Welcome back, Sun Devils. Unless you've been drinking yourself into oblivion somewhere in Mexico or living in a cave, you are aware that our nation is at war.
In other words, half of you know that our nation is at war while the other half are recovering with the help of Bloody Mary and Tylenol.
Over the past few days, our televisions have been plagued with images of desert warfare, embedded journalists, people getting killed in peace protests overseas and U.S. soldiers making peace with surrendering Iraqi fighters.
Here at The State Press, we tried to live our lives as normal as possible during our much-needed spring break. We escaped reality by drinking it up on the beach in Mazatlan or by getting our picture taken with Mickey Mouse. Some of us got some work done while one of us actually filled in as a substitute fourth-grade teacher. We suspect you did some kind of variation of these things because, hey, we're in college and that's what we do.
Despite those efforts to lead a normal life, we couldn't escape the constant drone of war coverage. In the corner of our favorite bar was a television screen showing the green hue of night vision over Baghdad. Dan Rather greeted us during a commercial break as we watched the NCAA tournament. Anti-war protesters and war supporters caught our attention as we made our way down Mill Avenue on Thursday.
But whatever your convictions are, it's still amazing to us that many of us heard the news on the beach with a margarita, or in a bar with friends. We didn't have to find out by hearing the fire in the sky or the bombs hitting our town. We got to hear it on the news.
And this news jabber will continue until the conflict in Iraq is over. As we study for exams, as we attend sporting events, as we go through airports, the constant reminder of war will be unavoidable.
We're not asking people to stop their protests, but to remember that the war all started for them while they were on some break where you're encouraged to forget all of your worries for a week, and most of us happily obliged.
Let the war remind you of the freedoms we as a nation possess. We have the freedom to question or support our own government, to burn our own flag or to plaster it on our homes and cars. We have the freedom to go to college, take a break from it and drink ourselves into a blind stupor.
When the liquor wears off, try to remember where you are and how lucky you are to be here.
