The anti-war “demonstration” held outside the Student Union on October 10 was worse than meaningless. Sadly, I don’t think that the six people with bullhorns and the couple dozen students who had found an excuse to get out of class fully realized what the rally was: a profound and manifold insult.

It is insulting to me personally to be heckled by those with a political view they feel they need to force on me as I walk by them. If I’m not attending your rally, I just might have a reason. I would ask those people to simply respect that, but it’s already clear that they have respect for very little beside themselves.

It is an insult to those who died a month ago simply because they reported for work in the morning, or who died trying to rescue others, to suggest that this attack will go unanswered.

It is an insult to the intelligence of the surviving people of this country to suggest that our freedoms will not be defended. We have been, in the words of Roosevelt, “suddenly and deliberately attacked.” This isn’t the Gulf of Tonkin; this is Pearl Harbor. And the ancestors of mine who gave their lives after Pearl Harbor did so for the best of reasons. For protesters with nothing but a head full of hippie jargon and ill-advised access to a bullhorn to suggest otherwise is an insult.

It is an insult to our government and to its care and deliberation in responding to the terrible events of September 11, to suggest that this has been an impulsive action. We have given the Taliban almost a full month to agree to turn over one man, and they refused. Then when we bombed them, they cried foul. They waved around an “estimate” that 20 civilians had been killed. Gee, I wonder what that’s like? We only lost more than 10 times that many firemen alone. For the Taliban to wave a comparatively miniscule death toll in our faces when they’ve had more than ample chance to prevent it is insulting to the memories of those who were given no warning and no chance by the man Afghanistan now protects.

It is also insulting to our government to suggest that its actions have been unwarranted. Mr. bin Laden and his organization have already killed American sailors on board the USS Cole and American officials at the US Embassy in Kenya. Those affiliated with Mr. bin Laden have also had a hand in attacks on our allies in Israel. Until this most recent and most despicable attack on mass numbers of our civilians, we have neither retaliated nor interfered. For protesters to suggest that we continue the kind of pacifism that has already made us a target is an insult.

But most of all, so-called “peace” rallies are an insult to our soldiers now overseas, who have given up their homes, families and comforts, and who risk giving up their lives. For protesters to suggest that they deserve anything less than our gratitude is insulting. And for what it’s worth, I’d much rather support a soldier willing to give up his life and livelihood for mine than a protester who lets someone else fight in his place while he hides behind peace.

And so, peace-loving protesters stop your heckling. I will not join your little rally. I’ve got better things to do, like supporting my country and honoring the dead. And I’ve realized something you obviously haven’t. War will not be easy or without pain; the truly courageous thing never is. But peace as we know it is impossible.