This is the question, Mr. Drammeh. What's your answer? I will go a little further with the Prince's soliloquy, relating it to what we've been witnessing in the Gambia. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune - Yaya and his hangers- on have visited mayhem and murder on Gambia and Gambians, abrogating people's rights, the nightmare that we've never known. These are the consequences of complacency and fence-sitting. Do we sit on the fence or challenge and resist? Or to take arms against a sea of trouble, by opposing them, end them. - Our children died, resisting the tyranny, refusing to have their will dwarfed by the rogue regime, taking a stand that in my opinion no fence sitter will take because by definition, fence sitters just sit, lending neither voice nor muscle to any struggle for justice. To die, to sleep, no more. To sleep, perchance to dream, aye there is the rub ....... - Our children's' lives were snuffed and their dreams deferred forever. The ultimate sacrifice! How do we remember their courage, their passion? Do we just straddle the pony at the junction of "soldier town and half-die" or do we take arms against the butcher and his reps, go behind "paagi Marché" to end their reign of terror? How easy it is to be indifferent (the hallmark of a fence sitter) when we are not directly or immediately affected. This contribution is to the position you took and defended on a previous email and I aim to convince you to re-visit your position, based on what I know fence sitters to be. Let me say that this is your prerogative as it is Ous Bojang's. I do not know you, but Ous I know. Both of you have spoken out against the atrocities being perpetrated by these former tin soldiers and Ous has demonstrated with us against this butcher regime - this is not a character trait of a fence sitter or is it? Fence sitting is pernicious. It is opportunistic which is the greatest danger to a nation. Fence sitters turn a blind eye when kids are shot at and killed, they do so again when the Dumo's and Lalo's are arbitrarily arrested and detained without cause, radio stations burned and their proprietors harassed. Fence sitters do not seek to improve social justice and equality. Fence sitters encourage the abuse of political privilege. Fence sitting is a habit of weak men and your postings give me no such impression. Fence sitters, wittingly, tolerated the savagery and the blood lust of our "civilianized" military. How much more do I have to say to convince you that fence sitting, by most people's definition is bad, bad, bad!!!. Fence sitters think only of self and do not have it in them to contribute to the collective. Soffie ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------