Learning a lesson from a South African youth

GUEST OPINION

By Werner Graf
   On May 9, I attended the "Cross Cultural Connections" video conference between students in Hopewell Valley and South Africa. It was a collaborative project to promote cultural understanding and proved to be absolutely wonderful.
   This innovative learning experience was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Hopewell Valley Foundation and involved a transatlantic link between our students and the students of two South African schools. It included delightful performances from both communities followed by a question-and-answer period. It was the question-and-answer period that lifted me for the entire day — in fact, one question and answer in particular.
   Our students asked a question, which essentially put American foreign policy on the table — specifically, our "intervention" philosophy. I had spent three weeks in South Africa eight years ago, and found most people there extremely pro-American. South Africans know a bit about oppressive governments and divisive societies. My recollection was that they generally looked toward the United States as an example of what was good in the world — relative racial harmony, respect for each other, considerations of character in our actions, etc. Even so, that was eight years ago and I was apprehensive of the answer that would come across the videolink. To my astonishment, the young South African stood up without apology and told his American counterparts that we were doing the right thing by "crushing dictatorships" and that the "whole world benefited" from America’s actions.
   I have rarely been so proud of my country. Frankly, given the light applause, I think some of the audience, students and adults alike, were a little surprised at the South African’s words. However, they were indeed typical of those I have also heard in Greece, Turkey, Central America and other areas of the world. From cab drivers, waiters and shop owners, there is much less talk of the "Great Satan" than there is a quiet admiration for our sense of worldly responsibility. We have beat ourselves up pretty good these last few years for doing something that many people in the world would consider a great positive.
   The constant drumbeat from the networks would have us think we are failing in an unjustified conflict. However, in a historical context, we are doing extremely well — perhaps even better than expected. What other precedent is there for the liberation of 25 million people and the establishment of a representative government? We can debate the validity of the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" justification for our actions, but it seems that criticism of American foreign policy largely ignores the real value of what has been achieved there. When we started in Iraq, even the most hopeful estimates would have been greater casualties and carnage. Instead, almost 100 percent of the children are now immunized and fed while before the war, it is largely agreed that as many as 5,000 a month were dying, thanks to Sadaam rerouting oil-for-food money to his personal wealth. There has been massive voter turnout for elections, much better than the 18 percent locally for the Hopewell Valley school budget! Finally, hundreds of new schools have been built, and over 2,000 have been upgraded. Maybe our next Hopewell video conference will be with a school in the Middle East.
   It is a thoroughly American (Jeffersonian in fact) quality to believe that countries, as collective representatives of their citizens, should act under the same mores and values as individuals. Should a man or a society stand by passively when they have the power to stop an injustice? Certainly, the United States cannot act everywhere — it cannot be the world’s policeman. But let us also acknowledge that inaction never helps the oppressed, only the oppressor. I believe that school children 100 years from now will not condemn us for our actions in Iraq, as much as they will our inaction in Rwanda (507,000 butchered), North Korea (where 5 million are in forced labor camps), Cuba (90,000 died trying to get to Florida since Castro) and Sudan.
   At least we’re getting it right in Iraq. I am glad that today’s U.S. foreign policy is not determined by the network media or the major papers. I am relieved it doesn’t depend on the back-seat driving of Germany, France and other passive socialist governments with no stake in improving the world. I am heartened knowing the State Department isn’t run by the talking heads and removed elitists with misplaced guilt complexes about America’s power. In the end, the South African child understood succinctly and clearly what many in the media do not—that the pursuit of human liberty and self-determination for your fellow man is a worthwhile undertaking. It is to be applauded, even more so in difficult circumstances.
   The media has the unique opportunity to promote and strengthen this cause; instead they often deride it. Theodore Roosevelt’s words still ring true and can be applied to countries as well as men: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."
   We will win in Iraq. The financial costs will be great and the cost to individual families who lose loved ones will be deeper than most in our community can ever fathom. But I trust in doing good things. I believe, like that South African student, that our actions will benefit the whole world and that ultimately the cause of human dignity will be served.
   
Werner H. Graf is a resident of Hopewell Township.