Finding Moral Courage Beyond 2004 Headlines
Some of the most important stories of 2004 are the ones that haven't been prominently told. Looking beyond the headlines, we can see little-known stories that reflect moral courage and the greatness that is America. The Hero of Abu Ghraib. At Abu Ghraib, a group of American soldiers disgraced themselves and our country when they abused Iraqi prisoners and documented themselves doing so. Most notable were the actions of Lynndie England, who was having a great time engaging in frat house behavior as she humiliated prisoners. Everyone has heard of Abu Ghraib and Lynndie England, but do we recognize the name Joe Darby? He gave his superior officers evidence of this abuse. Describing the actions of the accused, this 24-year-old said: "It violated everything I believed in personally and all I've been taught about the rules of war." A few months ago Congress passed a resolution recognizing his moral courage, noting that "Specialist Darby deserves the nation's thanks for speaking up and for standing up for what is right." Sadly, however, his family has been harassed for his "ratting out" the guilty soldiers. They have left the small Maryland town where they had been living and are at an undisclosed location. The Hero of Hollywood. What do Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Anna Nicole Smith have in common? All exemplify the shallow, self-centered culture glorified by the A-list of Hollywood celebrities -- and scads of American teens. Clueless to a fault, they easily spend more on a handbag than some people did on their first house. Contrast this sort of self-centered excess with the decision of another Hollywood figure to divorce himself from this hedonistic culture. For years, Ben Stein wrote a biweekly column where he reported on the comings and goings of Hollywood celebrities, but in July he announced that he had "changed as a person" and no longer wants to "perpetuate those values." In his final column he wrote: "A man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to." Who then would be a real star, according to Stein? "A real star, the kind that haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordinance on a street where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad." The sad fact is that more people know the name of Paris Hilton's dog than know of Stein's articulate discussion of genuine values -- and why he has turned his back on Hollywood. Heroes of the Culture Wars. In recent weeks we have all heard about the atrocious behavior of some of America's highest paid athletes, most notably Ron Artest and Latrell Sprewell. Sportswriter Bob Sanseverehas called them "role models for the self-centered, greedy and egomaniacal." That these prima donnas are clueless is exemplified by this vignette: The Pacers' coach benched Artest, saying he had "compromised the integrity of the team." To which Artest replied: "I don't know what that means." Compare these spoiled brat antics to the chivalry of Sten Gerfast (age 74) and Bill Stevenson (age 79). These gentlemen stood up to a foul-mouthed miscreant who decided to pollute a quiet morning in a St. Paul bakery with obscenities spewed over his cell phone. Fed up with the barrage of foul language, Mr. Gerfast and Mr. Stevenson stepped forth to stop him. This bold and courageous stand against cultural rot made them humble and unassuming soldiers in the culture wars. Although national headlines go to the guys who make the big bucks, we can be proud that principled men such as Gerfast and Stevenson live in Minnesota. They are the people to whom we should point as role models for the young. Actions like theirs serve to make our world a better place. Over two thousand years ago, Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living." This summer, Ben Stein said: "I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human." At the dawn of 2005, these are words, and examples, to live by. -Cheri Pierson Yecke, Ph.D., is Distinguished Senior Fellow for Education and Social Policy at the Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis. |
December 30, 2004