Since posting the article entitled "Mental Toughness" about Navy SEAL Operation Redwing, I have received a lot of communication about the heros involved. Also, in some of my research, I was confronted with an extremely disturbing situation that raised my dander to a level unreached in a long time!
Let me get right to the point, and then I’ll tell you what set me off!
There is a such thing as EVIL. Period. I know that some like to say that everything bad happens because of a person’s environment, lack of privileges, oppression, or poverty. And certainly, outrageous circumstances can sometimes be identified as motivations for some people who go over the edge and commit outrageous crimes. But this misses a very important point: namely, that for every case where poverty or oppression can be pointed to to explain a criminal’s behavior, similar circumstances in the lives of other law abiding citizens can be found that didn’t produce the unlawful actions. In short, causation of violence cannot be placed on the shoulders of circumstance. It’s real cause is deeper than that, and it lies at the heart of the human condition. The Bible calls it sin.
What is so dangerous to the long-term survival of our society is wrong beliefs. When people decide that "sin" is an out of date concept, that "evil" is an offensive word, and that bad things only happen becuase people are treated unfairly, we are on a slippery slope that will only allow the enemies bent on our destruction an open door.
What am I talking about?
Lemmesplain.
In researching the unbelievable heroics of Marcus Luttrell, Danny Dietz, Mike Murphy, and Matthew Axelson in Afghanistan in the summer of 2005, I came across a news story that really scared me. It let me know just how far some people in our country have drifted from a true understanding of how the world works, and drove home for me how precariously a society’s survival hangs in the balance between those who are willing to go to the mat to protect it and those who unwittingly, perhaps, would allow it to be destroyed.
Very appropriately, many people in Littleton, Colorado, the hometown of Danny Dietz, decided to erect a statue to the hero’s memory. Just a few years ago Littleton, as you probably recall, was the tragic scene of one of the world’s most violent school shootings. Apparently some of the good citizens of Littleton protested the statue of 
Danny Dietz (dressed in full combat attire, much the same as he would have been on the day he lost his life serving his country) because he was holding a gun! Some said they just didn’t want "violence glorified" and didn’t think it proper to have little children exposed to "guns" without adequate parental supervision (excuse me while I throw up).
Now don’t get me wrong. I was outraged at the school shooting in Littleton. I was heartbroken over the innocent young lives cut short by those EVIL gunmen’s actions. And I understand that, maybe forever, that community will be extra sensitive to violence and the protection of its children.
With that being said, however, it is still not an excuse to soil the memory of a fallen warrior-hero. The problem is that the blame is being assigned to the WEAPON and not the source of who uses the weapon. When we blame the guns and not the sin, we attack the symptoms and not the disease. A weapon in the hand of the killer’s of Littleton High School is a weapon used for evil, and it signifies the black hearts of the gunmen. A weapon in the hand of a hero like Danny Dietz is a weapon used to protect liberty and freedom, and it signifies the incredible valor of a protector. There is quite a difference.
Rather than shelter our children, not even letting them see weapons in statue form, we should let them understand that there is EVIL in the world, that there ARE those bent on our total destruction, that people who murder innocent people, whether with planes or guns, are evil and consumed by sin, and that unless good people have the backbone to step up to EVIL and halt it at the gates, it will consume even the most well-intentioned, peace-loving person. We should let our children know that people like Danny Dietz will sacrifice their very life to protect what they believe in and people they have never even met. And yes, I’ll bet Danny Dietz would have been the first one rushing into the fray at Littleton High to save those children too, if he’d had the chance.
Perhaps some people would like to keep children from ever seeing an airplane, because, of course, they were weapons of murder on 9/11. Or maybe minivans should be kept from sight, becuase hundreds of American soldiers have been blown up by vans stuffed with explosives. You see, the argument breaks down into the ridiculous. The instrument is not the culprit, evil in a person’s heart is the culprit.
Until we properly assign blame for evil, we will never defeat it. If we hack away at the instruments instead of the heart, we will lose in any struggle against hatred and terrorism, and that’s what scares me. While our militant enemies preach hatred into their toddler children, teaching them to scream "Death to the USA" at the top of their lungs over and over, we try to shelter our kids and not even let them know about the existence of guns! We could eliminate all the guns on the earth, and sinful hearts would still find a way to commit murder. The only problem is, at that point, we would have also disarmed the Danny Dietzs of the world and taken away his ability to protect others. It doesn’t make any sense. And it never has.
Everyone loves peace. I have enjoyed an unfair amount of it in my lifetime, and I am very thankful for my blessings as a free American citizen. But "peace at any price" is a time bomb. It was "peace at any price" that allowed the Holocaust.
One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Wil Durant, and it goes like this: "Love peace, but keep your powder dry."
I hope our country never loses the stomach to stare into the face of EVIL and see it for what it really is. I hope our citizens never lose the will to fight for what’s right; refusing to fall asleep to the lullabies of the "peace at any price" crowd. And I hope our country never stops celebrating the men and woman who, throughout the ages, have sacrificed and died so that we may live free. I, for one, am extremely thankful that we at least have a few people who still understand the truth. Maybe the U.S. military will be the last place the "fire for freedom" burns brightly, the last place where people truly understand that Freedom isn’t Free!
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