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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1998)
2______ H he CI ac I< amas P rìnt Wednesday, October 21, 1998 Straightening the Line with Wyoming have been so? Yet there it is. Millions murdered in an efficient, systematic process, murdered just as the young man in Wyoming was murdered, as the seven year old girl in Nevada was murdered and just as the man dragged behind the truck was taken to his death. How could such a thing as the Holocaust have happened; how JygHOENBERG could they have gotten away with it for so long that millions died? All the man in Nevada for men women and children raping and then killing who were gassed or shot and a seven year old girl, burned to ashes—how was it and the death of a man allowed? dragged behind a truck From time to time I have a few weeks ago, the to go the library to see the news out of Wyoming faces. The Holocaust is well forced a flurry of activity that will, documented with photographic im unfortunately, fade from memory ages, with movies and with diaries except for the few people close to from the victims and the killers. I the victim, including the young look at the photographs again, of the man’s killers. clusters of people, segre The circle of inter gated by sex or age, stand est will close in tighter ing in the winter woods of as the world goes on ...The news- Germany, queuing up be with its business. side the trains that have I wondered, just fl/ ' ' brought them to these another tragedy in a places, gathering outside world full of trag Wyoming ", the barracks of edy? forced a *- ’ Buchenwald or milling To keen my inter flurry of ’ ' about behind the barbed est, then, I returned to wire enclosure of what always will activity that Auschwitz-Birkenau. Just straighten the line for will, look at their eyes, it’s right me. As I meander there in those eyes so clear. about in the world as unfortunately, No photos are neces I know it, from time fade from sary now. I have no need to time the line I travel memory to see the seven year old needs to be pulled girl’s eyes as she cowers taut, so I may see my except for in fear, or hear the man way clear. the few behind the truck scream There are some ing, choking on the dust. worldly events, usu people close I can see their eyes: the ally involving the nu to the victim, eyes looking out over a merous wars that Wyoming landscape for mankind seems to be including the the last time, a cold, compelled to repeat, young man's windswept Wyoming that can be set with killers. night at the darkest mo emotional depth ment before dawn, tied to charges in a single a fencepost as he is bru word or two. Such tally beaten with the side place names as the of a revolver. Spanish Civil war’s It all seems so clear now. We bombing of Guernica or the sec need to relocate that inner compas ond World War’s Stalingrad come sion, to work at eliminating the to mind. The list can go on back violence from our lives by look into history for generations, possi ing into the eyes of past victims of bly eons. man’s inhumanity to man, to com The one name that straightens bat our cynicism toward just one the line for me is Holocaust. more murder after another— to put It has always sent my rational a stop to the senseless killing of imagination reeling to think that the each other. Holocaust occurred. How can it Aslam cynical, jaded and world weary, I was having a difficult time working with this week’s topic: the beating death of a young man in Wyoming. Along with the conviction of a ■■i Which is the true tragedy? Last week, on a chill October night in Wyoming, a young man was tragically beaten and killed. But which is the tragedy? That a person lost his life at the hands of his fellow man—or that the man who lost his life was gay? formulate, an intelligent, balanced, and above all, loving position. Part of the problem is that it is as sumed by many, on issues of sexual orientation in particular, that to dis agree with behavior on moral grounds is to fail to “accept” and “love” the individual. On the other hand, the moti ves of some “Chris tians” are far from lov ing. There are many in Christendom, and secular conservatism, who ap parently think that a homosexual’s lifestyle makes them fair game for all manner of abuse and ostracization, whether it be as silly as a boycott of Disney or as chilling as Shepard’s fate. I say to those on both sides of this fence that it is as pos- sible for me to believe homosexual ity to be wrong and still love gay people as it is for me to love those who lie, lose their tempers, or are conceited—all attributes, by the way, I could easily ascribe to myself. Christian doctrine may hold that homosexuality is sin, but also teaches that all sins are the same— “Rebellion is as the sin of witch craft,” and “every one who is angry with his brother” is guilty of mur der—so who are we to claim the gay lifestyle as the ultimate evil? I admit that until recently, this principle was strictly abstract. I simply didn’t know any gay people. Now, however, I know too many— unique, passionate, insightful, and eccentric—to believe them to be any less than loveable human beings. Gay people are just that—people. There are things rational people do not do to other people, and torture and murder are among those things. That is the tragedy. That is the sad fact—that two young Ameri cans believed such hate was an ac ceptable response to perceived provocation. It is not a political tragedy, or a religious tragedy, but a human tragedy. It is a direct af front to the precepts of a Messiah of whose followers it was decreed, “you shall know them by their love.” I say, then, let us be known by our love. Jesus never said, “You shall be known by your political ac tivism,” or “You shall be known by your stand for family values.” His command was simple: “Love.” Love reaches all human needs. Love conquers all. Love is the greatest commandment. I show you a more excellent way. Feature + A&E Editor: Staff Writers: TI he AL tar of AN U n I< nown Cod JOEL P. SHEMPERT Copy Editor I believe it is re miss of our society to use the death of Mat thew Shepard as fuel for controversy, no matter the position, and that such shows an appalling disrespect to the memory of a young man who never asked for an agonizing death. So often I find myself painted into a comer with issues such as these. Hemmed in by homosexual activ ists on one side and fundamentalist banner-wavers on the other, I as a Christian, a writer, and human be ing am left with no philosophical room to breathe when attempting,to Editor in Chief: Robert Schoenberg (x2576) Jeremy Stallwood Sports Editor: The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, profes sional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not neccesarily reflect those of the student body, college administration, its faculty, or The Clackamas Print advertisers. Products and services advertised in The Clackamas Print are not neccesarily en dorsed by anyone associated with The Clackamas Print. The advertising rate is $4.75 per column inch. All signed let ters to the editor should be 300 words or less and will be considered for publi cation if submitted by 1 pm the Friday prior to publication. The Clackamas Print is a weekly publication and is dis tributed every Wednesday except during Finals week. 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