Thursday, Oct. 25 is an opportunity for the Sacramento State students and the surrounding community to shake off the chains of apathy and ambivalence about the war in Iraq and take part in a peace rally.

The facts are out there. We all know Americans were deceived about the reasons for invading Iraq. We all have yet to see any weapons of mass destruction. The proverbial dead horse, that is, all the reasons why we should not have invaded Iraq and the brutal conditions our soldiers and Iraqis live under, has been beaten and burned beyond recognition.

Facts and statistics have not persuaded a change of course in Iraq, nor has a Democrat-controlled Congress changed anything (as slim as that control is). Protests and demonstrations against the war are declining although anti-war sentiment is growing, even among those who initially supported the invasion. The anti-war sentiment may also be growing because people do not believe the situation in Iraq is beyond repair. Wars of attrition have the tendency to lull people into a sense of complacency because of the lack of hope that the war will end anytime soon. Furthermore, people may see the conflict in Iraq as a “lose-lose” situation; if we stay we will make things worse, if we leave things will get worse.

Thursday, Oct. 25 is a chance to speak for peace. There is a student-organized peace rally taking place from noon to 3 p.m. in Serna Plaza on that day. There will be a “die-in” at 11:30 a.m. on the grass area in front of the library before the rally begins. The rally will include speakers from the Sac State faculty and off-campus peace groups as well as musical performances. There will also be time for an open-mic session where anyone, regardless of his or her views of the Iraq war, is encouraged to speak. We cannot always depend on elected officials to speak for us when we disagree with the way our government is acting. It is our duty as citizens to participate and to speak out against the abuse of power, senseless death and all the other human-caused plagues of state and society.

The focus of the rally is on peace and bringing our troops out of harm’s way. Those are goals anyone can agree on, even though there may be disagreement on how those goals are achieved.

Sac State is a perfect venue for a demonstration, not because it is a hot bed of activism, but because it is not. Sac State is a divided community. We are divided by major, by race, by neighborhood, by economic status, by ethnicity and by self-interest. However, the most important “self-interest” is an interest in humanity. Although serious divisions exist between supporters and protesters of the war as well as between people who see the complex set of difficulties involved in staying in Iraq and leaving Iraq altogether, we can all agree that a peaceful human society is something we all cherish. As out-of-reach as that may seem to some people, it does not make it any less imperative that we strive for peace.

It is important that people stay aware through public discourse and activism, especially in times of war because it is too easy to turn on Fox News or MSNBC and feel like you got the whole story. It is even more important that students are aware of what their government is doing and how it affects their lives and the lives of people across the world. As busy as we all are, it is hard to stay informed. It is time that Americans took the I.V. out of their arm that has been feeding them the anesthetic of American Idol, Paris Hilton and C.S.I., and recognize that we are living with a horrendous war.

The situation in Iraq could be described as some distant, hopeless conflict that involves irreconcilable differences that are out of the realm of resolution. The war is a huge, cancerous tumor that is not responding to normal therapy. If someone gets cancer, he or she will stop at nothing to fight it, even though it may be terminal. There is no reason why any of us should lay down and accept what is going on in Iraq as terminal. We should not stop the pursuit for peace until every soldier is home safe. In Sacramento, all may seem insignificant to the world outside. However, as Anthropologist Margaret Meade said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Scott Allen can be reached at [email protected].