Dear Editor:

The Our Word column in the Daily Egyptian on March 21, 2007 heralded apathy as the choice of a new generation – a generation that I happen to be a part of. The writer declared that our generation is apathetic because only 80 people attended an anti-war protest. This statement is highly offensive to me. This implies that by not attending this protest, I am showing my apathy.

I am not apathetic. I do care very much what happens to my country and what my country does. And I do act on my beliefs and remain true to them even when what I believe is right is inconvenient to me. I was not there because I do not agree with the protesters. I feel that counter-protesting an anti-war demonstration would be extremely counter-productive. So I did not go. The writer of this article seems to have only thought of two possibilities – that students protested (for or against) because they cared, or that they did not because they are apathetic. According to the DE, 806 veterans are currently enrolled at our university.

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I realize that veteran status does not indicate a person’s political position on any specific issue. I cannot tell you why these 806 people joined the military or how they feel about the war, but I will venture to say that most of them did not join out of apathy. The number 80 does not represent the exclusive group of SIU students who care about their world. This tally does not account for all of us. I am not apathetic. It is simply incorrect and, I believe, inappropriate to imply (rather strongly I might add) that the only possible action for someone who is not apathetic is to attend such a protest.

I act on my convictions and support what I feel is right. My convictions may not be written on a sign in the street, but I have sacrificed for them and stood by them, and tried to do it with as much quiet dignity as possible. I know there are others like me. It may be easy to view the generalized lot of us as apathetic, but it is not correct. A protest is not the only way to act on your convictions. To quote my husband, an SIU student who spent last year with the Army in Iraq and cared enough to go to war: What more do they want?

Erica Hollinshead Stead junior studying fashion design