ISIS and the Innocents

“What we always knew that they didn’t…because of the torture we’d seen committed on the most defenseless people by those with all the power…was that if we did our job we could be the answer to the victims’ prayers and those of the victims parents and children.”

-Quote from, “Single Harness”

Half a world away, the terror organization ISIS dominates parts of Iraq and Syria with an unthinkably cruel grip. Behind our borders we see the awful videos of the coward in black who holds a stained blade to the throats of innocent people. We hear reports of unspeakable atrocities of not just men, but women and children as well. These things come upon our more reformed senses with a shock that is foreign and difficult to place in the reality that exists outside of our flat screen tvs and twitter accounts. But there it is, confronting us at every turn.

While the cruelty of ISIS should not be downplayed, they are hardly the first “cause” that has gone roughly beyond human imagination in their cruelty toward humanity. Every century, every generation has their “ISIS” to contend with. Whether it’s a Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, a Chemical Ali and Iraq, or even a Hitler and the Nazis, every one of these innumerable world-sized acts of evil (shrouded in a “cause”) is simply a justification to kill innocent people. People who could not hope to possibly defend themselves against such evil.

Whether we choose to ignore it or not, the world is often an evil place. Humans have the amazing capacity to love. Yet they also retain the terribly astounding ability to commit great evil. Gone unchecked and without the rule of law (and its consequences), evil makes itself a paradise where it is the ruler. Behind it’s borders, their power and their foolish perspective would grow until the world could not ignore them, even if they tried.

It was in the well known quote that is often attributed to Edmund Burke where he said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It’s difficult for a truer statement to be made. ISIS, for instance, will not simply lay down their knives and apologize to the world. They are an evil that must be eradicated because of what they have done and what they will continue to do. But the more difficult determination is this: who are the good men who will stand and fight the evil? America is once again poised to lead against the triumph of evil.

As a people we must not be tempted to turn our eyes from those who are defenseless. We must always be willing, if necessary, to fight in the open or in the shadows for those who cannot fight for themselves. Because sometimes, we are the answers to their prayers.

Heroes

“…The real heroes are the soldiers who follow orders into a pitched battle knowing the odds are they won’t make it, but believing in their leaders and their country so deeply they will not stop.

Like Firefighters running into a burning building and Law Enforcement running toward shots being fired.

The Real Heroes.”

-Quote from, “Single Harness”

As our country has just remembered the 13th anniversary of the “other” day that will live in infamy, the 9/11 attacks, I’m reminded again of heroes. Not those heroes culture blindly pays homage to like athletes and movie stars, but the kind of heroes who actually define the word.

On that September day, heroes could be seen in black and yellow coats running up endless flights of stairs in doomed skyscrapers. They did this not to extinguish a fire but to save people. People trapped by the evil intentions of others. People whose only hope was the hero’s tenacity and fortitude. When all of lower Manhattan was running from the towers, these fire fighters were calmly and heroically walking toward the towers. These heroes defined their generation. As the towers crumbled, the Pentagon burned, and a field in Pennsylvania was made sacred by other heroes, the innocence of a country was taken, only to be immediately recaptured again by its heroes.

Other heroes could be seen in the following months as America’s great warriors, undaunted by bullets or explosions, launched themselves into the chaos to atone for the deaths of their fellow Americans. With only a simple order and faith in their country, they fought with ultimate disregard to themselves and proved once again that freedom is not free. With bravery and kindness a great many of them honored those heroes who wore the uniform before them. With grace and courage they not only fought an enemy bent on killing us, but in their mighty wake they came to the rescue of an oppressed and miserable people. Their victory was assured if only for the nobility of their mission.

Heroes are heroes because they believe in something noble. They believe in it so much that they are willing to sacrifice, sometimes at great cost to themselves for the advancement of the cause. Whether it is a fireman climbing stairs to save innocents or soldiers fighting on a distant battlefield, as Americans we believe in the ideals of liberty. And that liberty is worth fighting for, even dying for. Those that carry that torch are not just worth remembering, but are true heroes in every sense of the word.

Introducing the Single Harness

Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the Single Harness site.

This site and the available book is written in dedication of DR, Marlboro Man and the other 17.  The true heroes however are those soldiers who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms of others.

The story is about a life lived stateside, away from the missions.

Over the next few months and maybe years, I plan to be writing and sharing posts about the book and maybe some “other” stories.

That’s it for now! If you’d like to be kept updated with the posts “Like” this post or subscribe to the blog.