PCV in Moldova says Reactions range from uncertain to outraged a time zone away from Iraq



PCV in Moldova says Reactions range from uncertain to outraged a time zone away from Iraq

Reactions range from uncertain to outraged a time zone away from Iraq

By NICOLE SHEETS - Moldova column

April. I’ve shed my faux fur coat for the lighter wool one. There’s nothing green on the ground or in the trees, yet. And as war unfolds one time zone away, life lopes along here at roughly its usual gait.

I should say I’ve never thought of myself as a political person; I lose my footing when a conversation veers that way.

Moldovans ask about war, but their questions aren’t barbed. I've sensed no cold shoulder since the war began, and I feel no more imperiled as an American living in Moldova than I did when I arrived last summer (which is to say "not very").

One Friday after my classes, a colleague asked me my take on the war. I feel sad, I said. I feel like I’ll never know the whole story, even if I read every news article I can get my hands on. And in the next breath she asked, "Do American men make good husbands?"

A similar thing happened when some Peace Corps volunteers came to my university to discuss an article about American values. I had expected a lot of Iraq talk, but students’ war questions, if they came up at all, were sandwiched between other queries ("Do Americans have close relationships with their parents?", "What were your first impressions of Moldova?")

The reaction to war from Americans I know here ranges from uncertainty to outrage. (Peace Corps is a politically neutral organization, but you’d be hard pressed to find many hawks in our ranks. Maybe it comes with the name?)

I read a lot of e-mail and news on the Internet these days. My parents say the war makes me seem even farther away. A university friend says the "passing of the peace" at church makes her weep for the world. I receive a forwarded message about sending "prayer scuds" to protect U.S. troops and hasten war’s end. And a forward to light a candle as a symbol of "waging peace."

I watch the teenagers standing around in the thawed-out courtyard by the apartment building I moved into last month.

I chide myself for being a perennial fence-sitter, safely on my perch instead of planting my feet on the ground where they can do some good.

And at times I use both "weapons" -- the candle and the prayer.

Nicole Sheets is a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova. Her e-mail address is moldovanicole@yahoo.com. Her column appears on the Life page the first Sunday of each month.

When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia."

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December 10, 2004: This Week's Top Stories Dodd says Rumsfeld's answer was unacceptable 9 Dec RPCV Blake Willeford runs classic movie theatre 9 Dec RPCV says education is key to curbing AIDS 9 Dec RPCV Dannielle Tegeder opens exhibition 9 Dec Shalala 1st Woman In Touchdown Club 9 Dec "Today we have a new country" says Toledo 9 Dec DDN wins Investigative Reporting Award 8 Dec Celeste on Panel to study Colorado finances 8 Dec RPCV leads Rotary Club medical team to Togo 6 Dec Vasquez to speak at Hawaii, Wisconsin commencements 6 Dec Tom Murphy warns Pittsburgh on budget abyss 2 Dec Venezuela RPCV Martha Egan runs Pachamama imports 30 Nov more top stories...

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