as much for our good as for theirs. Peter Cunniffe can be reached via e-mail atpcunnm/J@umich.edu. V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR U 'does not need a needs a president who is qualified, and it needs a chent hiv'hn t a nn look evond ltheskin of ty "needs" one and will automatically benefit from one.I kit nowo av to nre-iukre the aali- :.r.;:<:<.::::.. :F... ;: :.; :. . . . .: .......:.:.:: :. L A