Prayers for Peace
By Cara Quackenbush
While heavy bombing continues in Afghanistan, students and staff who attended last Thursday's peace vigil were reminded that the realities of war hit close to home for many in the Santa Clara community.
In a short speech, Shaista Azad, first-year law student, Muslim, and native of Afghanistan, addressed her peers gathered among candles outside of Shapell Lounge to educate and give a voice to the Afghan people.
"Islam is primarily a religion of peace," she said. "When I heard the news of the bombing I was shocked and dismayed. I understand what it means when this powerful, powerful nation attacks a much weaker one."
She gave a brief history of Afghanistan, describing how her aunt fell victim to a Soviet landmine as a child and lost the use of her arm. She proceeded to criticize the United States government for, she believes, targeting civilians and providing incorrect information.
"If Americans knew what is being done in their name, they would be appalled," she said, adding that a relative in Pakistan told her the United States had already targeted and attacked a civilian hospital near an Afghan airport.
She concluded her short speech by praising those who had gathered that night.
"We understand that its not a video game like the Gulf War was on CNN and ABC 10 years ago. It is never right to kill innocentpeople," she said, and encouraged her audience to pray and to take her message to others.
Religious studies professor Dr. Carmichael Peters also spoke out against the ongoing bombings in Afghanistan and expressed his disappointment at what he feels is an uncaring response from U.S. leaders and citizens.
"Has our capacity for empathy become so narrow that we can only feel the pain and distress of those who are like ourselves? Can we not feel the pain and distress of the people of Afghanistan? Or is it that their lives are not among those that count?" he said.
Using the words of Jesus and of the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, he urged an end to violence.
"Maybe with our eyes wide open in the middle of these forces we can cultivate the courage and the determination to hope for change, our mood and the world," he said. "And maybe then we will not study war any more."
Senior Elizabeth Barndt attended the vigil out of a need to be in solidarity with fellow students and the Muslim community.
She realized that the event was planned only two days prior and that not all students who wish for alternatives to war necessarily went. But she was disappointed at what she considered a low attendance rate overall, which she sees as another symptom of widespread student and faculty apathy for humanistic issues.
"I believe that no one in this world is self-sufficient. As members of humanity we are all connected," she said, pointing out green arm bands that said, "we are them, and they are us."
"You can't see in other people what's not already within yourself," she added, and repeated "if you want to find the terrorists, look within yourself," a statement her professor made in class with which she agreed.