I
was a little bit taken back when I met with a friend at
a train station this weekend. As he got into my car, my
friend asked, “Did you hear about the guy who went
to Ground Zero from Atlanta & killed himself because
Bush got re-elected?”
 I
was shocked, but not entirely surprised.
Sure
enough, 25 year old Andrew Veal from the University of Georgia
walked into the pit of the former World Trade Center with
a shotgun sometime on Friday night November 5, 2004. His
family told authorities he was upset about the Iraq war
& Dubya’s re-election.
Some
people, knowing that I’m a hardcore liberal, joked
with me after the election about whether or not I’d
have to be pulled off the roof or given the number to a
suicide hotline. While I did walk around for most of the
week with P.T.E.D. (Post-Traumatic Election Disorder), I
explained to my humorous fellow Bush haters that I’d
never kill myself over this. If everybody who was anti-Bush
committed suicide there wouldn’t be any smart creative
people left to fix things.
Andrew
Veal shouldn’t have turned his rage inward. He should’ve
found a way to fight tyranny. As it stands, his public statement
is hardly covered in the news.
Veal’s
family, however, is fucked. I can only imagine what they
are going through. I wish they would sue George Bush &
the Republican National Committee. While the case would
get thrown out, it would shine the spotlight on the fact
that there are many who truly feel that life in W’s
America is not worth living.
That’s
1 more life that George Bush has indirectly taken. He must
be stopped somehow. The lies & the loss must end. The
election is over, true. But if 51% of the country wants
to eat shit for 4 years do not expect 49% of us to grab
our cutlery & dig in.
Andrew
Veal decided to check out. I’m not sure of the mental
path that led Andrew to downtown NYC. I’m not certain
of what statement he was hoping to make. I can only assume
his intention was to convey a message that if George Bush
is president than death is better.
Did
Andrew Veal travel to Ground Zero because he felt dead already?
Did he feel a connection to the victims? Did he want his
death to be a shout heard ‘round the world? Andrew
Veal is neither a hero nor a martyr. He’s a man who
wouldn’t take it anymore. Perhaps he hard the old
cry of “America: Love It Or Leave It!!” &
put into motion a permanent solution to a temporary
problem.
But,
Andrew, why didn’t you go a little further uptown.
If you had taken 3 steps into Union Square you surely would’ve
found people just like you. You’d see politically
minded people of all ages who are worried about the war
& hate that Dubya won. They’re concerned that
their jobs will be outsourced. Hell, you would’ve
seen the denizens of a city that’s been attacked deal
with the growing likelihood of it happening again under
Dubya Version 2. You could have talked to them Andrew. You
probably could’ve joined a grassroots organization
that’s calling for impeachment & read underground
political newspapers. Perhaps you could’ve bought
a t-shirt that says “George Bush Can Suck My Cock!”
from a vendor on the corner.
Andrew
Veal did something that I can’t understand & that
I don’t condone. But I heard him. Did Bush?
R
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