Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The American Way

In an Op-Ed column titled "The American Way" in today's New York Times", Bob Herbert says,
"Murderous gunfire claims many more victims than those who are actually felled by the bullets. But all the expressions of horror at the violence and pity for the dead and those who loved them ring hollow in a society that is neither mature nor civilized enough to do anything about it."
What rings hollow is Herbert's reference to a mature and civilized society. The beginning of maturity is the recognition and acknowledgement of reality. What Herbert doesn't understand is that we don't live in a mature and civilized society. We never have. The most consistent thing in human history is mans' inhumanity to man. This is why those of us who are mature enough to recognize the reality of the shortcomings of our so-called civilized society choose to arm ourselves in self-defense. Fortunately, the right to do so is the American way.