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KEVIN
MURPHY
A
Good American
June,
2004
I
got an interesting piece of hate mail the other day: Unsigned,
typewritten, postmarked Paducah, KY, with no return address.
It was generated by my anti-war Commentaries on WKMS. It’s short,
so I’ll read it to you.
It
says: “Mr. Murphy, We thank you for your efforts to bring down
the evil Satan United States. With your help and that of senator
Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Michael Moore, and Hillary, we will
not need another 9/11. Normally we do not work with homosexuals
but in your case we will make an exception. Thank you for your
help, and keep up the good work. Ben Laden”
I
wish I could talk to the author of this anonymous piece. Maybe
he’s listening so here’s what I would like him to know: I would
tell him that bringing down the United States is exactly the
opposite of what the anti-war movement or I want to do. I want
the U.S. to be able to hold its head up in the world again as
it could a few short years ago; I don’t want the Americans to
be seen as the major bunch of warmongers and torturers in the
world; I would tell him that I grieve for the over 800 U.S.
troops and 12,000 Iraqis who have been killed in this ugly war
and that I hope that their families will find comfort and peace.
I
would tell him that this is my country, too, and that I worked
for the United States for over 30 years. It was great to be
an employee of the United States Public Health Service. We did
good work; we immunized children; we fought disease; we saved
people’s lives. We were proud of our work and of our country.
Neither my Commissioned Officers nor I ever killed anyone.
The
poison pen writer’s cunning reference to my supposed allegiance
to Senators Kerry, Kennedy, and Clinton was illogical but interesting.
I would point out to him that John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Hillary
Clinton are all Senators who got elected in their states the
old fashioned way: they got more votes than their opponents
did. Not one of them was appointed 5-4 by the Supreme Court.
Getting more people to vote for you than for the guy you’re
running against is what Democracy is all about. And, neither
of them has ever started an unjust war. I don’t always agree
with what these Senators say, but from the standpoint of Democracy
in action, I would be proud to stand by them as freely elected
representatives of my country. They are good and decent people—all
of them. I’ll bet they sign the letters they write.
The
writer goes on to suggest that I’m gay. My wife of nearly 20
years found this to be almost as disconcerting as I did. Gay?
Straight? Why should this guy care about anyone’s preferences
other than his own? Why is he confusing his sexuality with his
politics? Homophobia is a curable disease. I would advise him
to check with his pastor about loving his neighbor.
My
final advice to him is that he needs to do what his parents
and, indeed, most of our parents told us to do when we were
young. Be strong. Be a good American and be proud of it, but
understand that a Chinese, or a Canadian, or, yes, an Iraqi,
can be proud of his or her country, too—and will fight for it.
Don’t be a bully. Take a reasonable stand and try to convince
your enemy with logic and not with insults. Mean what you say;
don’t be a liar; and above all: don’t ever write any letters
that you don’t have the courage to sign.
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