Fellow Auburn students,

Next time you tie a yellow ribbon, think about two questions. Next time you hear President Bush calling for war, think about two questions. Next time your jaw clenches and your heart hardens and you cry out for blood, think about two questions.

The first question is: Are you ready to kill for vengeance? Don’t just ask yourself if you want the criminals who did this dead. Don’t just ask yourself if you think they should be executed or assassinated. Ask yourself: Am I ready to be the one who looks at another human being down the scope of a gun? Am I ready to be the one who aims and pulls down on the trigger? Am I ready to watch them die and move on to the next target?

The second question is: Are you ready to die for vengeance? Are you ready for bullets to cut into your body? Are you ready to choke to death on poison gas? Are you ready to be torn apart by shrapnel?

You’d better think about these questions next time you call for vengeance. By the time you read this letter, we may already be at war. And this war will not be fought by George W. Bush or Tom Daschle. Colin Powell will not pick up a rifle. Donald Rumsfeld will not drop the bombs. We will be the ones who fight and die. You and I, our friends, our classmates, our brothers and sisters. In this war as in every other war, it will be 18-24 year olds who have to pull the triggers and drop the bombs. It will be our blood that pours out onto the desert sands.

There are no words for the grief, the pain, the horror, and yes, the rage of 9/11. On that terrible day, we witnessed a crime against humanity, unfolding before us on live television, the Internet, the radio, the choking words between friends and strangers. But when you feel that rage rising up from your gut, through your burning heart, and out of your mouth; when that cry of pain becomes a scream for war and vengeance; ask yourself two questions.

Are you ready to kill?

Are you ready to die?

I wrote this and submitted it to our student newspaper, The Plainsman, on the day of Bush’s address to the nation. Bush gave demands to the Taliban regime, announced the beginnings of a permanent war on terrorism and the creation of a new cabinet-level position for Security of the Homeland. The LTE went unpublished; I never inquired about it further, so I don’t know whether it was just decided not to publish it because of the high volume of mail that week, or if the letter was lost.