Letters to the Editor

Posted on August 30, 2007

Defending our country for all the right reasons

I began reading Jamie Dunn’s article in Monday’s issue of The Breeze about her overseas experience with excitement. Having studied abroad myself this summer in Egypt, I found that many of my own encounters and conversations mirrored Ms. Dunn’s. However, my excitement quickly turned into disappointment when I realized how little critical inquiry went into Dunn’s words.

While I also encountered animosity for my nationality overseas, I reacted differently to it. Instead of immediately assuming that my country was being wrongfully attacked, I tried to understand why so many people felt this way about the United States.

I agree that America is often unfairly targeted with negative comments. It’s easy to focus on the bad while overlooking the amount of good the United States does. From monetary aid to technological advancements, science, medicine and industry, the United States has made an enormous positive impact on the world.

But I don’t believe that we should blindly defend our country as a result of this. The biggest lesson I learned from my time abroad is that countries have both positive and negative aspects.

The realization that America is not perfect does not make one any less patriotic. Much the opposite; it motivates me to become more involved and informed so that I can have a hand in helping America become an even greater nation. I hope that my fellow classmates can avoid falling into a similar trap as Ms. Dunn. It’s no good swinging away in America’s defense before asking why a defense is needed.

Nicole Halbert
Senior international affairs major

A thousand thanks from the Pelican State

My husband and I recently worked as volunteers alongside a group of 35 JMU students building Habitat for Humanities houses in the blistering heat of New Orleans.

We were impressed with these individuals who so unselfishly gave up a week of their summer break to drive down to New Orleans, during the hottest time of the year, to help people they didn’t even know. They climbed ladders and roofs, hauled dirt, painted and completed whatever else was asked of them.

We would like to say thank you to each student who gave up his or her time. We would also like to thank JMU for sharing your best and brightest young adults, who will no doubt be great leaders in whatever field they pursue.

They will never fully know the difference they have made to so many, and so many people will never know it was a group of JMU students who made the return to their homes possible.

But we know and we would like to say thank you for coming to New Orleans two years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and healing the hearts of so many.

Billy and Bonnie Koon
Baton Rouge, Louisiana