PrayerDo you sometimes look at your watch and don’t know what time it is?Do you sometime go to sleep, wake up thinking you’re somewhere but discover you’re somewhere else?Do you sometimes go to a room in your house and wonder why you went there?Do you sometime feel so helpless that you say to yourself “God help me,” regardless of what your religion is?I do too!I can go on with an exhaustive list of those little things that we have in common and define us as human beings…Does one have any right to decide the fate of others?We could go on and point out responsibles and blame them for the death of innocent people because it’s the easiest we can do, but would the problem be solved?Some of you blame Israelis or Arabs, others Islam or Judaism, others the CIA and the United States. Would this bring the innocent victims back to life?Many of you think “those are war casualties,” for me they’re human beings and I feel ashamed if that Arab little boy or that Israeli little girl asks me “Why did I die?”…Why did they die? Did they die for any reason at all? Was the “Cause” worth the blood they spilled?Almost 58 years and our people are still suffering. Now show me if you can tell little Mohammed and little Sarah if their blood helped for anything!Do you deserve Qatioshas? – no you don’t! But my people and my family members who have F-16s and Apaches flying over their beds do not deserve to die either.For what? For the personal egos of Olmert and Nasrallah, who think they’re saviors?Let’s send the slaughtered jewish and arab babies to them both and see what God they worship!That’s enough! We’re tired of their flying gadgets, we’re tired of their stupid politics and beliefs!We have grown-ups with a 12-year-old-child’s slang fighting their own war by sending other people’s children to die!That’s enough! I want Sarah as much as Mohammed to live the life they are meant to have!Shed your tears people, shed your tears to this human cruelty instead of encouraging this party or that to keep fighting!Let’s mourn these innocent people who are dying by hundreds but are not seen because of our media!Whichever God you worship, no religion tells you to kill and to those who do not concur, go read the books!My sympathy to all the victims and I urge every single one of you who still has some compassion to read these lines in the name of all the victims who died asking “Why?!”:”We are sorry for the pain the human cruelty imposed on you.We are sorry for the blood you shed for the weakness of our governors.You do not deserve to die and for that we cannot but cry.Your names will be remembered and your souls never forgotten.Were you a Sarah or a Mohammed, we shall weep you equally as your lives were equally important.Peace to all of us…”
Dory A.AzarAlumnus, Computer Engineering
McGill’s fundraising effortsEric Alper (“Mo’ money, no problems,” 4.4.06) is absolutely right that McGill’s fundraising strategy is extremely weak. As a thriving McGill alum, all I get is cards in the mail saying vaguely that “McGill Would Not Be the Same Without You” and a call to give some money. I’d be happy to donate, but these mailings are so faceless and disconnected from reality they are rather depressing. McGill alumni are loyal and in many cases quite successful. There’s no need to be bashful about asking for substantial donations-the administration just needs fundraising savvy, and if the buildings are still crumbling like they were when I was a student, it’s a shame McGill hasn’t learned to leverage the power of the alumni to improve the state of affairs.
Christopher AllenB.Eng ’98
