Christina Clements Christina.A.Clements@gmail.com
Sarah Graver sgraver12@gmail.com
Gregory Guderian cil_nj@yahoo.com
Drew Harnedy harn5@live.com
Fred Harrison
Ann Higgins
John Kosartes
Amanda Loud aloud@roadrunner.com or aloud@gowva.org
Daniel Matlack dmatlackOf@nobles.edu
Katy Reddick katyganino@yahoo.com or reddick.chad@gmail.com
Meredith Safran Meredith.Safran@trincoll.edu
Allen Ward
Margaret Imber mimber@bates.edu
The father's tears and the young soldier's courage ready to meet every peril were too much for the people. They acquitted him because they admired his bravery rather than because they regarded his cause as a just one. Livy 1:26
ReplyDeleteThese lines really struck me. Society often separates the actor from the action. Sometimes the actor is released because, although a morally bad action, what the actor did required bravery (i.e. Colin Powell and Contragate). Most often, however, the public favors the actor not for his bravery amid a morally ambiguous situation but because of his popularity alone, despite his blatant guilt (i.e. Tiger Woods, Michael Vick). I believe society has moved away from morally ambiguous situations and requires clear sentences of guilt or innocence. I also believe society has about a 3 week memory. I don't believe we would erect a beam (or anything else) in honor of expiatory conduct. I cannot think of any such monument today. We don't like to remember a person's faults, only their accomplishments. Faults become the stuff of gossip (i.e. JFK and Marilyn Monroe).
Hi Amanda. Do you think the difference is because we're a shame culture, not a guilt culture? Or perhaps because we're in a market economy? I wonder what Livy would have made of the Pat Tillman scandal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman]?
ReplyDeleteAd Majorem Dei Gloriam
ReplyDelete+
IN. HOC. SIGNO:
V. I. N. C. E. S!!!
Crux Sacre Sit Mihi Lux!
Totus Tuus Ergo Sum
Vade Retor, Satana!
Ipse Venena Bibas, fatuus!!
trustNjesus.
ALWAYS.
God bless your indelible soul.