Posted on: Friday, August 27, 2004

ISLAND VOICES

By Currun Singh

My heart pumped faster when I read in Saturday's Advertiser about Operation Hele On, Hickam Air Force Base's fake deployment for 25 children ages 8 to 13. The exercise sickened me.

While helping kids understand what their parents might go though when being deployed is important, firefighters' children aren't sent into burning buildings and policemen's children aren't taught how to shoot a gun.

Ultimately, the pictures reminded me of child terrorists lifting assault weapons into the air and child combatants crawling through underbrush on their stomachs. While the intentions of the activity are no doubt noble, Operation Hele On promotes a culture of war among our youth.

One 10-year-old participant said her face paint was "applied too vigorously by her boot camp instructor." After shouting ridiculous orders at the children like "Tie those shoelaces!" the adult line leader smiled and said, "I thought one or two of them were going to cry."

The kids even wrote their wills! The director of the Family Support Center at the base said, "We want to give them a nice memory during these difficult times. Something they can write to Mom and Dad about." Dear Mom and Dad, today the Captain yelled at me and almost made me cry. If I die, I'm giving Jeb my iPod. I still can't get this stupid face paint off. Love, George.

Five thousand dollars of our tax money was spent on this event at a time when the Department of Defense lacks funds, soldiers, vision and responsible leadership. Unless drastic inflation has occurred since last Halloween, face paint does not cost $5,000.

A simple scan of Saturday's headlines shows how the Family Support Center could have promoted a culture of peace rather than inculcating kids with a culture of war.

The Olympic rings symbolize international peace and cooperation, so I recommend that the base hold a day-long "Hickam Olympics" whereby kids compete in a variety of activities including track races, field sports and eating competitions, and then swim at a nearby pool to cool off afterward.

Here's another idea, based on a recent story about the restoration of Waimea Falls Park, now the Waimea Valley Audubon Center: have the kids conduct a service-learning project. They can go on a nature hike at the Audubon Center or at one of O'ahu's many other preserves, then have a tour guide help them remove invasive plant species and cultivate native flora. An extra advantage is that both of these options are essentially free with community support.

Of course, it would be easy to make Operation Hele On an annual event. Too easy. The media love war and continue to glorify violence. Fallujah and Najaf have become household names. A self-proclaimed "war president" leads us into counterintuitive wars and through a counterproductive presidency. Children join gangs and use drugs on a daily basis at school. The culture of war feeds on events such as Operation Hele On; don't add fuel to the fire.

We've seen this type of thing before with Israel and Palestine, where hate begets hate and violence begets violence. Just as images of 10-year-olds with bombs strapped to their chests are flashed on CNN, images of Operation Hele On may well be flashed on Al-Jazeera. Both sides will hate each other, children will learn that hatred, today's kids will become tomorrow's kidnapped, and yet another generation will undergo fruitless bloodshed and war.

I don't mean to demonize the media; I simply ask that we enlighten ourselves about its power and biases. I don't mean to rain on the cute parade of 25 kids; I simply ask that we seek innovative ways to reverse the culture of war that indoctrinates our children.

And I don't mean to sound fatalistic; I simply want to spread hope and preserve the innocence and sacredness of childhood.

Recently while driving down University Avenue near the Varsity Theater, I saw a beautiful woman in a white and blue dress waving a gigantic banner that simply read, "PEACE." To her, I express my deepest thanks. To everyone else, I say follow her example, or at least her sentiment: it's time to ditch the culture of war and embrace a culture of peace.

Currun Singh of Manoa is a Punahou graduate and is a sophomore at Harvard University.