I’m upset – very upset.

As the current service committee chair of Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, I am always open to new ideas for excellent service projects. A friend and fellow brother proposed a service project I felt was worthy of approaching. She suggested collecting donations from Loyola to make care packages to send to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. She then set up boxes all over the residence halls and posted fliers all over campus. I definitely wasn’t prepared for what followed. Fliers announcing our project were torn down, donations were stolen from the boxes and some boxes in their entirety were stolen, if not torn apart. The boxes and fliers were not there to make a political statement. They were not there to speak for or against the war. They were simply there to help our brothers and sisters over seas. The more I think about the paraphernalia of our service project being vandalized, the more angry and disgusted I feel.

Our personal views of the war shouldn’t reflect our willingness to help those who are putting their lives at risk over seas. The majority of our soldiers are over there because it’s their duty as service men and women. No one really asks them what their opinions on the war are before shipping them over. In fact, you will be surprised as to how many of them don’t agree with the war at all. No one really asks them if they agree with Bush and his cabinet, or Congress or American foreign policy. They are simply told to go, and as loyal citizens dedicated to their country and the military service, they go.

Aside from Americans, thousands of Middle Eastern men, women and children have died in the war. It is no surprise as to why this is such a sensitive subject. I remember the incident with the Loyola University Community Action Program and others during the demonstrations held in the Peace Quad, and I’m sure the majority of us do as well. However, I feel that as Americans, we should help other Americans when they are in need.

I look back at American history and think about how many Americans in the United States went out of their way to help troops over seas at war. Beside all the controversy that has gone on with American foreign policy, when you really look at it, the United States is a generous nation. I don’t understand why we can’t be generous with our own when they are in need. Charity begins at home.

It’s pretty upsetting to think about the conditions in which our troops are living in on a day-to-day basis in the Middle East. What is even more upsetting is that society gives many of them the cold shoulder from their return when all they were trying to do is to fulfill their civic duty.

Vietnam part deux? I sure hope not.

These are men and women – our bothers and sisters. Many of them came right out of high school. Thousands of them have families, children or a spouse they left behind. I believe they deserve better.

Whether or not you agree with the war and whether or not you agree with Alpha Kappa Psi’s “Support Our Troops” campaign, I would like to kindly ask Loyola to respect our drive. We are not trying to enforce a political statement of any kind, nor are we trying to offend anyone.

However, if you would like to help out and donate to our campaign, please look out for our table in the Danna Center and fliers around campus. Our troops need anything from nonperishable food, baby wipes, magazines – anything under the sun. If you also know of any business that would like to donate, please let us know. Thank you, Loyola.

Elizabeth Juhasz is a philosophy senior from