A brave high-school kid speaks up (and my response)

[mokawanis]

A high-school sophomore placed an ad in his school's paper that shows a backdrop of tombstones and contains the following statements...

"You can't be all that you can be if you're dead. There are other ways to serve your country. There are other ways to get money for college. There are other ways to be all you can be."

THINK ABOUT IT. Before you sign your life away."

I'm sure the kid's ad, which he paid for himself, alarms and disgusts a lot of fragile egos that happily and stupidly adhere to the absurd notion of "My country right or wrong", but this is America, you big cry-babies, and the kid has every right to encourage others not to volunteer to have their heads blown off by an ied in Iraq.

I like the fact that the ad has sparked debate among students and teachers, and I applaud the school administrators who decided not to stop it from being published.

http://www.blah3.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=108 has the full story.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Let's hear it for a brave kid (and future great citizen)...

:yourock:

[smartvoter]

3. Way cool. Recommended. nt

[Cha]

6. Recommended, too..

This ad needs to be seen by MANY!

[Bemis]

4. A great ad....................Speaks the truth

It was typical to have a number of people quoted as supporting Free Speach...........but thinking that this ad was inappropriate in many ways and should not have been in the school paper.

This is what free speach is all about.

[Dawgs]

15. speach(sp?)

:D

[Cha]

5. Wow, this is admirable!

Yeah, it's all right for the military to come in and get records from high schools for recuiting purposes but let's not have an opposing postition.

"Grade A Shark", eh?

[jillan]

7. Well said - I hope he got thru to other kids and made them think twice.

A role model, his parents should be proud.

[Mend]

8. I wish there was a way to raise money to show this ad all over....

maybe Moveon.org could organize a fund-raiser and get it to the kids and their parents that need to see it. This ad is too good to die.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. It's an effective counter-balance to military recruitment propaganda

I think the key phrase is "Think about it".

Also, I think that on occasion we forget that sometimes people join the military for other reasons than the fact that they support the war. John Kerry, for example, joined because he didn't think it was fair that someone of lower economic status would wind up taking his place if he dodged the draft. Shit, now I remember why I think of him as 1000x the man that shrub will ever be.

[Straight Shooter]

10. Amazing.

That's all I can say, just amazing.

[npincus]

11. WAY TO GO, Kid!

[bunkerbuster1]

16. Actually, it's "Way to go teacher, advisor, and principal"!

yes, it took courage for the kid, ostensibly anonymous but surely known throughout the school, to create the ad.

But it takes a lot more for the school officials to permit something as controversial as this to see the light of day. Plenty of their American counterparts, whether they considered themselves "progressive" or not, would've found some diplomatic excuse to make this go away.

[jarnocan]

12. It' awesome

I hope we pass it around. I am thinking of printing it- it's B&W and not that dark- making flyers and posting then around the highschool!!! What do you think? Especially would be good-where they do recruit actively! He's amazing for a sophmore.

[file83]

13. Nothing like putting the blender on "Liquefy" and stirring the shit storm!

We need more of these young American voices speaking up and out in all the wonderfully creative ways they can.

[JugDack]

14. Anybody got a link to a full-sized copy?

I'd LOVE to put that ad up everywhere, and I thought I read a post that said the student who created it didn't mind. If anybody has a link....

[d59cy6]

17. the DNC needs to hire this kid

This kid is pure genius. Why the heck can't the DNC hire people with this much talent to blow the right wing away?