The war yesterday consisted pretty much of Israel, notably, pounding Iran like a kid with a toy drum and Iran acting like Monty Python’s Black Knight. (reference for those too young to know.) “Good news,” I thought, then I read this: “Students at British universities have shared posts mourning the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the dictator of Iran.” And suddenly I was depressed.
Look, I get it, Islamic students in the UK for educational purposes would bring their thoughts and indoctrination with them, but I would think those universities might be busy trying to beat that nonsense out of their heads. But no, they let them mourn the Freddy Kruger of national leaders. I begin to wonder if the West has lost all sense of morality and decency. The evidence is everywhere – there’s more.
The Times of Israel, “California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed sharp criticism of the Israeli government during an interview this week, suggesting that he agreed with claims that Israel is an “apartheid state” and questioning US military aid to the country.” Newsom is entitled to his opinion about Israel – wrong as it is – that’s not what worries me here. It is his use of the term “apartheid” that is so troubling. South African apartheid was a heinous, cruel and evil way to build a society and Newsom so cheapens the term here as to make it meaningless – erasing any sense of morality for the sake of scoring political points.
And just when I thought it could not get any worse, in steps The Free Press with “Death in One Day: Inside Canada’s Assisted-Suicide Machine.” Here’s how it starts:
One out of every 20 deaths in Canada is triggered by the government-run assisted suicide program. The sheer number is startling. Even more shocking is the speed and efficiency with which it ends patients’ lives.
In Ontario alone, 219 people were killed by the end of the next day following their request for “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) in 2023, according to a 2024 report by an advisory committee. About 30 percent of those deaths occurred on the same day that the person sought the government’s permission to die.
If you are standing up, that ought to put you in your seat. Just a moment of hopelessness and life ends. At least they are not making Soylent Green out of them – yet. The article points out, “Over time, it [assisted suicide] has become just another part of the healthcare system, with well-established referral networks and forms to fill out.” Death should never be “just another part” of anything. (The hospice care system in this country can, under certain circumstances, be almost as ghoulish – but that is a story for another time.)
So, two stories in which people are celebrating and encouraging death and one in which an utterly vacant individual tries to make the heinous look benign. At a minimum our sense of morality has been subsumed by politics, but somedays I fear we have lost it altogether.
War is an awful thing, regardless. But there are times in history when it is necessary and on a few of those occasions it is completely just. We are in such a war at the moment. The Islamic Republic of Iran, under Khamenei, has been responsible for immense evil in the last several decades, including the slaughter of tens of thousands of its own citizens. There are reports Iran had(has?) enough enriched uranium to make at least 11 nuclear bombs – and they have a record that says they would use them. It is rare that a war is as just as the one we are currently involved in.
And the moral morass in which we currently reside, that is debatable – at least in the so-called “educated” classes.
God is good and He has a plan. I am grateful for that, because I have serious doubts about us.
