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War: Not the Answer

A murderer is on the loose. Police spot him in a crowded street. They tell him, “Put you hands up.” He ignores their order and runs. The police start shooting. Ra-ta-tat-ta-tat. When the gunfire ends one murderer is dead, and the street, now strewn with bodies, is silent.

Such action is unjustified. Yet in war , that’s exactly what happens: innocent lives are lost, while the line between good and evil fades and then disappears. As America seeks justice for the September 11 attacks, the possibility that we will go to battle is still very real. We must respond, but not with weapons — and not with soldiers who are barely out of high school.

It is the young people who have the most to lose as their futures begin to look a little less bright. In this issue, we feature two youth columnists, Avy Mallik and Queena Lu, who give their thoughts about the recent events. Queena Lu, a senior at Galileo High School, describes her grandmother’s life, already scarred by the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese imperialism, and the Vietnam War. Avy Mallik, a junior at Lincoln High School, raises concern about the backlash against Middle Eastern Americans and everyone who bears a resemblance to them. Throughout the nation, such racist violence continues, proving we are still judged by the color of our skin.

Mallik also voices objection to military action and contemplates the future: “If…someone comes up to me years after this incident and tells me that I was wrong — that Bush had, in fact, not started a major war and that he had brought the people responsible to justice; that an impoverished country had not been decimated and that I had been wrong all along — I would be the happiest person alive.”