Thanks to SLO police officers for a really quiet weekend. In fact, this weekend was even more quiet than any other normal weekend. I do not even want to go out with three or four cops driving around my house. Maybe this is what police want to see, all college students will be locked in for the night. Actually I have a better idea, why don’t they just force every student to take sleeping pills? Of course it is not possible because we still have freedom that is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
However, do we really have any freedom to live like this? I am very glad to take American literature this quarter because it’s probably my last choice on my class list since I am a foreigner. However, I finally found American spirit in this class, that individualism truly means speaking and fighting for what you believe. Yet I am sadder than before just like Douglass was sadder when he learned how to read because he could see the dark side of slavery system, and I started to see most of people who lack American spirit in current days. Maybe we need another Emerson to lead our American scholars in a new direction, or define some new duties for them because many of them, including myself, do not know what is right thing to do today.
However, one thing I am sure is that force control will not solve the problem. Maybe 250 police officers can stop everyone from going out one or two times, but can anyone guarantee that this will work every time?
Many people believe that is a standard American way to deal with problems just send some forces or armies to keep people shutting up like what happened in Iraq. But none of us know what is going to happen tomorrow because someone will try to break the force for freedom.
It is just like what Lincoln said, “You can fool some people all the time, and you can fool all the people sometimes. But you can’t fool all the people, all the time.”
I think it is time for both city officials and students to sit down to discuss a better solution that both parties can accept freely. And I encourage people who have different points of view to speak out. I do not expect to become an American scholar, but I am willing to work on it and move forward.
Rui Xu
CSC senior