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
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