War is not healthy
Robert Rouse
October 13, 2005
While I was in Washington last month for the massive anti-war rally, I saw something I had not seen since the early 1970s. It was a poster of a crudely drawn flower with the words "War is not healthy for children and other living things." I was struck by its simplicity in design and how it spoke volumes.
It was designed by Lorraine Schneider (1925 - 1972) for a group called Another Mother For Peace (AMP). The organization began in 1969 in Los Angeles. Their mission statement is:
Another Mother for Peace is a non-profit, non-partisan association dedicated to eliminating the use of war as a means of solving disputes among nations, people and ideologies.
To accomplish this, we seek to educate citizens to take an active role in opposing war and building peace. Our vision and motivation can be summed up in a single sentence:
"War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things"
The organization is still active. One of their goals is to spread the word to all parents about the governments use of schools to get information for military recruiters. In their most recent newsletter, AMP revealed that the Pentagon has compiled and put into use its own database of personal information on 30 million 6 to 25-year-olds. This database is distributed monthly to the armed services for recruitment purposes.
I think it is of the utmost importance that this atrocity cease. Bush made sure this program was part of his "No Child Left Behind" program. I guess that gives the phrase "no child left behind" a whole new sinister meaning. If we keep sending our kids off to war, eventually there will be no child left behind.
If you are the parent of a child, you do have an option. Here is a link to a page from the Fort Wayne Peace Action Coalition that will give you more information about the opt-out program and how you can protect your child from this insidious use of government funds. There are also links to several other resources available on the web.
Here in Fort Wayne, IN there are several students who are taking advantage of the opt-out program. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette recently reported:
More Allen County students are choosing not to have their contact information sent to military recruiters under a federal law, but many students still don?t know they have the choice.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, which primarily addresses student achievement and school accountability, schools are required to give military recruiters students? names, addresses and phone numbers or risk losing federal money. But the law also stipulates that parents be told their child can opt out of having their information distributed.
How schools meet that requirement varies. Some schools in Allen County simply include the opt-out information in student handbooks, while others include an opt-out form in school newsletters or hand out the forms directly to students in class. Fort Wayne Community Schools has even translated the information to Burmese, Bosnian, Arabic and Spanish.
Despite the efforts, some students still aren?t getting the message.
Help pass the word in your own community. Our children are too precious to gamble with their lives.
It was designed by Lorraine Schneider (1925 - 1972) for a group called Another Mother For Peace (AMP). The organization began in 1969 in Los Angeles. Their mission statement is:
Another Mother for Peace is a non-profit, non-partisan association dedicated to eliminating the use of war as a means of solving disputes among nations, people and ideologies.
To accomplish this, we seek to educate citizens to take an active role in opposing war and building peace. Our vision and motivation can be summed up in a single sentence:
"War is Not Healthy for Children and Other Living Things"
The organization is still active. One of their goals is to spread the word to all parents about the governments use of schools to get information for military recruiters. In their most recent newsletter, AMP revealed that the Pentagon has compiled and put into use its own database of personal information on 30 million 6 to 25-year-olds. This database is distributed monthly to the armed services for recruitment purposes.
I think it is of the utmost importance that this atrocity cease. Bush made sure this program was part of his "No Child Left Behind" program. I guess that gives the phrase "no child left behind" a whole new sinister meaning. If we keep sending our kids off to war, eventually there will be no child left behind.
If you are the parent of a child, you do have an option. Here is a link to a page from the Fort Wayne Peace Action Coalition that will give you more information about the opt-out program and how you can protect your child from this insidious use of government funds. There are also links to several other resources available on the web.
Here in Fort Wayne, IN there are several students who are taking advantage of the opt-out program. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette recently reported:
More Allen County students are choosing not to have their contact information sent to military recruiters under a federal law, but many students still don?t know they have the choice.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act, which primarily addresses student achievement and school accountability, schools are required to give military recruiters students? names, addresses and phone numbers or risk losing federal money. But the law also stipulates that parents be told their child can opt out of having their information distributed.
How schools meet that requirement varies. Some schools in Allen County simply include the opt-out information in student handbooks, while others include an opt-out form in school newsletters or hand out the forms directly to students in class. Fort Wayne Community Schools has even translated the information to Burmese, Bosnian, Arabic and Spanish.
Despite the efforts, some students still aren?t getting the message.
Help pass the word in your own community. Our children are too precious to gamble with their lives.
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