Dick Cheney misses the most important point. If, in order to gain something, we compromise our most important principles, then we have actually lost. There is nothing important enough to justify committing a wrong to gain the end we want, no matter how vital the need may be. It's no use trying to convince ourselves that the end justifies the means. It doesn't. Every action has a flow that returns to us in like kind. We will reap what we sow. We cannot come out right by doing wrong. This isn't politics--it's principle. Shame on you, Dick Cheney.
There is always a way to do what we need to do, either for ourselves or for our country, without doing wrong to others. The test of our integrity is to be able to use our imagination, ingenuity, and our courage to find that way. If we believe we can only keep our country safe is by torturing other human beings, we have to be ready to reap the results of that torture. The advantages will only be temporary. In the end, we will be even less safe than we are now.
I am against torture for any reason. There is a greater law than any law we might concoct to make torture "legal." That law is "do unto others what you would have them do unto you." Shame on you, Dick Cheney!
"There is always a way to do what we need to do, either for ourselves or for our country, without doing wrong to others. The test of our integrity is to be able to use our imagination, ingenuity, and our courage to find that way."
ReplyDeleteBrilliant Troy! I nominate you for President!!!
Oops! I forgot to sign my name! Rhonda
ReplyDeleteYou know, you got me here, Troy. I have been aching to respond to this write since you posted it.. . and I really can't make a desisive comment. I am still contemplating and have been, but I have have read this and sooner or later I'll get back to you. I,have a problem immaging this world as a perfect place,where torture would not even a reality or a necessary reality. It sickens me that it is withing humnan nature or needed Humanistic circumstances, that torture is even a viable tool...necessary for the release of hard core turth. However,if one of my loved ones were in supreme danger, I might be a very different person, then as I imagine. xo Paula
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm getting back to you. and I guess I'm going to stick to what I posted. xo Paula
ReplyDeleteDear Paula: I'm not against torture because I think the world is a perfect place. It isn't. We have created it and are creating it, and have made it the way it is. It will never get better if we as individuals keep making the same choices--especially if we make the choice that it's acceptable to be cruel to others to make our own lives better. We can both imagine scenarios in which it might be difficult to choose, but this is true about many of the principles most of us believe in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your very interesting comment. Love, Troy