There are heroes

There are heroes in the world. I’m not talking about the make-believe kind of hero you see in a Hollywood movie, but real flesh and blood heroes.

As you may have noticed, we’ve been faced with a puzzling situation in the U.S. this past week, one that has created all sorts of confusion. Our incoming administration has labeled anybody from certain countries as de facto enemies of the United States, and has banned those people from entering the country.

And yet, there are actual heroes in the world. People who are willing to lay their very lives on the line for the ideal of America: For a society that promotes freedom, democracy, respect for others, for the dignity of individuals.

Some of these heroes, for example, are Iraqi pilots, translators and others who have worked closely with the U.S. government for years, generally at considerable risk to their own lives and families. All of them have been caught in the sweep of this executive order.

I find myself pondering whether Donald Trump actually knows what a hero is. He seems to have little experience dealing with people who have the courage to put their very lives on the line for a higher ideal. He may not actually be able to understand the concept of that kind of moral fiber.

Which means we are faced with an odd situation: The President of the United States, apparently through sheer ignorance or intellectual laziness, is attacking genuine heroes who have put their lives on the line for our nation. But willful ignorance is not a sufficient defense against acts of atrocity.

At what point is a line crossed here? At what point will our own patriotism, our sense of duty to our nation, require us to acknowledge that the President of the United States is committing acts of treason against his own country?

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