Sit Down to Stand Up for Conscience
Today was our Sit Down to Stand Up for Conscience action at the Marquette library, celebrating the lives of two persons of conscience Franz Jägerstätter and Dorothy Day. We had a motley crew of peace makers, some Marquette Alumni, but no students or members of the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking, present. Also Marquette authorities, outside of a security guard watching us, once again ignored us. The message we communicate to stop teaching values and methods, like reflexive killing and priority of Army values over conscience is something a Catholic University does not want to hear. So instead of reacting or responding to our message, they ignore it. What does a person need to do these days to communicate a message?
However, our message is slowly leaking out. Persons who read our flyer today and talked with us were surprised that Marquette hosts schools of the Army, Navy/Marines and Air Force and contributes in such a significant way to the militarization of our society. Starting with Starbase, a Department of Defense program for ‘at risk’ grade school children, to Junior Reserving Officer Training Programs in high schools through the Department of Military Sciences at schools like Marquette, our educational system has slowly but surely become militarized.
Often when they interview soldiers about why they joined the military, the ability to go to college is mentioned. If education were free here as it is in many other countries, our military would need to come up with a valid reason why. For the real ‘why’ we are fighting present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is difficult if not impossible to answer.
Just like the senseless homicides that take place in our city streets, or the tragic killing rampage at Ft. Hood yesterday, the why of violence haunts us. Can we afford to ignore the why?
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