WE HAVE survived the month since what pundits call the defining moment of the MTV generation/Bush administration by hanging flags, donating blood, giving to the rescue efforts and moving on with our daily routines. I suggest a little remembrance. Not just of what we lost on Sept. 11, because that has been burned into our memories. No one can forget the TV images, lists of names, frantic calls to friends and family in New York City and Washington D.C. Nonetheless, we must not forget what was important The Day Before.
At the personal level, people fell in love and broke up and found out they were pregnant. They made resumes and studied for tests. We continue to do these things because our emotions and bodies keep going and because we are pretty sure that next year still matters. We're not living on the edge, really. We do need jobs, because Visa probably won't accept shock over the tragedy as an excuse for missing payment on credit card bills.
Moving out to the next circle of our mental orbit, the one occupied by events that do not touch us directly, attention has narrowed and focused on issues relating to the attacks. In some respects, this is a good thing: The sooner we hear "Gary who?" the better. And it's too cold to worry about going swimming and getting attacked by a shark, anyway. The significant problems always have existed, of course, but now they're on our front doorstep. We have to talk about terrorism; we can no longer ignore it as we did when it was in Israel or Kashmir.
Some items, however, should not slip off the agenda. They are too important to the values and way of life that we claim to defend. As vital as justice against terrorists and charity benefiting New Yorkers and Afghans are, we cannot forget the importance of justice and charity for other people.
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Take the Sudanese. In the daily news reports of the last month, Sudan has most often been mentioned as Osama bin Laden's pre-Afghanistan hangout. What has been less often noted is the human rights situation in Sudan. During a war that has killed over 2 million people, the government of Sudan has permitted, even encouraged, enslaving people from the southern part of Sudan. Despite receiving little attention in the popular media, several members of Congress have made Sudan's troubles the subject of legislation - seven bills during this session alone.
Citing the need for information on bin Laden, however, the Bush administration has moved toward lifting sanctions. Perhaps dealing with the devil - or at least devilishly bad governments - is indispensable at the moment. Yet our moral responsibility to the millions of Sudanese who have suffered murder, rape, enslavement and displacement remains. An unwillingness to ignore that prevented the Clinton administration from making a deal to take bin Laden out of Sudan.
Bin Laden has shot to the top of our priority list, but we need to recognize limits to what we can sacrifice even to capture a terrorist. After bin Laden is safely neutralized, we will regret any long-term agreement to support Sudan's present government.
As the federal government concentrates on building alliances and striking against the Taliban, states may have to assume more responsibility. Thankfully, state legislatures appear to be carrying on with business as usual. The Virginia General Assembly, for example, did not cancel its Sept. 12 meeting on health care policy, recognizing the need to evaluate the services provided to our most vulnerable citizens. Reviewing policy, though, is not the same as following the best course of action on it, and state legislators should be receiving guidance from their constituents.
Virginia and New Jersey still have to choose governors on Nov. 6. Unlike the federal executive, governors seldom are called upon to make military decisions. Voters should be making choices based on a candidate's ability to address the concerns specific to their state, not on his ability to wave flags and talk vaguely about past military experience.
Although the attacks have changed America, they cannot set the course for all areas of our public life. After all, the original "defining moment" of Bush's presidency was supposed to be his decision on stem cell research, and the facts of that remain unchanged. There are still less than half as many cell lines as Bush said there were; the genetic diversity of the chosen cell lines has not increased in the last couple of months.
As we look for a way to retain the sense of our nation as a community that was inspired by Sept. 11, remember what was in our thoughts Sept. 10. Acting to help people in other nations and our fellow citizens, questioning and correcting our own errors - these qualities, and not just our commercial or military might, define who we are. We can put our patriotism, generosity and intelligence to work in more ways than one.
(Pallavi Guniganti's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at pguniganti@cavalierdaily.com.)
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