I'm writing this post instead of reading for Con Law, but oh well. I went to the New York Times a few minutes ago, and saw that President Obama signed an order today to end secret interrogation techniques and the secret detention system of the CIA, and to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center within a year. He also is establishing diplomatic efforts to figure out where to place released detainees. (I originally typed "renewing diplomatic efforts", but you can't renew something that never exactly existed.)
As happy as I've been around Obama's inauguration, and W's departure, it finally hit me with this article: I never really thought about how it would feel to again be a citizen of a nation that acts with some basic integrity towards the larger world. The violations of human rights that we have been perpetrating have been egregious and untenable. If another country systematically did to U.S. citizens what we've been doing to others, we would go to war at the drop of a hat. As crazy as it sounds, it didn't actually sink in that it would end, or how it would feel for it to end.
I'm speechless at the feeling inside me right now. There is relief. There is amazement. There is happy shock. There is, for the first time in a long time, pride. I love my country, and I hate to see it do horrible things. I have always had true admiration and support for the men and women serving our country; for the first time in a long time, I now have some faith in their civilian leaders. I truly understand the hope now - I thought I did before, but the difference between dreaming of hope and actually having it is amazing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment