Whenever we learn of people maimed or killed while performing in their lines of duty, as in the topical sense of the four Americans targeted and murdered by radical Muslims in Libya, our reaction is one of respect for their sacrifice, sorrow for their survivors, and surely a thoughtful and principled pause for reflection.
Above all else, it is a time to examine our own consciences: In such a scenario, how do we, as thinking human beings, react to episodes of calculated barbarism, knowing all the while that the root desire of the perpetrators, whether secular, religious, psychotic or merely criminal, is for us to react with anger, out of blind fear, so as to unleash the chaos that was the attacker’s beginning aim.
And then — according to Forbes, mind you; not Mother Jones — there’s Mitt Romney. Naturally, I’m concerned with the implications of Romney’s latest expression of moneyed unsuitability. But on both broader and more personal levels, it remains fascinating and sad to ponder the costs of blind ambition. How would I react? How would any of us?
I’m brooding over this one.
I’m sure the irony of our Ambassador’s death at the hands of such a mob is completely lost on Governor Romney who has now cashed in the decency I have always ascribed to the man in exchange for his willingness to do anything—and say anything—if it helps him capture the prize he so intensely seeks. No doubt, the Romney campaign tells itself that trading their souls is the price they must pay for the greater good. No doubt, they convince themselves of some wisdom they find in speaking first and thinking later if that is what must be done to save the American people from themselves.
