Patriotism, ‘9/11’ and weighing the costs of war

Sue Clark

By the time you read this, the Fourth of July, my least favorite

holiday, will be over, except for the thousands of fireworks people

keep to torture the pets in our area with pointless and frightening

sounds.

People get ugly on this holiday, too. Last year, I walked down to

the Balboa Peninsula to a friend’s picnic and saw lots of drunk and

decidedly bizarre folks exhibiting their dark sides. One such fellow

followed me tipsily up Riverside Avenue to my main street, assuring

me he was completely sober -- just not too steady on a bike.

It’s not that I am unpatriotic; it’s quite the opposite. After a

tour of then-East Germany with the William Hall Chorale in the early

1970s, I returned to the U.S. with abject gratitude for freedom of

information, speech and religion.

Watching elderly German people weep as we sang sacred music in

their cathedrals was as powerful for me as being inundated by

ubiquitous Red slogans on all the buildings proclaiming it Lenin’s

birthday (and we had better be thrilled about it).

I was so glad to get home. I was re-Americanized. I had also

missed blue cheese salad dressing, eschewing oil and vinegar from

that day on.

Before I go on, I want you to remember that I also kind of liked

Ronald Reagan, so I’m not a totally knee-jerk Democrat. But unlike

Pilot Forum page contributor Maxine Cohen, I loved “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

There was nothing in the film that surprised me. I think the Bush

administration is capable of lying, manipulating and cloaking their

actions in pompous, meaningless war talk. Certainly the audience,

which applauded afterward, was the choir to which Michael Moore was

preaching.

But the movie made me sad. When it talked about the loss of young

lives, it struck me that I’d just lost my first former student to the

war in Iraq. And I’d just said goodbye to one of my favorite current

students, who left for the same war two weeks ago.

Sean’s father had called our school last week to say his son had

died in Iraq. Sean had been sent to our continuation school to catch

up on credits. He’d been especially close to our other counselor and

to our vice principal, but we all knew him. He was not the academic

type, but had a quirky sense of humor and a sweet smile.

I was unable to attend his funeral, but the vice principal called

to tell me about it. While Sean Horn was attending Creekside High

School, he’d received an award from Ed Johnston, our computer lab

teacher at the time. (We give out awards each month as a way of

honoring our students’ achievements and positively re-enforcing their

improving behavior.)

Sean’s dad had framed this award and presented it to his son upon

the completion of boot camp. It, and Creekside, his father had said

at the service, had meant the world to his son.

Just prior to hearing about Sean’s death, one of my favorite

students, Kevin Martinez, dropped by to tell his teachers he was

leaving for Iraq. We decided to adopt his company as a school, as our

students seem to have a natural altruism and love to help others.

While watching “9/11,” all I could think about was Sean, returning

for a funeral, and Kevin, so excited about going into danger.

Is it patriotic to go fight a war most of us do not really

understand? This is one thing Michael Moore forces the audience to

ponder. He also accosts several senators and congressmen and demands

to know why they have not sent their own kids off to Iraq. The looks

they give him range from contemptuous to confused.

I don’t like the Fourth of July, but I do support it. I’m happy to

live in a place where a person like Moore can make a controversial

documentary and not be jailed. And I take it for granted that I can

write a possibly unpopular opinion on the Bush administration and do

it with impunity.

So when my dog cowers under the bed for a few days, thinking those

firecrackers are guns, I suppose the trade-off of freedom of speech

ameliorates it.

But I cannot stop wondering why Sean had to die and Kevin had to

go and risk his life for an unclear reason. As Moore says, it’s

always the less- affluent kids who are most willing to defend us with

their lives.

Hope you had a good and reflective Fourth.

* SUE CLARK is a Costa Mesa resident and a high school guidance

counselor at Creekside High School in Irvine.