Grammatical errors are in the orginal article. This is typed letter for letter and word for word to the original.
Veterans and military members and families need to let the student know what they think about her opinion.
Lily... Oh Lily... I served for 21 years to protect your right to say what you want and this is the best you can come up with??? You should ask your little college there for a refund of your tuition since they haven't even taught you the difference between meaningful dissent and senseless ranting. Hint: Hating the military doesn't qualify as dissent. Perhaps a new set of crayons will improve your work? Ask your mom, I'm sure she'll run right out and get you some...
Well, here's what I sent:
marks@spokanefalls.edu (faculty advisor for the newsletter)
As your site's email for feedback was down, I thought perhaps you could pass this response on to Lily Morris regarding her opinion piece "No Pity for New American Heroes".
To the readers of The Communicator Opinion page regarding the recent opinion from Lily Morris regarding her views of our American military men and women, please consider an EDUCATED viewpoint.
I am a woman who has been in the Air National Guard for 24 years. I come from a long line of family members who have served in the Armed Forces from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War through the Vietnam War. My father served for nearly 40 years and 4 brothers have or are currently members of the military. We represent all different careers and are in both the enlisted and officer ranks.
My experience with the military started in 1980, when we were still trying to recover from the Vietnam War and proceeded through the conclusion of the Cold War (we won, by the way). We were faced by uncertain times, but the world only became more dangerous. Our country sought answers to the question of what role we should play on the world stage. 9-11 brought a new question. How do we protect ourselves? Do we curl up and continue to take these cowardly assaults on our innocent people or do we take the fight to the enemy?
Ms. Morris would have you believe that those of us who willingly enlisted in the military are fools, sacrificing our lives for nothing. Nothing could be further from the truth. On 9-11, I looked at my 4 year old son and realized that it was my job to protect him. This was something I had trained for for 21 years, now I would do it for real. I wouldn't be going to some far off land to do this (though I would if asked), I would be defending him here at home. I still am, every day. I help defend my family, my neighbors, my whole community. I work to protect both those I care about and people who I can't even bring myself to pity. Ms. Morris, there are people just like me, who work day in and day out to protect YOU. Foolish? Perhaps. Necessary? Absolutely, if not us, who? If not now, when?
We do not seek your pity or even your approval. We do this job out of love for our families and our country. Count yourself lucky that you benefit despite your "worldly" opinion of our efforts. Be grateful that the military has kept this land free allowing you to publish your viewpoint without fear of being thrown in jail or tortured and killed for speaking out. I know we'll never hear it, but I'll answer just the same. You're welcome!
This article is no longer at the link. If you want to read it freep mail me and I will send it to you. When the paper writes a new paper the old paper is replaced at the link. So the link only take you to the most recent paper.
Many of you have emailed me asking for more information on the article. This is an "opinion" article written by Lily Morris, senior reporter for Spokane Falls Community College student newspaper "The Communicator". This student newspaper is a credited course in the journalism department at SFCC. When John, my husband contacted the president of SFCC's office he was told that the advising faculty does not read or approve or disapprove of anything printed in the paper. The paper is entirely student run. Causing one to question what faculty member's name is attached to the grade and credit a student receives for this course?
The President's office claimed ignorance of the article before printing as the excuse. Below is the contact information for the office of the President. The opinion editor for the student newspaper has stated in his most recent piece that the furor this article has stirred up just needs to go away. Everyone needs to just get over it. It was just an opinion piece. Lily Morris the author of the article said she was misunderstood. She was not referring to past veterans only our current military. I believe neither one of these individuals understand and are still in need of being educated.
Please feel free to educate them.
President, SFCC
Dr. Mark Palek
MS 3010 / Bldg. 1, Room 105-C
(509) 533-3535
MarkP@spokanefalls.edu
If you are a member or know of anyone who is a member of any of the service organizations in Spokane such as VFW, American Legion, DAV, Amvets, etc., I strongly encourage you to ask your organization to make a formal protest to SFCC for this article.
Before you fall for the argument of free speech and free press, you need to read your Bill of Rights. These rights are guaranteed to you at your own expense, not at the taxpayers expense. If this person had printed up flyers at a copy shop at her own expense and distributed the flyers on campus I would say she had that right. Or if she had submitted it as an opinion piece to the Spokesman Review and it it passed the editor's review and was printed I would right a letter in response, but I would not be as angry as I am about this.
May is Military Appreciation Month. Maybe our local veterans service organizations need to spend some time at the local institutions of higher learning educating our citizens.
Please take the time to read this opinion piece in a taxpayer funded college newspaper at a local taxpayer funded college. Please respond to the writer of the article as you see fit, but try to be less foul mouthed and more articulate than she was.
Misspellings and grammatical errors are as they appeared in the opinion piece.
Please feel free to forward this article to anyone who you believe would like to educate this individual.