100% cotton black-and-white houndstooth design

a memory

Not anti-war, Pro-thought

 

I was attending classes at Saddleback College during the first Gulf war.

As preparations for the war rolled forward, I began to wonder at how many people didn’t care about it. I'm older than most of the students and remember when people, esp. young people, gave a damn about what our gov't was doing in their names. No longer, it seemed.

Because Iraq provoked by invading Kuwait, those who cared were in favor of US entering the war by a large majority. I was not against the war.

I'm against apathy; against blindly following because you're too lazy and/or scared to open your eyes. Too many seem willing to let the tide of public opinion determine their stand on issues. I like to do my own thinking.

And so I thought, pondered, wondered what I could do to illustrate the problem as I saw it. I put on my thinking cap and all hell broke loose.

Actually not a cap, I began wearing a kaffiyeh- a traditional Arab headdress. I wore a black and white number just like Yasser's. I was determined to wear it until the end of the war.

The point, you ask? I think it is easier to kill those you don't have to look at, those you never see. Killing may be necessary at times, but should never be easy.

With that in mind, I decided to take what I could from Middle Eastern culture and put it in people's faces, and the kaffiyeh was the easiest and most readily identifiable signifier I could think of.

Reaction was quick and only occasionally dangerous. Mostly I was instructed to go back where I came from. On one occasion I was shot at; I assume missing me was intentional- I hope so, anyway.

Hostility is to be expected and didn't bother me, other than the aforementioned shooting incident. People become hostile when confronted with an idea or image that requires them to think. Why does that man in the funny hat piss me off so much? I wonder if anyone asked that of him/herself before screaming at me.

So I got a little bit of attention locally, most negative. Nothing was accomplished beyond my making the acquaintance of a few open minds on campus, but I'm glad to know there are some out there.

I fulfilled my promise to not leave home without my hat for the duration of Gulf War I. Easily, as the war lasted little longer than the semester.

About the kaffiyeh, -it is not a Muslim headdress but rather traditional among desert peoples, regardless of religion.

Reviews

[Hedra Helix]

pretty brave there. but if not, what's life about right?
i was, and am, - still cant believe its gone on and become this stupid- against the war. im for strong military but as a precaution and first and foremost so. second and first.
i mean now how do we end it? that can of worms can no longer be capped, its out wriggling creating a bazillion new troubles to stitch.

tv is distracting, ppl are running too fast at fast sex and cash theres no time to stop and think through such big ole things as hats made to keep off heat. its easier to think the size is to conceal a brain made to bomb.

[.]

you have dispelled the myth
that the clothes make the man

[W.k.kortas]

To date myself horribly, I was in college when the Iranian Revolution took place, and I happened to be on a campus with some Iranian students (who were, almost to a man, great and big-hearted guys). They were probably less in sympathy with the Ayatollah's followers than we were, and they certainly had a hell of a lot more to lose than anyone else on campus--but, as the old saying goes, try telling that to an angry mob. Sometimes people need to be forced to walk a mile in someone else's shoes before they can begin to understand what that person may have to live through or live with.

[Ed Hart]

ah, the difference between mass man(kind), and communal man(kind)...

[cest la vie]

You can't hear me clapping, but I am..
I was one of those soldiers off to Desert Storm and let me tell you I was damned scared, pissed and did not go blindly. Grace of someone brought me home..others no...

I now stand tall in my beliefs and listen to others..
this is just an amazing story.. We need to clone more people like you..

[Emily B]

Robert Fulghum wrote a little essay in one of his books about hating 'those' people . . . I'm glad you found some open minds

I run across those people who have their minds made up pretty often. We teach people about the civil war. One old woman asked my children what side they were on once. I explained that we portray what we need to depending on where we are; or what needs to be taught that day. I'll never forget. She said, "Ain't ya got no beliefs?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am, but I try not to let that get in the way."