Being a seventh-grade English teacher, I take special interest in young people’s civic ideals and freedom of expression. Last week, my seventh-grade niece commented that the classmate of one seventh grade Iraqi-born student “must hate him!” “How so?” I asked? “Well,” she said, “They blew up the towers in New York!” I felt it my moral obligation to tell her the truth.
I told her the country of Iraq and its people are innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. Unfortunately, the current leaders of our nation have their own agenda and made a conscious decision to invade them. This is why we are at war with a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.
Some people have a bad day and go home and kick the dog. Perhaps Iraq was George Bush’s symbolic “dog.” So, how do you tell a 12-year-old the truth, without telling her that her government lied to her? As much as I want to instill pride in country and civic responsibility, I cannot lie to her for our elected officials. After all, I do not understand the reasons behind the lies and I refuse to guess. At certain periods, they have claimed bad intelligence. I buy that. Yes, the bad intelligence is between their ears!
Susan Gregerson
Edmonds
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