Wednesday, June 30, 2004
J'Accuse
As some of you may know, I’ve had a few family milestones recently which took up much of my schedule. Thus, I hadn’t had the opportunity to write anything as of late. Meanwhile, there were so many interesting subjects to write about in the last couple of months. I still have a busy schedule, but I hope to touch on a few of those interesting subjects as I write this!
I just came from a photo shoot for a fellow employee who had been deployed to Iraq since early this year. His tour of duty will (may?) end by early next year. His birthday will be coming soon, so a group of us had our pictures taken and wrote a message of greetings that will be sent to him. His name is David, so please keep him and his fellow soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.
The news from and about Iraq has been quite disturbing as of late, as many of you may know. The abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib (and elsewhere!) was very disturbing and disconcerting for many of us. As a tepid counterweight, there was the recent news of the handover of power to the new Iraqi government – done quickly and away from public view. What difference this handover will make is much too soon to tell, but at this point, it may not be all that different.
As for Abu Ghraib and the other abuses of prisoners, there are two observations that I have seen. First, many Americans have become disillusioned and shamed about themselves in seeing that even we are capable of such atrocities. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise for some, but we pride ourselves for our ideals and what we represent. Second, this incident has shown the world that the United States takes the time to investigate and assess such atrocities. Whether the world sees or cares is another matter!
Of course, atrocities are to be found in all wars, and Americans have been involved in such atrocities - both known and unknown - in all the wars that we have fought. However, in this recent war, we were supposed to show ourselves to be a better example of people. We were to show the Iraqis and other Arabs what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”. Such notions have been shattered and will be near-impossible to rectify.
Needless to say, there are those who have excused or downplayed the atrocities. Some say that the incidents are no different than college hazing pranks. Others, who have a more moral outlook, tend to just see the photos and blame our culture for the abuse. Both of these groups miss the entire point of the atrocities and just show themselves to be narrow in their thinking. I mean, when does someone stop being a “true-believer” and start becoming a human being?
As for the first group, they’ve deluded themselves into thinking that we can do no wrong – even when we are. They see the prisoners as The Other, therefore it’s okay to do what we want with them. After all, didn’t “those people” attack us on 9/11?
With the second group, it’s a bit different. They have placed themselves as the moral authorities of this country. Yet, in such a blatant act of abuse as had happened at Abu Ghraib, all they see are the photographs and not the policy that led to those photographs. In seeing only the contents of the photos, these moral authorities blame the culture that has pervaded America. They’re only partially right. It’s true that America’s promiscuous culture may have contributed to the graphic nature of the pictures, but what about what the pictures show? And, what about the policy that led to the abuse which then led to the photos? At this point, the self-proclaimed moral authorities are silent.
They ought to take a hard lesson from an incident in the Bible that should be a lesson for us all. As the story goes, David, the King of Israel, had an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, an officer in Israel’s army. Bathsheba became pregnant by King David which led to David in trying to have her husband sleep with her - thus, saying that the child was Uriah’s. For whatever reason, Uriah wouldn’t cooperate, so David schemed to have Uriah killed. This is what happened, and it gave King David free reign to marry Uriah’s widow, Bathsheba, thus giving a semblance of legitimacy for their child.
Needless to say, this whole incident did not go unnoticed. Nathan, a prophet of God, came to David and accused him to his face that he not only committed adultery but murder as well. The famous incident had Nathan point his finger at David and proclaim “You are that man.” King David felt deep remorse and asked God for forgiveness. God may have forgiven, but the episode forever stained David.
[If you want the fuller version of this story, read Second Samuel, Chapters 11 and 12, in the Bible. This will tell exactly what David did to Uriah, and what happened to David and Bathsheba’s baby.]
What I wish the moral authorities would say to our leaders is the equivalent of “You are that man.” It shouldn’t matter whether they like these leaders or not. I’m sure that the prophet Nathan admired David for how faithful to God the King was. Yet, this didn’t stop Nathan from saying “J’accuse” to the king. It’s easy for people to criticize someone that they don’t like, but, if they are truly moral, they need to confront the moral shortcomings of even those whom they support.
There have been times in American history where we did confront our inner demons and asked for forgiveness. The first incident that I’m aware of is what happened after the Salem Witch Trials. As most may know, back in 1692, a number of people in Salem, Massachusetts, were accused of being witches. Many of them were executed. What is forgotten is that there was a collective sense of remorse in the years that followed. Some may not have been sincere, but many did feel shame and guilt for what had happened at Salem.
This sense of remorse and soul-searching is a part of the American character. It’s little noted by many, both critics and admirers alike, but it’s there. We’re not a great nation just because we’re strong. We’re a great nation because we acknowledge those times when we fail – morally and otherwise. From the times of the Salem Witch Trials to the days of slavery to the era of Vietnam and Watergate, we have had a history of soul-searching. Abu Ghraib is now another opportunity to see the depth of our character. Let’s hope we do - whether the world sees it or not.
Leaders who take their nations to war need to know what the consequences may be, and they must prepare their people to confront those consequences. This is where true moral leadership begins. Of all the war stories I’ve read and heard, there is one from the First World War that haunts me the most.
A young English woman wrote of an incident on a train. Among the passengers was a middle-aged couple. The wife kept counting aloud on her fingers “One, Two, Three, Four, Five” over and over again. She was oblivious to the fact that she was making a spectacle of herself. Her husband then noticed that the other passengers on the train were staring at her, to which he stated:
“You must forgive my wife. You see, we have five sons who went to fight in France, and all five were killed in battle. My wife just couldn’t handle it, so we’re heading for a sanitarium in the hope that she’ll be helped. So, please understand and forgive us.”
Throughout her husband’s speech, the mother of five dead sons kept counting aloud on her fingers, “One, Two, Three, Four, Five”.
We must accept more from our leaders than pithy statements about fighting for freedom. We must be assured that the reason we fight is for more than filling the coffers of corporations. We must remember men like David, my co-worker fighting in Iraq, and we must remember incidents like that woman who lost five sons in a needless war. We must hold our leaders to a higher standard when it comes to war. We should do no less - but are we?
I just came from a photo shoot for a fellow employee who had been deployed to Iraq since early this year. His tour of duty will (may?) end by early next year. His birthday will be coming soon, so a group of us had our pictures taken and wrote a message of greetings that will be sent to him. His name is David, so please keep him and his fellow soldiers in your thoughts and prayers.
The news from and about Iraq has been quite disturbing as of late, as many of you may know. The abuse of the prisoners at Abu Ghraib (and elsewhere!) was very disturbing and disconcerting for many of us. As a tepid counterweight, there was the recent news of the handover of power to the new Iraqi government – done quickly and away from public view. What difference this handover will make is much too soon to tell, but at this point, it may not be all that different.
As for Abu Ghraib and the other abuses of prisoners, there are two observations that I have seen. First, many Americans have become disillusioned and shamed about themselves in seeing that even we are capable of such atrocities. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise for some, but we pride ourselves for our ideals and what we represent. Second, this incident has shown the world that the United States takes the time to investigate and assess such atrocities. Whether the world sees or cares is another matter!
Of course, atrocities are to be found in all wars, and Americans have been involved in such atrocities - both known and unknown - in all the wars that we have fought. However, in this recent war, we were supposed to show ourselves to be a better example of people. We were to show the Iraqis and other Arabs what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature”. Such notions have been shattered and will be near-impossible to rectify.
Needless to say, there are those who have excused or downplayed the atrocities. Some say that the incidents are no different than college hazing pranks. Others, who have a more moral outlook, tend to just see the photos and blame our culture for the abuse. Both of these groups miss the entire point of the atrocities and just show themselves to be narrow in their thinking. I mean, when does someone stop being a “true-believer” and start becoming a human being?
As for the first group, they’ve deluded themselves into thinking that we can do no wrong – even when we are. They see the prisoners as The Other, therefore it’s okay to do what we want with them. After all, didn’t “those people” attack us on 9/11?
With the second group, it’s a bit different. They have placed themselves as the moral authorities of this country. Yet, in such a blatant act of abuse as had happened at Abu Ghraib, all they see are the photographs and not the policy that led to those photographs. In seeing only the contents of the photos, these moral authorities blame the culture that has pervaded America. They’re only partially right. It’s true that America’s promiscuous culture may have contributed to the graphic nature of the pictures, but what about what the pictures show? And, what about the policy that led to the abuse which then led to the photos? At this point, the self-proclaimed moral authorities are silent.
They ought to take a hard lesson from an incident in the Bible that should be a lesson for us all. As the story goes, David, the King of Israel, had an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, an officer in Israel’s army. Bathsheba became pregnant by King David which led to David in trying to have her husband sleep with her - thus, saying that the child was Uriah’s. For whatever reason, Uriah wouldn’t cooperate, so David schemed to have Uriah killed. This is what happened, and it gave King David free reign to marry Uriah’s widow, Bathsheba, thus giving a semblance of legitimacy for their child.
Needless to say, this whole incident did not go unnoticed. Nathan, a prophet of God, came to David and accused him to his face that he not only committed adultery but murder as well. The famous incident had Nathan point his finger at David and proclaim “You are that man.” King David felt deep remorse and asked God for forgiveness. God may have forgiven, but the episode forever stained David.
[If you want the fuller version of this story, read Second Samuel, Chapters 11 and 12, in the Bible. This will tell exactly what David did to Uriah, and what happened to David and Bathsheba’s baby.]
What I wish the moral authorities would say to our leaders is the equivalent of “You are that man.” It shouldn’t matter whether they like these leaders or not. I’m sure that the prophet Nathan admired David for how faithful to God the King was. Yet, this didn’t stop Nathan from saying “J’accuse” to the king. It’s easy for people to criticize someone that they don’t like, but, if they are truly moral, they need to confront the moral shortcomings of even those whom they support.
There have been times in American history where we did confront our inner demons and asked for forgiveness. The first incident that I’m aware of is what happened after the Salem Witch Trials. As most may know, back in 1692, a number of people in Salem, Massachusetts, were accused of being witches. Many of them were executed. What is forgotten is that there was a collective sense of remorse in the years that followed. Some may not have been sincere, but many did feel shame and guilt for what had happened at Salem.
This sense of remorse and soul-searching is a part of the American character. It’s little noted by many, both critics and admirers alike, but it’s there. We’re not a great nation just because we’re strong. We’re a great nation because we acknowledge those times when we fail – morally and otherwise. From the times of the Salem Witch Trials to the days of slavery to the era of Vietnam and Watergate, we have had a history of soul-searching. Abu Ghraib is now another opportunity to see the depth of our character. Let’s hope we do - whether the world sees it or not.
Leaders who take their nations to war need to know what the consequences may be, and they must prepare their people to confront those consequences. This is where true moral leadership begins. Of all the war stories I’ve read and heard, there is one from the First World War that haunts me the most.
A young English woman wrote of an incident on a train. Among the passengers was a middle-aged couple. The wife kept counting aloud on her fingers “One, Two, Three, Four, Five” over and over again. She was oblivious to the fact that she was making a spectacle of herself. Her husband then noticed that the other passengers on the train were staring at her, to which he stated:
“You must forgive my wife. You see, we have five sons who went to fight in France, and all five were killed in battle. My wife just couldn’t handle it, so we’re heading for a sanitarium in the hope that she’ll be helped. So, please understand and forgive us.”
Throughout her husband’s speech, the mother of five dead sons kept counting aloud on her fingers, “One, Two, Three, Four, Five”.
We must accept more from our leaders than pithy statements about fighting for freedom. We must be assured that the reason we fight is for more than filling the coffers of corporations. We must remember men like David, my co-worker fighting in Iraq, and we must remember incidents like that woman who lost five sons in a needless war. We must hold our leaders to a higher standard when it comes to war. We should do no less - but are we?
