Saturday, May 23, 2009

A Memorial To The Blood Of The Children

Some of you may remember, this was written a year or so ago. In honor of this Memorial Day weekend, after some editing, I am republishing it. It again brought tears to my eyes.


"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." This is a famous Thomas Jefferson Quote penned in a time that existed within the confines of natural law; a self evident understanding that there was an absolute unchangeable standard that governed the whole of mankind. Within that context, the understanding of liberty dealt with over-reaching governments, tyrants and despots that were to be defeated, even if it meant sending patriots to die on the battlefield, if liberty were to be preserved. There seemed to be an innate understanding in that day by those who had fresh memories of a conflict that was a result of the inherent and enduring tensions that exist between man's yearning for freedom, and his lust for power. It is necessarily only from that perspective that our constitutional government, with its original intent of law and separated powers, can be understood with clarity.


But there has been a pernicious shift in prevailing thought in the last half century or so. Gone are the underpinnings of an absolute standard upon which the cost of freedom was enumerated; replaced by the shifting sands of a relative standard. Upon this standard of every man a law unto himself, a society's understanding of what morality it should impose upon itself via legislation, and which old impositions should be expunged, is ever changing under the force of anyone who can muster the power to achieve that change. Say hello to the new liberties of the multi-billion dollar porn and abortion industry. Say good-by to any standards of decency that might stand in the way, along with the freedom of the expression of religion that might cause a tinge of guilt.

Another casualty brought about by this shift in thinking is national defense, for if there is no higher order, there is nothing to defend in the traditional sense; that is, except for the licence to do what an individual wills no matter how abominable some might find it. But the price paid in a war of this sort is ultimately cheap in terms of Jefferson's "tree of liberty", because it is fought in the courtrooms of a dying and visionless nation where the worst thing that can happen to the "patriot" is the necessity for an appeal. In these battles the blood of the true patriots is trampled upon on the courtroom floor. Because the truth is, people do not freely give their lives on a battlefield for the right to buy and sale smut; or the right of a the rapist, child molester or pedophile to roam free. In wars over such issues as this, the only nutrition the tree of Jefferson's brand of liberty receives is money. This might explain the tree's currently impoverished state.

This is not to say that a tree of liberty is not refreshed with blood however, for in fact one is. Instead of the blood of patriots and tyrants however, it receives the blood of children and the innocent. This is not well known or realized by many because unlike the blood of the patriot, these children are dying for a liberty with which the prevailing media and thought shepherds agree. Such liberty is initiated by the casting off of old guilt riddled restraints, and so called Victorian repression. Our culture has become liberated from the repressive consequences of shame and guilt. Judgement and discernment have been thrown into the dungeon along with its contemporaries chastity and decency. But, though honor be dead, there is still a tree of liberty that will require to be refreshed even for this kind of liberty. And those who shoulder the burden of providing the blood for that refreshment happen to be the weakest among us. But never fear, it is a price even the most ardent anti-war progressive is willing for them to pay.

Twelve year old Brooke Bennett was a recent donor. She paid the price required so that her murderer and his ilk could enjoy their liberty. She was a casualty for a society that sees the liberty of her murderer, Michael Jacques, a previously convicted sex offender, as more important than her very life; a society that did not have the will to protect her from the evil with which she met; a society that could not even call wrong and evil his behavior leading up to the moment he demanded of Brooke her life. And unlike the soldier, Brooke was denied the peace that might comfort a soldier at his time of death, as he might hope that his death is not in vane. She could not have known as her consciousness faded that through her death, a lost and deluded society might finally be able to muster the will to spare his future victims. Only time will tell yet.

Now we shouldn't expect a tally on the six O:clock news breathlessly giving a running count of those like Brooke who have given their lives for the liberty of pedophiles and child molesters. But the blood of these children is no less the price we pay for our current brand of such foundationless and licentious liberty. No, the self proclaimed free thinking "progressives" that have freed themselves from the constraints of any concept of objective morality, who have unleashed and liberated the demented addicts of the free flow of their much loved smut to prey on our children, will not be having a memorial service for the likes of Brooke Bennett this weekend either. There will be no empty moments of silence in commemoration of the price that those like her have payed so that their coddled deviants may roam and prey freely. There will be no guilt, and no remorse.

But right now, as you read this, there is a young and innocent child somewhere, perhaps playing with a toy on her living room floor, or sleeping peacefully in her bed. Somewhere else, perhaps nearby, is an already convicted predator enjoying his liberty as he prowls the streets in search of his next victim. And one day these two will meet, and while her assailant uses her for his enjoyment, she will die a tortuous and horrific death. And she will do so, not as a soldier trained, equipped and armed on a battle field fighting for a civilized society and as such refreshing the tree of liberty, but instead she will do so in a quiet and dirty secluded place where her screams will not be heard. Like the soldier, that child will be giving her life for the cause of a liberty. And this liberty will be a liberty totally alien to that of Jefferson's. And as we will inevitable demonstrate, totally alien to that of a civilized and peaceful society

5 comments:

Kathy said...

This is a hefty piece. The casualties also include loss of innocence, loss of conscience, loss of justice, and beyond. I don't think I read this the first time you posted-but it's tremendous. Thank you for your concerted efforts in the needed awakening of your brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Elizabeth said...

I remember this...It is very powerful...I have never thought of liberty in such terms. I agree with Kathy, thank you for awakening us.

Anonymous said...

This is a powerful reminder of the depths of sin and evil that has a grip on the hearts of many in our society.

Evil such as this has existed since the fall, but it has never (as you correctly note)been celebrated until recently.

This world is caught in sin and there is only One Hope.

Outside of the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I see no hope for this sin-soaked world.

Thanks for that great piece of writing, Dan.

- Steve Martin

Mary Lee said...

Wow and....wow.

Danny Wright said...

Thanks Steve for dropping by.

I'm not sure if I was raised in a historic anomalous time where sin, especially in an institutionalized sense, was unusually at bay, or, we are plunging to historic depths socially. One thing's for sure, we are in free-fall and along with our leftward veer will come more suffering, as Joesph Sobran so eloquently articulated.