Subject: Students See the Light of Peace in Jesse Jackson's Rainbow
Date: Published: 2/25/88 56 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Viewpoint:  
   Students See the Light of Peace in Jesse Jackson's Rainbow
    ---
   By Michael Gartner

   My 17-year-old daughter, an 11th-grader at Scattergood
Friends School in West Branch, Iowa, went to her precinct
caucus.  She stood up for Jesse Jackson, she told me, and so
did a half-dozen classmates.
   Why?  I asked.  "Because he cares about people," Melissa
said, "and he's for peace."

[105 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been removed. -- sysop]

   And in the eyes of the nonviolent, many of this year's
candidates are little better.  "I'm for a strong defense,"
they say, and what they mean is, "I'm for a strong, violent
defense."
   Jesse Jackson would not close down the Pentagon any more
than Jack Kemp would.  But Mr. Jackson at least understands
nonviolence, and most other candidates don't.  Mr. Jackson at
least understands compassion, and many other candidates
don't.  And young people seem to sense this.
   (A case in point is AIDS, which has attracted little
campaign attention thus far because it isn't yet an
overwhelming problem in Iowa and New Hampshire.  "How would
you deal with the AIDS crisis?  " I asked Mr. Jackson.  "Number
one, we should have some sense of mercy on those who are
dying," he responded.)  
   And so the movement gathers force.  Mr. Jackson still is
seeking out students.  Mr. McCarthy still is teaching them.  In
a way, both efforts are futile.  So many people are saying
that Jesse Jackson can't win that it has become a
self-fulfilling prophecy.  Mr. McCarthy doesn't expect the
Pentagon to be converted to a ministorage warehouse in his
lifetime.  But both press on.  Both see rewards.  For Mr. 
Jackson, there's the probability of being a power broker at
the convention.  For Mr. McCarthy, there are the Karen Moodys
of the classroom.
   Besides, "teaching doesn't take a lot of time," he says.
"I read the students' papers when traveling on the plane.  I
tell them to write with some wit.  That's much better than
depending on Wall Street Journal editorials for my daily
laughs."
    ---
   Mr. Gartner is editor and co-owner of the Daily Tribune in
Ames, Iowa.

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]