FURTHER THOUGHTS THREE YEARS ON...
In a recent conversation a peace loving man said:
'For the young pride is everything, status must be fought for. It is all empty and meaningless. It is ephemeral. Like the leaf on the oak tree. "Look at me, I am the greenest leaf, the biggest leaf, the finest leaf. None of the other leaves has my gloss." Yet autumn beckons, and winter mocks all the leaves, the great and the green, the small and the stunted.'
'I understand that,' said his friend the soldier, 'but it is also an argument against fighting evil. What difference will it make if we fight or we run, if we win or we lose? Fame is fleeting, but love and hate are eternal. I might be but a small leaf in the wind of history, but I will stand against evil wherever I find it, no matter the cost. The Husseins I defeat will not again descend upon the home of an innocent bystander and murder his family. The tyrant who falls beneath my gun will never again rape or kill or plunder. If my effort saves a single soul from pain and anguish then it is a price worth paying.'
The peace lover shrugged. 'But Hussein also loves his family, as does Ben Laden. Surely you see there is good in such people?'
'And because of this you doubt whether anyone can be truly evil,' replied the soldier, 'I do understand that. We humans are wonderful creatures. We soldiers can show compassion and love that is awe-inspiring, and hatred of such power and vileness it could darken the sun itself. What most folk find hard to accept is that such extremes reside in each and every one of us. We gaze upon the works of evil men and tell ourselves that they must be monsters, inhuman and different. Because to accept that they are just like us would threaten the foundations of our existence. Can you not see that the leaders of the US alliance are such an example of this? After September 11, and in their hatred and lust for vengeance, they became what they hunted; savage and uncaring, callous and indifferent to suffering. How much further might those righteous leaders have travelled had they not met the truth of what happened in the prisons of Bagdad, and been touched by revulsion? No, I agree that Hussein and Ben Laden are not monsters. They are men. They can laugh and know joy. They can hug a child and feel the warmth of human love. And they can order the death of thousands without regret. They can torture and kill, and rape and maim. It will not touch them. '
'Why open the gate to more violence?' asked the peace lover. 'Why should we act if we are no better?'
The soldier looked sadly upon his friend and replied, 'the individual must prepared to sacrifice for the innocent and defenceless. It is only by such deeds that we outlive both the autumn and the winter. Standing-by is senseless.'