Yes, But Who Weeps for the American Landmass?

WALK IN MY SHOES

All my life I've had to bite my tongue when Oct. 12 came around because of the romantic delusions that a certain cross-section of the population has with Christopher Columbus. But the last few years have been very traumatic for me. Between 2002 and 2004 Lewis and Clark was the focus of celebration, despite the fact that event led to the mass murder of native people as well as environmental devastation. This year in Virginia marked the 400 years of the colonization of the Southern territories, so the first reaction by the arrogant descendants of those invaders is to once again "celebrate," despite the fact of the legacy of slavery and mass murder that followed. I have decided to celebrate an event that is very humiliating to the Caucasian population.

Sept. 11 will be my holiday, for I have the right to admire "questionable figures and events" as well. Osama bin Laden in reality is a valiant revolutionary who has the courage to stand up to an overwhelmingly violent and ambitious force whose only goal is to seize control of all indigenous recourses. Mr. bin Laden is the George Washington, Geronimo and Sitting Bull of the 21st century. He did not start this war; that dubious honor goes to the U.S. This so called terrorist, as he is so commonly referred to by the Western world, has the courage to stand up to this "white entity" with conviction. The 19 brave fighters, like the colonial militia or the many other colorful heroes of Americas past, laid down their lives to strike a punishing blow to the very symbol of American imperialism.

I also must not forget to give a salute to the brave Iraqi resistance who are fighting a life and death struggle against the modern day conquistadors who are trying to plunder their country of its natural resources. All in order to feed the gluttonous appetite of a "mega-consumer society" and force them to assimilate into a foreign system of ideology. Someone who has limited arms and has to resort to using his body as a bomb is a coward to the West, but dropping a bomb from three miles in the sky or firing a cruise missile from a thousand miles out in the ocean is a heroic act. How arrogant this culture is.

Now I'm sure I have infuriated most of the reading audience. Congratulations! You have walked in my shoes.

Wyona Wolf, Cottage Grove