Eric Greitens, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and current governor of the state of Missouri wrote a book called “The Heart And The Fist”. If you are a loving person who believes strongly in charitable works, but also believe in a strong response to terrorism and crime, this book is a must read. Greitens had an epiphany that made him realize that good human beings doing good works for their fellow man is not possible without good men protecting them from very bad people. So Greiten’s book is about one man’s journey to work at having a generous heart, along with a very capable fist as well, if and when it would be needed to deal with those very bad people. There is one country that is full of people who represent this “ideology of kindness and toughness without internal moral conflict” and it is not America. The one country full of compassion and toughness that does not worry about world opinion, arguably out of necessity, is the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, Israel.
This is not to say that the United States is not tough or generous. Americans are some of the most charitable and giving human beings on the planet. We also produce a military that strikes fear in to the hearts of every leader in the world, whether they admit it or not. But my envy is the mindset of the typical Israeli. Israelis work hard, play hard, are very generous and giving, even to potential enemies. And they work as a team with their military and law enforcement to fight terror and crime on a daily basis. It is a way of life for them that they accept as a sad reality if they are to exist and thrive as a nation in that part of the world.
We do not know when the next successful terrorist attack will occur in the United States. We do not know if or when the next 9-1-1 will happen and how devastating it will be to our people, economy, and our psyche. But if a poll were taken, I bet most Americans would agree that another mega attack like the one on September 11, 2001 will be tried. Can, or more importantly, will the average American, respond in such a way to prevent this attack if they could stop it. Do we have enough civilians willing to take on a terrorist like Roy Larner or Florin Morariu did in the face of overwhelming danger similar to the recent London attacks ? Would someone who has a generous and giving heart be willing to raise a fist in controlled anger to stop it?