Elie Wiesel

I must preface what follows, by first saying that I thought Night was one of the most astounding and incredibly humanizing books EVER written. I never realized (the me living in some alternate universe I guess) that Elie Wiesel has actually written tons of other books (I mean like 80 something...). So, since I loved Night so much, I decided to read The Judges. It was a bit dark, entirely surprising to be honest. I was thinking about it today, after reading yet another article about President George Bush and our proposed withdrawal of troops from Iraq this summer (stay with me here).

When I read the book, I wrote down a quote which I wasn't entirely sure I agreed with at the time, but struck me none the less for its audacity.

"Since we have to use evil to destroy evil, it's better to do it with fervor and determination. And because the evil that confronts us is infinite we must hunt it down beyond national frontiers, wherever we find it. And we must do this here and now."

So, now I must digress for a minute...When I first read this I was appalled that it was actually written by a man who had received the Nobel Peace Prize. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that it could only be someone who had suffered through and survived something like the Holocaust who could ever truly give an opinion on something like this. The reality of my life is that no matter how many novels like Night I may read about the Holocaust, I can NEVER in a thousand years understand what it truly must have been like. As often as I read the news, can I ever truly understand Evil? Evil the likes of which have never touched my life?

Little by little, I came to realize that what he was saying was not all together different from what he said in his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech which I lauded with the highest praise, and said that anyone questioning why the United States needed to send troops into Afghanistan and Iraq should read.

"...And then I explain to him how naive we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to remain silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe...Human rights are being violated on every continent. More people are oppressed than free. How can one not be sensitive to their plight? Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere...There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person - a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, a Martin Luther King, Jr. - one person of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be free. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs."

Which brings me full circle to the first quote about evil...I am a debater by my very nature, a debater and a pacifist. I think the whole damn world should be made to sit down and take lessons about how not to be selfish and how to learn to get along (something which most basic kindergartners are taught...note the sarcasm there). If we could all be selfless, there would be no need for war. If...that is such a big word!

I know in reality though, that most people are selfish (myself included in this list, despite my best efforts not to be). So then what is the solution when people can't agree, or agree to disagree, and diplomacy fails?

Is that we have become? As a nation? We've taken on the roll of the enforcers of the UN (although I will give England a wee bit of credit on that front - a wee bit mind you). As we struggle to get a handle on the issue during this year of elections, can we easily say we should withdraw our troops? Whatever our original purpose for sending troops to Iraq, and whatever Bush told us was our justification, the fact remains that we are currently engaged in war in Iraq. We have captured Saddam Hussein, and he has now been successfully tried, found guilty of and executed for mass genocide. But still the country is in turmoil, largely because of our interference in their country. Can we in good conscience walk away from the situation with things still so unresolved? And don't get me started on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban...

And moreover, does anything Hussein or the insurgents did/are doing, justify our use of force and violence in their country? Is this the evil that must be used to destroy evil? Can we justify what we are doing?

I know that there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. I feel we do have a moral obligation to help, I am just no longer sure we are...