Who Are our Heroes? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Ever since the awful disclosure of torture to our war prisoners, I have been in deep thought over what we are doing these days with our American sense of ethics. It came to me this morning about the difference between my childhood in the 50's and now.

    We have lost our heroes and dreams, it seems.

    I have a neighbor who is a well-known Criminal Defense Lawyer. On his bumper is a sign: "Would Jesus Execute?" I told him Jesus would execute a child molester. He clearly said, "Anyone who harms one of these children would be better to have a millstone tied to his neck and be cast into the sea."

    How many of us remember the opening to Superman . . . Fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American way!!!

    The opening to Roy Rogers Show where Roy rides Trigger and shoots the bad guys off their horse without killing them.

    Mr. Rogers inviting kids to his neighborhood in song.

    Batman and Robin taking in criminals with all the special tools of the bat-belt.

    Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to the poor.

    It seems to me we have lost our golden ethic of "bad guys lose / good guys win / no one is tortured or taken advantage of. . ."

    We came away from WWII with a dream of putting tyranny in its place. The Germans and Japanese were merciless in their torture and killing. They had no value for human life. We dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan in deference to the high numbers of causalities projected if we invaded a country which worshipped its Emperor and would die rather than surrender. Our approach was brutal, but necessary at that time. It resulted in an arms race with the Russians. We had no qualms in surrounding our enemies with atomic weapons. It was another thing when the Russians sent missiles to Cuba!

    We entered an age when we could be brutal, but our enemy must be submissive to our atomic power. We spent billions through the years to impose our will on others in the Middle East and Asia. However, we could not root out the Vietcong from underground bunkers they had built to take out the French Imperialists. We are trying to do the same to Afghanis who know their caves and hiding places well.

    Whether they "do as we do" is not important. We Americans rose up against the British might and taxation stifling our desires for freedom. Frances Marion, known as the Swamp Fox, defeated the British around Florence, SC, because he could hit and retreat to swamps where no heavy artillery could pursue them, much less strangers who did not know the swamps just north of Florence. Our motivation was independence and freedom. God help the British! We defeated them at Kings Mountain. Washington crossed the Delaware in a crafty move they did not expect.

    Despite all the torture and intimidation, us Americans stood tall and simply beat them on the battlefields of the South and North. Those who tortured Americans for lntel were hung from the neck until dead! We believed in "truth, justice, and the American way."

    Now, our heroes are diminished or gone. Even Batman has a dark side / Superman has an alter ego of hate and evil, BUT there is NO evil side to Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy. There is no black and white barrier in Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. Some things remain intact despite all the con jobs of modern business in America.

    There was a time following the Great Depression when government put in measures to monitor banks and Wall Street lies. Reagan removed many of those

    and now we have a Great Recession over lies and cheating on paper. The stroke of a pen ended protection for innocent citizens of this country!

    Where have our heroes gone?

    What has happened to Truth / Justice / the American Way?

    Would Roy Rogers or Mr. Rogers torture?

    Will we have the guts to deal with American leaders who did such to our Prisoners of War?

    After all, we created and signed the Geneva Convention which clearly outlaws torture as a means of getting information from captured war prisoners . . .