Saturday, October 09, 2004
Sins of Omission
Mark Steyn said the other day:
The strongest force in international affairs is inertia. It's everywhere: a continuous pressure from the U.N., the EU, the Chinese, the Arab League, the State Department and half the federal bureaucracy to do nothing about anything -- do nothing about the Sudanese genocide until everyone's dead, do nothing about Iran's nuclear program until it's complete and the silos are loaded, do nothing about anything except hold meetings and issue statements of concern. To resist the allure of inertia will require enormous will, not just from the president but from the American people.
It is a powerful thing, this inertia to do nothing. Inertia like this led to the invasion of Poland at the beginning of WWII. Inertia like this stood by while hundreds of people were macheted to death in the hutu-tutsi conflict. It happened in the killing fields of Cambodia. It has happened so many times in the history of the world.
It is one of the greatest tools of evil - inertia. Wringing of one's hands while saying, somebody ought to do something, while doing nothing or saying, "So what?" and going on about one's way.
Action done wrongly is a dangerous tool, but sins are not only sins of commission. There are a lot of sins of omission.
We can ignore ourselves into oblivion, or we can do the right action. Right now, we are trying to do the right action. Afghanistan has just voted in the first free elections since the forming of their government, free from fear of Taliban punishments. Iraq grows stronger by the day, and they too will join the ranks of those who are learning the ways of self-determination. We have uncovered massive evil done in that long period of inaction and inertia, where they were held hostage to western greed, a man's lust for power and the world choosing not to act.
There are still many consequences of the world's choice to not act waiting to be uncovered. May we always decide to do the right thing.
The strongest force in international affairs is inertia. It's everywhere: a continuous pressure from the U.N., the EU, the Chinese, the Arab League, the State Department and half the federal bureaucracy to do nothing about anything -- do nothing about the Sudanese genocide until everyone's dead, do nothing about Iran's nuclear program until it's complete and the silos are loaded, do nothing about anything except hold meetings and issue statements of concern. To resist the allure of inertia will require enormous will, not just from the president but from the American people.
It is a powerful thing, this inertia to do nothing. Inertia like this led to the invasion of Poland at the beginning of WWII. Inertia like this stood by while hundreds of people were macheted to death in the hutu-tutsi conflict. It happened in the killing fields of Cambodia. It has happened so many times in the history of the world.
It is one of the greatest tools of evil - inertia. Wringing of one's hands while saying, somebody ought to do something, while doing nothing or saying, "So what?" and going on about one's way.
Action done wrongly is a dangerous tool, but sins are not only sins of commission. There are a lot of sins of omission.
We can ignore ourselves into oblivion, or we can do the right action. Right now, we are trying to do the right action. Afghanistan has just voted in the first free elections since the forming of their government, free from fear of Taliban punishments. Iraq grows stronger by the day, and they too will join the ranks of those who are learning the ways of self-determination. We have uncovered massive evil done in that long period of inaction and inertia, where they were held hostage to western greed, a man's lust for power and the world choosing not to act.
There are still many consequences of the world's choice to not act waiting to be uncovered. May we always decide to do the right thing.
# posted by Knitting a Conundrum @ 7:27 AM 
