weyes' wisdom of the day - 9/11/09

[weyes]

when speaking at an event, it is important to be aware of what is appropriate and what is not, especially if the event is of religious, cultural, or political importance. this being 9/11, i and the secular choir with which i sing were invited to perform at the richard nixon library commemorating the anniversary of the attacks in 2001. at said event there were 3 speakers, all of whom missed the mark on what was appropriate for this event.

the first speaker, the orange county sheriff, quoted a number of george w. bush speeches, included the famous "they hate us for our freedom" line, and praised his presidency and "wisdom." she politicized this event. inappropriate.

the next speaker went on a rant about how he was "sick about what's going on next door." he was alluding to something going on at the library, and was angry with some people who said some things about nixon that weren't nice. most of the people in the room had no idea what he was talking about, as far as library politics went, so people looked around at each other with confused expressions. as far as his personal vendetta about the state of nixon's legacy - it turned out that he had worked with nixon during his time in the white house. at any rate, both of his rants were totally irrelevant and inappropriate. just because one is given a microphone doesn't mean one has the right to yell about everything that bothers him/her.

the third speaker was a thirty-something and a veteran who proudly spoke of "killing the enemy, because it needed to be done." he then told us that, if we ever were to come across a veteran in the street, to "stop him, and tell him to go back to iraq or afghanistan and fight." wow. i was bowled over. talk about disrespect. and to hear that from a veteran made no sense to me.

this event should have been a tribute to those who lost their lives and a celebration of peace, not a soapbox for a few people who wanted to go off on self-serving tangents. they should have been reminded that the event was not about them.

tune in tomorrow.