The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
Truckers have a gift for brutal honesty. A few years ago, I was stuck in a massive traffic jam on Atlanta's I-285. One very irate trucker got on the CB and complained that he had an appointment in Pensacola in two hours, asking, "How in the world am I going to make my appointment?" Without missing a beat, another trucker answered, "helicopter." The message was plain, and the complaining stopped. There is a time for diplomatic-speak, and a time to speak plainly.
An article by Michael Gerson in today's Washington Post talks about the hard road travelled by North Korea's defectors. Gerson writes,
But defectors remind us that democratic progress depends on a moral determination.
A poignant term, "moral determination." Defector Kang Chol-Hwan calls it, "...the internal courage to see the essence of evil."
This is the courage that President Reagan summoned when, to the gasps of the faint-hearted left, he called the Soviet Union an "evil empire." And as Ricochet's own editor in chief can attest, plainly beseeching Mr. Gorbachev to, "...tear down this wall," required very nearly going to war against the diplomatic corps.
An organization typically takes on the demeanor of the person at the top, which is one reason why so many people are concerned with Barack Obama. His recent attempt at displaying anger was about as awkward as watching me try to dance to hip hop. It simply wasnt happening. Over on NRO, Jonah Goldberg observes that,
A creature of elite universities with a progressive's love of technocrats, Obama is most comfortable leading colloquia of perfect-SAT-score propeller heads.
Unfortunately for Obama and the rest of us, the world is not a colloquium, and yet his approach remains unchanged.
And so terrorist attacks become, "Man-caused disasters." Following his boss' lead and displaying the "moral determination" of Comedy Central, Attorney General Holder cannot will his lips to frame the words Radical Islam. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano rushes to assure us that the Times Square bomber was a, "lone wolf." Judging from her department's 2009 report on possible terrorists, we should instead be on the lookout for returning veterans and people who are, "...rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority."
But the administration's nervous inability to muster Kang Chol-Hwan's, "...internal courage to see the essence of evil," does not preclude evil's existence nor halt its actions. Internal courage is the necessary prelude to defending liberty. The lack of it is a prelude to disaster.
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Comments :
Feb '10
Re: The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
Funny, when I saw your headline, the first example of "evil" I thought of was... North Korea.
May '10
Re: The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
Considering the word "evil" isn't even used by the religious anymore, it's a shocker to ever hear it from a politician.
I do miss John Bolton's straightfoward diplomacy.
May '10
Re: The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
Alas, I miss John Bolton, too. Him and his soup strainer mustache...
May '10
Re: The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
Relativism..all relativism.
Jun '10
Re: The Internal Courage To See The Essence Of Evil
In a morally relativistic world, how does a liberal even justify his own positions of caring for the downtrodden and a "fair" distribution of earth's assets? To be relative is to lack in self confidence. America can not continue to be a world leader if our own leaders don't believe in the absolute goodness of our nation. If we continue on the road to "equality" of values (as practised with glowing hypocrisy at the U.N.) and diminished U.S. exceptionalism (as practised by the Obama administration), who will the world turn to when the next Tsunami hits? If the Gulf oil disaster is any example, there will be no one and no where to turn.