Using Wisdom Wisely

SOMEONE TOLD THE STORY of the teacher who wanted to teach her class a valuable lesson. She told them that she would be leaving the room for a few minutes, would be back soon, and that anyone who left their seats while she was gone would be punished, maybe expelled. Then, she fished a goldfish out of the class aquarium, placed it on the table, and left the room. The fish began to writhe in agony as the children, presumably grade schoolers, looked on in anguished indecision. Finally a little girl jumped up, ran to the table, and returned the goldfish to the water. The teacher reentered the room, and verified the lesson; never let blind obedience to any authority prevent you from doing what you know is right. This is a lesson so profuondly and transparently important that you'd almost think that the teacher could have simply made the point verbally as an anecdote, without making the poor animal miserable for a few minutes and without frightening the children. However, drama adds emphasis. Someone pointed out that this line of reasoning was probably precisely wat Trump and his, as the person put it "bootlickers" believed when they denied the election results and attempted to violently overthrow the American government. True, to a point. What Trump and his "bootlickers" were and still are doing is, of course, simply engaging in self deception. Whenever a person of good moral values looks honestly at a situation, sees injustice, and attemptes to rectify that injustice through defiance of authority, no self deception is involved. Quite the opposite. The entire class heard what the teacher said, saw what she did, and knew that they wer presented with a very difficult choice. No self deception involved. Only after a potentially disastrous delay of conflict resolution did a single little girl summon the moral courage to do the right thing. Presumably, others in the class had made the same fateful decision, or were about to, but were "beaten to the punch" by the girl. Moral considerations become murky. How, precisely, do we differtiate between righteous causes worthy of personal risk taking, as opposed by our personal whimsical desires which can so easily be conflated with a great cause by the machinations of a devious human mind? This is why moral character within each individual is so vitally important. This is why honest people, disgusted with the behavior of not only Trump but his followers and enablers, quite correctly accuse them all of having abandoned their moral compass in preference to personal political expediency. Claiming vociferously and frequently that the election was stolen from Trump, in effect trying to steal it for Trump, and claiming that only Donald Trump can repair America, does not justify the attempt by Trump's mob to steal the presidency from Biden, by force of violence. Even more importantly, they are well aware, despite their rantings, that the election was not stolen from Trump, and that their insurrection attempt was no noble cause, but rather, treason. And the very fact that they who perpetrated this evil know full well what they did can not only give good Americans some measure of consulation, but also, at least the faint hope that there will come a time when the guilty criminals, all seventy five million of them, will eventually relent, confess, and, miraculously atone.