They were texting their parents as they were being killed.
The horror in that — the horror for all of us who stare endlessly at our phones waiting for the texts that tell us our children are OK — is unspeakable. I've never been to Norway, but I've also never been afraid of it, never thought of it as a terrifying place, never feared that my children might go there.
Add it to the list. No place is safe from man's inhumanity toward man.
I shake my head as I read the articles trying to make sense of pure evil, trying to figure out who to blame and how to deal with it. Blame it on the free speech of anti-Muslim extremists. But he didn't kill Muslim children, someone else screams. So why not blame the elites? Or the liberals who don't punish killers with death?
My favorite scene in the first "South Park" movie is "Blame Canada." Why? Why not?
The most terrifying thing in the world is having no one and nothing to blame but the pure evil that lurks in mankind.
My friend Annie is the child of Holocaust survivors who met in a DP camp. Her parents found love and hope in the rubble. For most of her life, for most of mine, those of us who lived in the shadow of Hitler's atrocities have looked for ways to make "never again" a reality. Stand up to genocide. Educate a new generation. Build our museums, say our prayers, try to educate those who have suffered to replace hatred with tolerance.
And wake up to the news of innocent children texting their parents that they are being murdered by a man whose lawyer claims he is "insane."
I teach law, and I don't even know what that means.
Insane? Does that mean he is excusably evil? A beast who deserves to be treated like a man?
I know there are Muslims who hate non-Muslims and non-Muslims who hate Muslims; that there are elites with no love for the masses and poor people with no love for the rich. There are dictators and tyrants and racists and anti-Semites, people who prefer war to peace and confrontation to compromise.
But a mass murder of children? A modern-day Babi Yar?
The only rational explanation is utter irrationality. There is no sense. Just evil.
You are not going to stop this by censoring the Web, by holding a seminar, by holding our hands in prayer. These parents will never recover. These children are lost forever. There is no punishment — none — that will ever be enough for this man, and no "justice" to be had.
When I was a child, one of my Hebrew School teachers had a number on his arm. To the consternation of many parents, he made even the youngest of us read the poetry of the children who had been imprisoned and massacred at the Terezin concentration camp. He believed that knowing enough would allow us to fight for never again.
Today, kids don't need a brave Hebrew School teacher to introduce them to the horrors of the world. They are everywhere. Today, it is impossible to cover their eyes.
But what do we say? That it only happens in Norway and Oklahoma City; only on 9/11; only at bus stops in Israel, in markets in Afghanistan and in hotels in India? Where do we go to be safe? What do we do to make the world safe?
How silly our politicians look fighting about who will take the blame for the budget when children are texting their parents as they are being murdered.
Hug your children as close as you can.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM
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12 Comments | Post Comment
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So.... why should we put up with this atrocity? Europeans may want to accept the fact that terrorism; whether religious or domestic is a fact/part of life and choose to ignore it; but why should the USA. Terrorism is vile, and evil.
It is time for the hard fact that evil must be vanquished and with extreme prejudice. If not now.....when?
Comment: #1
Posted by: Paul wimberly
Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:50 PM
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Although we won't find many apart from the church or synagogue speak of it, evil does exist. Since creation it has existed, and no program is going to make it go away. The only cure is a change in the hearts of people, and that is outside the ability of governments.
Thank you, again, for a thoughtful article, Ms Estrich.
Comment: #2
Posted by: Motley Wisdom
Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:31 AM
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Message for the libs and the ACLU: As we push God out of our daily lives evil creeps in.
Comment: #3
Posted by: Early
Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:37 AM
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"But a mass murder of children? A modern-day Babi Yar? The only rational explanation is utter irrationality. There is no sense. Just evil. "
I agree with Susan, but the evil of which she speaks pales in comparison to the evil that would kill 50 million innocent babies, indeed, force others who are vehemently opposed to such evil to help fund the same.
Such evil has a name in America and is called Democrats/liberalism.
Comment: #4
Posted by: SusansMirror
Fri Jul 29, 2011 6:14 AM
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Re: Early
I agree, however, they already know this. Indeed, such is their goal. You see Democrats/liberals are full of hate, for all their fancy, save the world, tree hugger rhetoric they are so full of hate that it pains them to see others enjoying their life. Thus, they do whatever they can to destroy the foundations upon which the joys of others are based.
No people appear more happy and content than Christians which ironically makes Christians a major target for those with a heart full of hate and a desire to see everyone be like them.
I submit the biggest challenge any of us face in life is to keep liberals/evil from making us respond to them in a manner that lowers ourselves to their level so that we allow hate in our heart as they have. To prevent this we must be ever vigilant.
Comment: #5
Posted by: SusansMirror
Fri Jul 29, 2011 6:26 AM
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Re: SusansMirror
Your error, however, is that you already hate the people you call Democrats/liberals. To assume that they act out of hate is to project your own anger.
To assume that someone who does not believe as you do, to assume that they don't believe in God is an unfortunely common error. My relationship with God and my beliefs may not be the same as yours, but they are still valid beliefs.
I see so much hatred in those who call themselves Christian these days that it appalls me. I would be ashamed to call myself a Christian except that I fear it would be to deny my belief in Christ.
Matthew 7.5 and Luke 6:42
Comment: #6
Posted by: Deborah Laymon
Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:28 AM
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Re: Deborah Laymon
Wrong, I do not hate liberals / Democrats. I pity them I doubt there has ever been a group of people that suffered more from delusions of grandeur than did Democrats and liberals. Such people are elitist snobs whose arrogance and belief of mental superiority is only surpassed by the level of their actual ignorance.
No, I do not hate such people, I simply pity them for they suffer from mental delusions.
And I would not even take the time to point out the evil that is liberalism if liberals only harm themselves, but they don't.
Liberals and liberalism is the source of evil on this planent today.
Comment: #7
Posted by: SusansMirror
Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:34 AM
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I agree with Motley Wisdom and Early.
I would add one thing in regards to Susan's article that they did not cover. She stated 'There is no punishment — none — that will ever be enough for this man, and no "justice" to be had'. She's wrong: there is eternal justice, the worst kind for someone who does not repent. God is the great judge who sees the heart, unlike us. And God knows how to take vengeance perfectly. Thank God for sending His Only Begotten Son to the earth to receive His wrath for His elect people. Then those of us who are wrong will not seek personal revenge, we will leave it up to the Holy One.
Comment: #8
Posted by: Matthew
Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:25 PM
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One cannot disagree with anything said by Estrich in this piece. Indeed it is probably the first writing of Estrich with which I can agree. I especially like the following quotes
"I shake my head as I read the articles trying to make sense of pure evil, trying to figure out who to blame and how to deal with it. Blame it on the free speech of anti-Muslim extremists..............."
"........And wake up to the news of innocent children texting their parents that they are being murdered by a man whose lawyer claims he is insane" "Today, kids don't need a brave Hebrew School teacher to introduce them to the horrors of the world. They are everywhere. Today, it is impossible to cover their eyes."
However, and there is always an however. One wonders how Estrich would react to texts of children telling their parents they are being murdered by Islamic terrorists embarked upon Jihad who were funded by organisations such as those that Estrich defended. Or what would she say to the parents of children who were murdered in the name of Jihad, an abomination which Estrich argued was a Constitutionally protected religeous concept. In 2006 Estrich and Harvey A. Silvergate entered appearances as counsel for Emadeddin Z. Muntasser who was accused of misleading the government about the nature of Care International Inc., [not to be confused with Co-op for Assistance and Relief Everwhere] a charity that supported Jihadist organisations. In particular it was alleged that Care was an "outgrowth of and successor to the Al-Kifah Regugee Center" an organisation implicated in the bombing of the World Trade Center in NY, 1993."
The motion to dismiss the charges as submitted by Estrich and Silvergate sounding on the First Amendment expressly argued " Care was set up to advance religeous goals: Jihad is a religeous concept." In effect Estrich argued in defence of a terrorist charity that funding of Jihad was a religeous right protected by the First Amendment.
The question which naturally arises then Susan, is if "the Nazi from Norway' had commited the same evil acts here and was funded by a charity that believed that Jihad upon teenagers was a "religeous concept" would you again rush to defend the alleged first amendment rights of the funder. I actually suspect that you might. After all the First Amendment as re written and corrupted by Liberals and as interpreted and argued by you is meant to prohibit all moral Judeo/Christian teaching in our schools and is instead is to be construed as support for funding Jihad, is it not?
Comment: #9
Posted by: joseph wright
Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:15 PM
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Ear Susan,
I have been sending you letters and e-mail ever since you were working for Michael Dukakis. For the first time in all those years I am at a total loss to say anything to make you feel better about this horror.
There is only one thing that the rest of the human race can do. Continue on with love in our hearts for those around us. I was thinking today of how wonderful it was many years ago to have my youngest son wake me by bending over and giving me a kiss. What a loving innocent child he was. Today he is a big strapping man in his twenties but I still remember the kisses from his innocent two and three year old years. Those parents who lost their children will have those memories to carry with them forever. That is the treasure of parenthood. Our only answer for this tragedy is love. There is no future in assigning blame or wrapping ourselves in hate. Those who do , only carry any insanity on to another insanity. I will pray for these families and find solace in my Holy Book. That is all that we can do.
Comment: #10
Posted by: robert lipka
Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:03 PM
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"Today, kids don't need a brave Hebrew School teacher to introduce them to the horrors of the world. They are everywhere. Today, it is impossible to cover their eyes."
So Robert would you ignore that accurate statement of your Dukakis pen pal Susan and instead simply teach your children and the children of others to be blind to the horrors in this world and simply love those around them. Get into the real world. This my come as a shock to libs but there are deranged homo sapien animals out there driven by evil in its various guises not least of which are Islam, fascism, terrorism for whatever cause and any other criminal homocidal abomination. Love will not protect against that evil or those infected by that evil. Evil preys on those not prepared to recognize its existence and to deal with it. If we and or our children are not to become the prey of evil the answer is not just love but in teaching in preparedness and in survival skills for both the urban and rural jungle. I have a beautiful wife and five beautiful children all of whom are very accomplished and very successful, and all of whom have all been taught to high level by me and by "professionals" all the fundamental survival arts, including armed and unarmed self defence, proficiency in several weapons systems and tactical awareness of their surroundings at any given moment. I am confident that I have done all I can to prepare my family to survive the real clear and present dangers of this world so that they may continue to love those around them. Are you and those like you ? Or will my children and those like them be required to protect the unprepared? An armed society is a polite society.
Comment: #11
Posted by: joseph wright
Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:26 AM
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Yes Dorothy-- Evil exists as much as trees- birds - mountains and the hair on your head, You can choose to wish it away, but to no av avail.....ARM THYSELF!!! and stop wishing.
Comment: #12
Posted by: Brad
Tue Aug 2, 2011 12:31 PM
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