As I have written before here recently, words are an important measure to me as far as what we choose to think to say, but equally by what we choose not to say, what words we omit. Which words are the most important to us. While riding my bike in 2003, during the 'debate' in the run-up to the Iraq War, a local school here on Maui had large inspirational banners of single words for the children of values. COURAGE, STRENGTH, HONOR, etc. stood towering in giant-sized capital letters over the play area on banners painted by the students announcing to the world what the students or the school thought were the most important words. I saw instead what was missing. By omission, the banners I read were NO COMPASSION, NO FORGIVENESS, NO MERCY, and most glaringly absent of all, certainly NO PEACE!

      That was the only time in my life I wanted to complain to a school, “what are you teaching children?” In this time of impending war, when hatred and fear is being sowed, has peace as a goal, a value, become too political to be put up there as well?

      To no end I am disappointed that America has papered over Armistice Day, a day to celebrate Peace, a day to contemplate as a goal the end of wars, what one of our past generations sought to enshrine with a national holiday, and had later successfully removed it and replaced it with a second holiday dedicated to our warriors, Veterans Day. The argument was, if Memorial Day was to honor those who died in War, surely those who fought in War and came home deserved a day of tribute.

      But telling most of all to me was, not only because our country is cheap in its allocation of national holidays, but that it came at the cost of the only day we had meant to contemplate and recognize the right to pursue peace, and world peace at that, as if the notion had become sacrilegious to our national discourse.

      I was reminded of those banners again as well by a picture in todays newspaper, 4 years later, of what that generation decided to put on signs themselves for their graduation day. Many had made posters of slogans, motos, which were all held up or beside them shown to a newspaper reporter or school photographer to encapsulate that day. Some had their names, designs, but I saw instead what was missing.

      Out of dozens of placards, there were no doves, no peace signs, nothing to show that these high school graduates had any awareness or a position on the wars going on in their name or for their benefit, except one. The only reference that this is not a happy joyous time, a time of a perfect world of peace which in which peace is so enshrined, so secure, it needs not even be mentioned at all, was a reference to a recent casualty of that war who had recently graduated from that school. He was victim of the April Surge, the worst month of casualties yet of Americans thus far killed in Iraq, surpassed only by this month of May ending today which immediately followed it.

      There are no official casuality counts of how many Iraqis are dying every month. There were no school placards about that, none about the war at all, and none about a desire for peace. Now I know what many would say to this, the school may have said not to put political messages on them. They might say how vocal young people are in the movement for peace in this country. How outraged they are that people their own age are dying in a war they are disillusioned with.

      That may be a valid argument. It may be that they were told such messages are still inappropriate in this time of war where even a peace symbol is deemed an inappropriate symbol on something you are allowed to make yourself to put on your own poster to symbolize your own values on your own graduation day. It is entirely possible, sadly, that they had been encouraged to be that self-censored, or that the school itself would be that censored in whose signs were allowed to be shown in the photo in the newspaper. And it would not be a new idea to me.

      When I was in the 4th grade, a teacher tried to have me punished for refusing to take off a peace symbol in class. It was after the Vietnam War, unlike now, a time when we were not at war with anyone, much less potentially anyone. I had been taught in that very school that being allowed to wear that was my right. Unlike now, there was no dress codes then, no mandatory drug tests, no censoring what kids were allowed to wear as symbols, and I was certainly not going to simply be told by anyone in authority that I could not wear a symbol of peace around my neck if I so choose.

      It was one of those times I picked the right battle at the right time for after trying to punish me at the Principal's Office, it was determined I had that right and she had to back down and allow me to wear it in class. There was no being dragged off in hand-cuffs and charging a child with disruption of the peace for wearing a symbol of peace, no need for lawsuits, no suspension needing to be appealed to the Supreme Court. I had rights then. I had the right state Peace was a better path than War, and I had a right to wear it proudly around my neck at school if I so chose, and no one, at least at that time, could take that away from me, at least not succeed in that attempt.

      Times have changed no doubt. The President of the United States of America himself had no compunction against going on national television and telling people they ought to be careful what they say in public from on now. Those who publicly question an illegal war of aggression, even great-grandmothers carrying posters of peace symbols, are monitored by the police, and if one is in the army, one can be suspended or imprisoned for speaking out against even an illegal war. There is no one backing up those who choose to rebel in the name of peace today, at least not at the highest levels. The higher up you go now, the more insanity and suspicion and fear rule the day and the minds of the new 'deciders' on what is and is not proper self-expression these days.

      Perhaps I was hoping for someone, if that was the case, if they are not so apolitical to not even think, to every last man and woman or boy and girl, to make a symbol of peace on their own poster or placard on their own graduation day of their own values, maybe just one might have tried to sneak one into the picture. Or spontaneous peace signs of the fingers if that was not possible before each and every picture was taken. But I fear that that has been taught out of them, or not taught to them. It is more likely they could have made such symbols, and simply thought not to, or even more likely, did not think of it at all.

      There was likely no state repression of self-expression, at least in this instance, needing to be rebelled against, just another glaring banner or poster of omission. No desire to speak out. Nothing seen as needing by them to be spoken out against. No mercy lacking. No compassion missing. No peace goal needing to be sought after. No word banners missing to them. The invisible banners, the unspoken words, peace, mercy, compassion, fading for good like the Cheshire Cat, with only Dick Cheney's grin remaining in its place.