Finding a Truth that's Real

Love him or hate him, one cannot ignore the words of President Bush. He is a man of few words and awesome power, which is what makes his recent statement in an interview to CNN that the Iraq War will look like "just a comma" in the history books so disturbing. How the leader of our country could characterize over 2,700 U.S. military deaths and roughly 45,000 Iraqi civilian deaths as insignificant in the grand scheme of history is thoroughly troubling.

The better question for President Bush comes from outside our country. In his May 2006 letter to President Bush, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asks, "Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ . . . but at the same time have countries attacked?" The apparent answer is that one can do so very easily when human life carries no real value. That President Bush disgraces his faith tradition along with himself and his country must be of particular importance to our community. One may believe like the Bush Administration that Iran is engaging in political posturing, but we as a faith community must respect a political leader that addresses the leader of our country on matters of faith. And in a society where the answer to this question is more war, we must provide witness to another way.

Thankfully, we have the opportunity to provide that witness to a path of peace. This past Thursday, I had the privilege to hear professors from our university talk about the opportunities they have had in just the past few months to converse with Islamic leaders in Iran and Iranian President Ahmadinejad himself. The Middle East is trapped in war directly because of our government, but people from our university are providing witness to a peaceful Christianity and a peaceful world. Yet why was I one of only a handful of students at this Thursday afternoon dialogue where the professors shared of their conversations with Islamic leaders? The average age of people at this event was at least 60-years-old if not greater. I respect the older members of our larger community, but they are hardly representative of this university.

We cannot forget why we are at this small university in Virginia. Eastern Mennonite University exists because it is different. We the students are here because we chose to have a different education from our peers. We are the only Mennonite Church USA university that bears "Mennonite" in its name. Do we wear that distinction with pride? We as students at a Mennonite university have the ever present opportunity to shape our church and world. Do we embrace our position as leaders?

One must recall the example of Australian sprinter Peter Norman. His name is virtually unknown, but his face appears in history books across the country as the white face on the picture of Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their hands in the symbol of Black Power on the medal platform of the 1968 Olympics.

Peter Norman did not raise his hand. He was not a part of the civil rights struggle in the United States, but he could and did bear witness to the suffering of African-Americans. When the Americans told Norman of their plans, he asked what he could do to help. Though barely noticeable in the picture, Norman wore a badge for the Olympic Project for Human Rights in support of the Americans.

Norman willingly accepted his opportunity to bear witness on the national stage, and he paid the price for his actions. The Australian Olympic Committee reprimanded Norman the next day. The Australian media largely ignored his achievement even though his time that night still stands as the Australian record. Yet his statement of solidarity with Smith and Carlos speaks far louder than his record time or the punitive actions of the Australian media and Olympic Committee.

We as students and a university must accept our opportunities to show a better way for the world. We are distinct from those around us. We are Mennonites. We are Peacemakers. We have a responsibility to show the leaders of the world, ours especially, that we bring a different perspective to the world. We must embrace the opportunity to show that faith does matter and that our faith is not one of war. To the extent that we are not distinctly different from the world around us, to the extent that we do not proudly carry these differences, we have failed.

Contact Galen @ galen.wenger@emu.edu