Beyond present

President Bush is a unique, compassionate and sensitive leader who is doing his job without a lot of fanfare. The American people have great difficulty with his political style because we are accustomed to taking the initiative—being aggressive. Deeply ingrained in our national temperment is the desire for the whole world to participate in a democratic government like ours.

The current situation in China, the tragedies in the capital square and the impending economic sanctions, we Americans are considering to isolate China as a form of punishment for their inability to make democratic changes in their government at this moment in time.

If we could imagine the future and see that China will evolve into a government with an Eastern version of democratic socialism, we wouldn’t isolate them at a moment when this growth is beginning. The changes in the Soviet Union and its Eastern Block are a good example of the kind of possibilities that are open to China’s political future.

I am hoping that President Bush will be able to see beyond the present moment, take a chance on China’s possibility for positive political evolution and veto the economic sanction bill against the Chinese.

Roberta Menis

Graduate student

Sculpture