RESPONSIBILITY

ALFRED LORD TENNYSON, THE BRITISH POET, "DIPT INTO THE FUTURE, FAR AS HUMAN EYE COULD SEE/ SAW THE VISION OF THE WORLD, AND ALL THE WONDERS THAT WOULD BE; / SAW THE HEAVENS FILL WITH COMMERCE, ARGOSIES OF MAGIC SAILS... /" SO WHAT, I ASK MYSELF, DOES THE FUTURE GREATNESS OF AMERICA ENTAIL?

I HAVE NO ILLUSIONS, DON'T BROOK DREAMS AND AM NOT ENTHRALLED BY UNREALISTIC BELIEFS, HOPES OR LOVES. AMERICA'S FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IS A TERRIBLE AND ONGOING. AMERICA'S DECLINE INTO CULTURAL DECADENCE MUST BE SLOWED. NEVERTHELESS, AMERICANS MUST UNITE FOR SOMETHING, IT SEEMS TO ME, THAT REPRESENT'S MORALITY'S LAST STAND. UNITE FOR WHAT? MY SUGGESTION WOULD BE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, ALSO UNDERSTOOD AS INTEGRITY. A MINISTER'S WIFE , WHO RECENTLY SHOT HER HUSBAND IN THE BACK, ADMITTED TO THE KILLING. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. SHE REJECTED A POSITION OF DENIAL. SHE ADMITTED THAT SHE EXERCISED HER FREE WILL BY THE KILLING AND THEN SHE DID HER DUTY BY ACKNOWLEDGING RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS DEATH. THE MEDIA KEEPS REMINDING US THAT NO 'MOTIVE' HAS YET BEEN REVEALED. WHO CARES ABOUT HER 'MOTIVE'? I WOULD LIKE AMERICANS' PUBLIC APPROVAL OF THIS WOMAN ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR HER ACTION. I WOULD REJECT CALLS TO FIND EXCUSES OR RATIONALIZATIONS TO JUSTIFY HER DEED. A SIN IS NOT A MISTAKE. WHAT TRANSPIRES IN HER FUTURE FOR PUNISHMENT IS BETWEEN HER AND GOD. IF AMERICANS AS HUMAN BEINGS COULD SYNCHRONIZE THEIR CONVICTIONS OF WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG, AMERICA'S FUTURE WOULD NOT ONLY LOOK BRIGHTER, BUT IT ALSO WOULD BE SIMPLIER. SIMPLE AS ASSUMING RESPONSIBLILITY.