Fighting the war on terrorism requires fighting insensitivity to the rest of the world both at Eastern and in the United States, said former U.S. Senator Paul Simon to a packed Phipps Auditorium Tuesday night.

Simon, a two-time presidential candidate who represented Illinois in the U.S. Congress for 22 years, spoke for more than an hour about the reasons behind Sept. 11, and how America should respond to the tragedy.

“Why do (the terrorists) hate us?” Simon asked. “It is not so much hatred but our insensitivity to people beyond our borders. This insensitivity comes across to many people as arrogance.

“We have to learn to respond to the rest of the world,” Simon said.

While America took a leading role in world affairs during the 1940s through such programs as the Marshall Plan, Simon said in recent years America has become increasingly distant from other countries and cultures.

For example, Simon said 9,500 children a day die because of a lack of water – 630 times the number of students killed in the Columbine High School massacre.

“We were stunned by Columbine, as well we should have,” he said. “But today, March 5, 9,500 children died because of no water and we pay no attention to it.”

Simon recommended that Eastern and all Americans become more aware of the rest of the world.

“We’re the only nation in the world that goes through grade school without learning a foreign language,” he said.

At colleges, too, Simon said he noticed students did not interact with people of a different culture than themselves.

“Too often, I see African-Americans by themselves, Latino students by themselves, international students by themselves. Here, you have a chance to reach out,” he said.

Simon challenged interim President Lou Hencken to create a travel fund for freshmen and sophomore students, as well as for faculty.

“You can go around the world for the cost of a used car,” Simon said. “And I can tell you that that trip around the world is infinitely more beneficial than that used car.”

The audience also was challenged to write their congressmen about playing an increased role in the world.

“Write a letter to your senators. Say we have to do more to help the poor beyond our borders,” Simon said. “I believe a letter would save a life. If someone was drowning, you would save them.”