Sometimes Patriots Can Be A Nasty Bunch

His name is Marko Lokar. His stance on the Middle East war became the focal point of perceived patriotism this month.

Lokar is a 21-year-old sophomore at Seton Hall. Rather, he was at Seton Hall. Now, he's back home, in Italy, with his wife, having quit the Pirates' basketball team under death threats, jeers, boos and other gestures of disgust and loathing.

Why?

Because of a decision on a topic which, at any other time, could appear frivolous or even petty.
He refused to wear the American flag on his uniform.

I call this petty because before this war to free Kuwait broke out, there was no call to wear the red, white and blue. Indeed, when this war is through, I'm quite sure the ribbons and flags will be put away again, never to be seen until another war - or hostage situation - takes place.

But the flag - as with yellow ribbons and other shows of support for the U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia - is a symbol of patriotism. Virtually every sports team in America, it seems, has a U.S. flag sewn on its uniform.

His decision did not come from a viewpoint of patriotism, or the supposed lack thereof, though. Lokar's statement stood with his personal, religious convictions as a Christian.

As a Christian, he said, he cannot support war in any form. And supporting the troops, he added, is the same as approving of war - the troops are doing the fighting.

Now, i can understand this viewpoint. If you don't support war in general, how can you support the troops? There's a fine line between the two, and in Lokar's case, he knows where that line is.

But this isn't a column about one man's religious convictions versus supporting troops.

This is about freedom - the freedom to express yourself, politically or religiously, verbally or silent.
We, the American people, should be ashamed of ourselves for this violation of the most basic, unalienable right - the right to express our opinions.

Or not to.

It was Lokar's decision not to wear a flag on his uniform. So what? A flag is a symbol, an icon of our country, and the freedom it offers to old and young, black and white, unbiased and bigoted.

What gives any of us the right to impose on anyone else what - if any - symbol we should wear?

By not wearing an American flag, does the pride I have in my country wane?

By not wearing a yellow ribbon, am I any less patriotic than I was before Desert Storm began?

I don't think so.

This radical wave of "patriotism" has become an obsession, in many cases an insult to what the word is supposed to mean.

A patriot is someone who loves his or her country and passionately guards its welfare.

A patriot is not required to wear that support of country on his sleeve, chest, jacket or hat. Or force it on others.

This is exactly what the lunch-mob mentality crowds at Seton Hall basketball games were vigorously implying, however.

Through their freedom of speech, they were telling Lokar - and the rest of the nation - that there were no choices on patriotic showings anymore. That it is now mandatory.

If everyone else in a group is showing so-called support by wearing a certain patch, then the decision should be unanimous.

This is wrong.

Lokar's stance was also one of freedom. It, too, was a form of freedom of speech. It is not against the law in this country.

At least, it's not supposed to be.

This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.

League Will Regret Not Bringing In Glenn

With blindfold on and cigarette in mouth, the soon-to-be executed soul was placed on exhibition one final time.

"All I wanted," John Glenn said, "was to be one of the gang. To have some fun. Shucks, all I wanted was a little ... company.

But the two executioners, Mr. Gladwin and Mr. Standish-Sterling, laughed and pulled the trigger, walking away from a bleeding John Glenn, of Bay City.

John Glenn promised hope and growth for the North East Michigan Conference, and received a shallow, "Thanks, but no thanks," instead.

Not everyone in the NEMC felt this way. Ogemaw Heights was all in favor of bringing in some fresh blood, even if it meant the Falcons would no longer be the biggest kid on the block.

OHHS Athletic Director Jamie Richards pointed out to the West Branch-Rose City Board of Education the many benefits adding the Bay City school would offer.

Options such as better scheduling, additional financial backing for the league and the "Bay City media connection" would prove beneficial to the league.

Ogemaw was not alone in looking at John Glenn favorably. Tawas, Oscoda and Pinconning also voted to bring Glenn in to the league.

But in this ballroom, it takes five to tango. And neither Gladwin nor Standish-Dterling were willing to become a dance partner.

Gladwin made its stance known immediately: We don't play John Glenn now, and we aren't about to, either.

But while Gladwin's response was predictable - the G's have never been a big fan of facing off against the Bobcats - Standish-Sterling's was quite the reverse.

The NENC's lone "hyphenated" school used poor logic in explaining how Glenn's admission would bring the league to its knees.

According to Standish-Sterling's athletic director, the school's coaches are afraid of playing the larger John Glenn because their sports programs would suffer.

Uh-huh. This from a school which traveled downstate to take on the defending Class B football champions, Farmington Hills Harrison, last year - a move based in the theory that you improve by taking on bigger, new challenges.

One might also assume this quest for improvement would be a daily ritual, that Standish-Sterling didn't get thrashed by Harrison and say, "Well, that's the best we can do, time to pack up the bags and head to Bermuda for a while."

One game does not continual improvement make.

And, gee, don't the Panthers already play Glenn in a couple of sports? Yes.

Now, if you already face the Bobcats,how can you justify that putting them in your league would make things worse? Does playing a team twice in a season instead of once a season shoot down your entire program? Methinks not.

But even these excuses, as wishy-washy and pathetic as they are, do not compare to the King Solomon decision rendered by the school. And this is what's really got my stomach turning.

There's a line Danny Glover's character had in Lethal Weapon which applies here: "If she's gonna die, she'll die my way - not your."

At least Gladwin's decision, though officially stated by the Board of Education, came from the athletic department's head honcho. As did the four "yes" votes. The athletic directors at these schools had the chutzpah, whether right or wrong, to make what could have been a difficult decision.

But Standish-Sterling played by a different set of rules.

The Panthers' athletic director, Jim Markle, wanted his school to accept Glenn. But the coaches, looking at the Bobcats as a threat to their very being, wanted no part of it.

So what does Markle do? Does he side with the coaches? Or does he make a stand and say, "Bigger competition makes us a better school, and the NEMC a better league."?

He does neither. Instead, he forms a three-membert panel to weigh the options and make its recommendation to the board.

Now, committees have their time and place, And, on occasion, they even live up to their promise.

This was not one of those times.

So the NEMC remains a six-team league, while those around it are merging and growing.

John Glenn was executed. But it is the NEMC that will suffer for it.

This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.

Beard Sparks Friends To "Name That Gaba"

It's been something I've been meaning to do since 1986 - the last time I attempted such a venture.

So one morning, about a month ago, I stared at my face in the mirror, a bloodshot gaze that came from not enough sleep after catching an episode of The Equalizer on late-night television.

"Your problem," I told myself, "is that you're lazy."

And so, right then and there, I decided to take advantage of my lethargic approach toward shaving.

And let the beard grow out.

The last time I had a beard was over four years ago, and if there's anything that can be said about that bout without the razor, it's that the comments overheard were often humorous.

There was the wedding I played DJ at, for example. One of the bridesmaids commented to another that, at least if the pastor hadn't shown up, we would have had a replacement rabbi at the reception. Me being the rabbi, I guess. Obviously, this was a lady who watched Fiddler on the Roof about 30,000 times too often for her own good.

This, of course, was nothing compared to the "standard" references to bearded men of note throughout history - Abraham Lincoln, Moses and the rock band ZZ Top. One of my friends went so far as to call em "Honest Gabe," partially because of Mr. Lincoln, to a degree because of my last name.

I had grown a beard for the first time while in college in 1984, starting three weeks before the Tigers-Padres World Series matchup. So I had already heard a lot of the same types of commentary about my facial feature.

A former college roommate dubbed me The Neanderthal Man, because I resembled one of the lead characters in the movie, The Clan of the Cave Bear. Another ex-roomie started a betting pool on how long my beard would be by the end of the semester.

What you have to understand about these references is that, by the time the jokes and comments were in full swing. I had a pretty healthy beard. The rabbinical reference was probably accurate in terms of internal appearance, except I didn't grow the sideburn curls like the ultra-religious Orthodox Jews did. By comparison's sake, what I have right now is but a mere babe in the woods, a puppy in need of growing up.

Still, this time around, the silly statements are getting any sillier. The beard was entering its second week at the time Operation Desert Storm took effect, an done of my friends thought my infantile-stage growth made me look like Saddam Hussein.

Right. I didn't even know Saddam had a beard. Maybe she meant Fidel Castro, or Yassir Arafat. You know, evil, domineering leaders with beards.

By the next week, another acquaintance thought I looked like a priest.

No, I thought, there's a contradiction in terms. By the time Valentine's Day rolls along, I'll probably be the second coming of Cupid (a bearded one, at that). Or Ringo Starr.

How long will it stay? Who knows? Probably at least until it warms up a bit more.

Or until I'm just too lazy to keep being lazy in the morning.

This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.

Palestinian Issue Has God Shaking His Head

Former journalist I.F. Stone once said that if God is dead, He died trying to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The conflict is alive and kicking - this time in the limelight because of unprovoked attacks by Iraq against Israel.

Iraq's Saddam hussein says he is fighting a holy war, with God on his side. If God is dead, He's probably turning in His grave.

After being bombed two successive nights, Israel has acted most un-Israeli by not sending her air force to retaliate against Iraq.

And this amazes me, as it does most everyone I know. We all expected Israel to respond immediately; a few figured she woudl strike before Hussein did.

Hussein wanted nothing better than to bring Israel in, for two reasons: (1) to break up the allied coalition; and (2) to bring the Israeli-Palestinian issue to the front.

And wouldn't that make for interesting fodder in the fodder file?

Since 1948, when a territory called Palestine was divided between Palestinian Arabs and Jews, the Middle East has been one big discord: four ArabIsraeli wars and more battles, bombings, terrorist attacks, political upheavals, assassinations and military coups than the rest of the world combined.

God, what a mess.

The war that led to the breakup of Palestine uprooted more than 500,000 Arabs from their homes. These people - Palestinians - sought refuge in Jordan, Syria or Lebanon - all Arab nations.

Now, this isn't really as mild as, say, an eviction notice. The comparison is rather moderate, truth be known.

But logic would seem to dictate that if someone is evicted from their house, a sibling might be inclined to take that person in for a while, assist in some way.

However, logic does not always prevail in the Middle East. Incredibly, no Arab nation looked after the Palestinians, shunning them like they had the plague.

Not all the refugees set up camp in the bordering Arab countries; 150,000 remained in the new nation of Israel. And while life for them could be difficult, they were allowed some political rights - something unimaginable in an Arab monarchy or dictatorship (are you listening, Saddam?).

An eventual culmination of these tensions was the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, which served as an umbrella organization for all clubs, societies, and parliamentary groups serving the Palestinians.

The PLO was created in 1964 and has been a wonderful school for anyone who ever dreamed of becoming a professional terrorist.

Another branch thrown on the Palestinian refugee fire was the Six-Day War of 1967, sparked by Egypt's blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba. Israel saw this as illegal and proceeded to raid Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi airfields.

When the sand had settled, Israel owned Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strep, Jordan's West Bank of the Jordan River (also known as Judea and Samaria), and the Golan Heights portion of Syria. The taking of the Occupied Territories brought almost one million Palestinians under Israeli rule, something nobody had anticipated.

It's almost 24 years later, and the problem is still there. Unrest is still an everyday occurrence in Israel, for the in-state Palestinians demand more freedoms, and tensions grow.

I don't know what will happen regarding the Palestinian issue after the war against Hussein ends. If God isn't dead, maybe He's been trying to figure out a solution.

Then again, maybe even God doesn't have that answer.

This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.

Oil's Not A Reason To Slide Into War

Several years ago, a newspaper political cartoonist drew up then-Israeli leader Menachim Begin's "Peaceful Withdrawal of America" scenario.

As you may well remember, the United States was asking Israel to return portions of land it had won in war to her Arab neighbors. And the cartoonist, playing off this request, made some light of a "what-if-we-turned-the-tables" spoof.

What if the United States were forced to return all its previously-conquered territory?

Would we give back lands to France, Spain, Mexico? Would we dance with wolves and return parts of this country to the Native Americans?

This cartoon comes to mind in light of the current Persian Gulf situation, where we are imposing that Iraq leave its conquered territory and let the Kuwaiti government - currently in exile - return to power.

As I write this, the United States and Iraq are preparing to become larger-than-life versions of the World Wrestling Federation. You know, "In this corner, Uncle Sam 'The Ultimate Warrior' America, and in this corner, 'Hulk' Hussein."

But even as I joke about the Persian Gulf crisis, it is important to realize that the events taking place are shaping our lives this very minute.

Let's face it: War is no joke. We saw that in Vietnam and we're seeing it again now.

And as I sit here, punching out these words, I am filled with confusion and rage.

Most of my confusion regards the reason we've stuck our butts in the sand of Saudi Arabia in the first place.

I'd like to believe it has something to do with freedom, which is what this great and wonderful country is supposed to stand for. I'd like to believe the United States is trying to right a wrong which has been committed by a volatile, untrustworthy Arabic leader.

I'd like to presume our interests have nothing - not a thing - to do with big business, or oil reserves, or politics, or whatever else comes to mind.

I'd like to assume it;s because we, as America, are doing the right thing. That for once we haven't placed ourselves in a Catch-22 situation.

But I cannot. My confusion over the reasons leaves me numb and angry.

I am not a supporter of war. When the battle cries of hawks and doves are heard, my megaphone will be on the side of peace.

Every time I think of why we've sent thousands of soldiers and millions of tax dollars to the Gulf area, my mind tells me it's oil.

We could be sending our monies to assisting the homeless, not to the Gulf.

But instead, we send it overseas.

Oil rules. Oil commands. Oil is like a god that drives us, because it drives our automobiles.

It's not freedom of people we're interested in. It's freedom of business.

I wish I didn't feel so. I wish I could watch the news or see President George Bush's lips move with words like "freedom" and "democracy" and not tie in the big business factor so quickly, so presumptuously.

But I do.

And I'm not alone. Across the nation this past weekend, there were peace vigils. Protests stated. Flags burned.

And to those of you who are opposed to that last part, let me say that I'd rather we be burning flags in protest of a questionable war, than laying that same flag over a casket of a soldier who was killed in battle.

And that's the prospect a war would give us.

Again.

This article originally appeared in the Ogemaw County Herald.