Posted by
The Interface on Thursday, June 07, 2007 1:34:49 AM
Security: 1. the state of being or feeling secure. 2. the safety of a state or organization against criminal activity such as terrorism or espionage. (Oxford Dictionary, University Press)
How to achieve true security is a matter of some debate, but the answer to the question is critical to the pursuit of happiness, etc. The liberal/progressive will say it will be acquired when everyone, all of whom are really good souls at heart, just learn to share and get along without judgment or discrimination against differences.
Unfortunately, a careful and objective look at reality shows this to be a fantasy. Evil does exist. Evil people do exist. People who will slit your throat for money, or for religion,...or for no reason at all, are waiting at the gates (and sometimes climb clandestinely over the walls) for the right opportunity. Thus, multiculturalism fails as a worldview because it fails to recognize that some people and some cultures are, in fact better than others, less barbaric, more civilized.
True security comes from those who are willing to prepare and act in the service and protection of themselves and others. Even Solomon, the king known for his wisdom, and the peace and prosperity of his reign, maintained an armed force during his reign to ensure that peace and prosperity continued (cf. 1 Kings & 2 Chronicles).
Now, you might think these cogitations originate in a contemplation of the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy and the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany. Actually, it comes from reading a story in the Boston Globe (HT: Blackfive) about two men on a flight who came to the aid of the flight crew when a passenger had "problems."
"Shortly before landing, Bob Hayden and a flight attendant had agreed on a signal: When she waved the plastic handcuffs, he would discreetly leave his seat and restrain an unruly passenger who had frightened some of the 150 people on board a Minneapolis-to-Boston flight Saturday night with erratic behavior."
"Hayden, a 65-year old former police commander, had enlisted a gray-haired gentleman sitting next to him to assist. The man turned out to be a former US Marine."
There are some other interesting factoids coming out of the story on which I could comment, but I will let you check out the story for yourself for those. Suffice it to say that the incident does not appear to be terrorist related, and the individual was not Muslim. There may be a medical disorder involved as at one point in the flight the man is described as on the floor "screaming, moaning, and thrashing on the floor," which sounds like some kind of epileptic fit.
In the end, no one was hurt, and the man and someone identified as his brother were led off the plane at its destination.
What makes this story worthy of comment here, and what triggers the above thoughts on security, are the priceless last two paragraphs of the story...about Mr. Hayden’s wife.
"Hayden’s wife of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from The Richest Man in Babylon, the book she was reading."
"‘The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading,’ Katie Hayden said. ‘Bob’s been shot at. He’s been stabbed. He’s taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody’s neck, and that would be the end of it. I know how that situation would end. I didn’t know how the book would end.’"
Now, that’s true security: confidence in a protective strength guided by experience and character.