8-17-20<\/p>\n
History is a litany of humankind\u2019s mistakes and regrets, no less than it is a record of progress and successes.<\/p>\n
In other words, life<\/em>. This view is neither new nor profound. In microcosm, every day of our own lives is constructed same way. If we go to sleep happy, we still acknowledge that there were were moments or decisions we would like to take back. And if we are gloomy, regretting moments of the previous day, we can always take comfort in some redeeming element.<\/p>\n These things not only are true, but should<\/em> be true. Success keeps us optimistic and moving forward; regrets make us humble\u2026 inspire us to do better\u2026 keep us realistic about ourselves and about life.<\/p>\n Again, we do not choose this formula; but returning to the larger view about life, we are reminded that the Bible said \u201cthe rain falls on the just and the unjust.\u201d<\/p>\n And Theodore Roosevelt \u2013 who I quote here often \u2013 once put it this way: \u201cIt is not having been in the \u2018dark house,\u2019 but having left it, that counts.\u201d<\/p>\n These thoughts were prompted by the current craziness in society (that characterization sounds like a trivialization; but I think it extremely serious), and they inevitably prompt thoughts of History.<\/p>\n We live in a profoundly anti-intellectual and anti-historical age. Late-night comedians squeeze countless routines from \u201con the street\u201d interviews, confirming over and over that average Americans don\u2019t know from whom the Colonists gained independence; who was president during the Civil War, or who were the combatants; who were the enemies in the World Wars. Ask your neighbors how many members of Congress there are; or the names of the Supreme Court justices; or the guarantees listed in the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n I want to correct myself. I think this is<\/em> an anti-intellectual age. But, concerning history, most Americans are not \u201canti\u201d history \u2013 they rather think it is irrelevant, which is a far worse thing.<\/p>\n To deny aspects of history might be an academic exercise, a difference of opinion. But the mobs infecting parks, streets, business districts, and residential neighborhoods don\u2019t want to be bothered with history; it is irrelevant to them, except when they need to \u201cpin\u201d a grievance.<\/p>\n What it means is that they act without regard to historical context. They refer to no philosophical bases or previous revolutions. They have no heroes, cite no precedents. They engage in pure destruction, borne of hate.<\/p>\n This does not mean that the street thugs in Portland and uncountable other cities have no agendas. In fact growing evidence suggests they act from scripts and follow orders. But that is not an intellectual underpinning, something that fueled other revolutions throughout history. Which makes them mindless shock-troops of destruction \u2013 nihilists. To the extent they think, beyond following orders, they choose to hate<\/em>.<\/p>\n They hate Christianity; so they pull down statues of Jesus, and they set fire to churches.<\/p>\n They hate America; so they burn the flag, and they occupy government buildings.<\/p>\n They hate rules and laws; so they kill policemen and set fire to police cars.<\/p>\n They hate order in society; so they riot in the streets.<\/p>\n They hate decency and people who make a living; so they loot and burn stores.<\/p>\n They hate the family unit and Americans\u2019 dreams of neighborhood life; so they seek to dissolve marriage, eliminate gender differences, and occupy peoples\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n These things are far beyond a \u201cblack lives matter\u201d impulse. Black Lives Matter, the organization, is openly Marxist.<\/p>\n I very much dislike complaining from the sidelines. I do that here, because I think we \u2013 all of us \u2013 need definition. But unlike the thugs, our actions must be based on thoughts, beliefs, knowledge, tradition, and values. And we must act. And counter-act.<\/p>\n I began, here, addressing \u201cregrets.\u201d The ugly mobs and allies \u2013 whether willing, or willing dupes \u2013 build their grievances on regrets. That cannot sustain a movement or be its foundation.<\/p>\n Blacks regret slavery. So do I; I shudder that it existed and that some \u201cnormal\u201d people enabled it. But the whole gamut of responses from public housing to reparations is misguided: collective guilt and collective dependence. But every life starts its journey anew.<\/p>\n My grandparents came to America with not one<\/em> \u201cprivilege.\u201d Our family has no corporate moguls, but we are comfortable, having lived the \u201cpursuit of happiness.\u201d So can anyone.<\/p>\n When I hear that members of an ethnic group are bothered, say, by being stopped more often then others at routine police checks (often by black officers!), I suggest that in this \u201cmiddle period\u201d of societal evolution, they direct their anger at the number of their fellows who create that response from authorities. It will end\u2026 but not by bitching.<\/p>\n In the same manner, if a large percentage of rioters and looters on TV are not registering civil-rights theses but rioting and looting, \u201cget your own house in order.\u201d Getting jobs, getting married, being good fathers and sons and husbands, pulling up pants and helping cops keep neighborhoods safe\u2026 might keep you too busy to riot and loot.<\/p>\n Regrets. When society has no standards, it has no values and then has no rules and has no respect. Regrets<\/em> has replaced respect<\/em>. \u201cNot my job, man\u201d\u2026 \u201cNot my fault\u201d\u2026 \u201cYou owe me\u201d\u2026 \u201cWho says you\u2019re right?\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cI have a pulse, therefore I can do what I want\u201d turns the Cartesian postulation Cogito, ergo sum<\/em> on its head.<\/p>\n Building a philosophy, a movement, a protest, a political campaign on regrets<\/em> is self-swindling foolishness. It can win the moment, or attract a few nitwits and malcontents, but is doomed to go nowhere else.<\/p>\n The one exception is that it can accomplish the destruction of a society. This has happened in history \u2013 a negative consequence.<\/p>\n Can it happen here? At the moment it is<\/em> happening here. Pastors do not condemn their churches burning, but criticize a president for standing in its doorway with a Bible? Politicians endorse mass protests and violence, but close schools and churches, even meeting by Zoom?<\/p>\n God abolishes regrets through repentance and forgiveness. Today there are monsters roaming our streets who take no heed of God\u2019s example, filling their minds with hate, and their actions based on bitter regrets.<\/p>\n