(’76 Contributor) Whatever our generation, we have watched and read many tales of daring and triumph. Our veterans, astronauts, scientists, and other heroes whom we honor achieved great wonders. We learned to believe that, however dire the challenges, “the good guys” win.
That belief is both a strength and a potential weakness. Expecting victory empowers us to persevere. But it also can nurture complacency. Worse, we can become crippled by confusion when the good seem thwarted by wrongdoers.
In 1867, famed economist John Stuart Mill stated (sometimes attributed to Edmund Burke), “Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look and do nothing.”
Contra President Obama’s blithe faith in “history,” happy endings aren’t automatic. But like the heroes we revere, we can choose the path of strength.
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