Fighting our own problems

Chris Thomas

Columnist

On this made up holiday to sell candies, cards and flowers, make sure guys, if you are seeing someone, you do something for them.

Even if she tells you, "I hate this holiday. You don't have to do anything for me," or "it's just a holiday that was made up to sell stuff," do something.

Don't be a fool. Every girl wants something for Valentine's Day. This is just a little helpful tip from me to you. Even if it something small, it shows you didn't forget.

Now that I have provided my love advice for this month (more advice is available by setting up individual appointments with me; just call my agent), let's move on, shall we?

Over the past few months at Wartburg, there has been a lot of posters going up around campus focusing on the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, a lot of talk about the School of the Americas in Georgia and the campus organization known as Students for Peace and Justice (SPJ).

SPJ is the campus organization concerned with the actions of the United Nations and the United States as they affect the world. This is all fine and good in my mind, but what about the reasons that these sanctions are being placed or why our government is training other countries' soldiers?

The United States just doesn't go around condemning nations for no apparent reason, to the best of my knowledge. President Clinton just doesn't get up in the morning and call his advisors to issue sanctions against the country of his choice.

One of the main concerns of SPJ is the UN sanctions against Iraq. Iraq isn't the nicest country in the world, as we already know. They've started military battles; their government is known as an oppressive dictatorship that is unwilling to work with the UN and all signs point to the fact that they more than likely have nuclear weapons that they aren't telling anyone about. Iraq makes the world unsafe for the rest of the nations, and the members of SPJ want the sanctions lifted.

Yes, I admit that there is a sad side to the sanctions and that a lot of the people that are affected by them have nothing to do with the controversy, but that is just a part of war and politics that is unavoidable in today's society.

Another concern is the School of the Americas (SOA), U.S. military training school at Fort Benning, Georgia. SOA trains Latin American soldiers in war tactics, and then many of these soldiers go on to participate in the overthrowing of their home countries.

SPJ, along with many other Americans, went to this school which is supported by American tax dollars, closed down.

When I think about what the school does, I start to wonder why they do it. They must have a reason behind training the Latin American soldiers. And I think I might actually have an idea as to why.

The governments of Latin America have never been the safest in the world. By training soldiers in war tactics, something that they could not learn in their home countries, they can go back and provide military protection.

However, I'm not living in a cave and do realize that these armies sometimes, instead of protecting the country, actually overthrow the country.

Again, this happens in today's society. And most overthrows take place because people are upset with the government.

How many governments are overthrown because they are doing a good job? Not many at all.

SPJ leaders believe that some people may see them as a radical group. I wouldn't call them radical, but instead would call them illogical.

SPJ is fighting for causes that don't directly affect the people of the United States, for the most part. And they are fighting against the UN and the U.S. government, organizations that are not going to listen to anyone.

The biggest question I always raise with organizations that are fighting causes outside of the borders of America is, what about the causes inside our borders?

Every day, countless Americans go without food, just like the children in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of people go to sleep each night in the streets. Organizations such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill are working to fight these problems, but they need more help.

How can organizations such as SPJ justify fighting for world causes when there are so many problems in our own country?

SPJ's causes are good ones and eventually need to be corrected, but shouldn't we be fighting to solve the problems in the United States before we fight to solve the problems in other countries?