Compromising our future

A teenager talks ^ | 8-05-05 | William Ortel

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In writing an essay, the first thing one is taught is to present a thesis in a clear and unmistakable fashion. Thus; my thesis: in these days, compromise will not work. If you ask any American these days to mention three people who they consider to be evil, three people will be surely mentioned, those people? Hitler, Stalin, and Osama Bin Laden. Of those three, two of them are men with which compromise did not work. Why, then, do people seem to think it will work with the latter?

As an American high school student, I’m often faced with the idiotic perspective that we should just give in to the terrorists in the interest in preserving life. The first time I heard the argument I was shocked. The second time, I thought: how does one define life? Our disagreement with Osama is over exactly that; the way that we choose to live our lives. Residents in a state run by Osama’s kind live the type of life proscribed by the prophet Mohammed 1500 years ago. Residents in a free state can live that type of life, but can also choose not to, one only need take a trip to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City to find that there are adherents to both the religious and non-religious schools of life within the United States.

Osama Bin Laden thinks that he can simply convert people to the “Righteous Path” by removing alternatives to his way. He does not realize that democracy rose from tyranny, that freedom came from oppression, and that light inevitably follows darkness. In less metaphoric terms, he cannot see that the forms of government that we have today, that he is speaking out against arose from the form of governance he hopes to instill, that people chose this type of government.

Now that we have recognized the schism between our opinions towards life, we still have work to do. This isn’t the movies and the side that we’re rooting for doesn’t always win. Osama Bin Laden has warriors who will follow him (literally) to their deaths. We have superior fighters, firepower, and funding. What are we afraid of?