Michael Gluskin has an outstanding essay in the Washington Post about the oblivion among today’s college students of the suffering of their peers in wars overseas. Say what you will about Gluskin’s call for a compulsory “national service” program–potentially including a draft–but he’s undeniably right when he writes:
I would guess that most of my peers know more about what’s going on with Owen Wilson’s recent suicide attempt or what happened on Monday night’s episode of “The Hills” than about President Bush’s surprise visit to Iraq on Labor Day. This leaves those wounded veterans more alone in the world at a time when they need as much support as possible.