"The True Measure of a Nation's Character"
By Jerry Stewart
It has been said that the true character of a nation, any nation, is not measured by its wealth or its holdings or its economy. The true character of a nation is measured by how it looks after and protects its weakest members. And one of the things that has made me so proud of America is how we protect those who are too weak to protect themselves. Throughout history we have stood up all around the world to push back the bullies and tyrants who love to destroy the weak and innocent. But, sadly, there is clearly a trend, a shift here in our own nation, that could be a foretelling of just what we are becoming as a people.
In the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, there was a ruler, a tyrant, who was so powerful and so convincing in his writings and speeches that he convinced a nation of people that certain other people in that nation needed to be eliminated. His name was Adolph Hitler. And when the terrible World War II was over, evidence was discovered that proved that literally millions upon millions of innocent people had been brutally tortured and executed, just because of the ideals of this one evil man.
But did the nation of Germany, those who participated in this slaughter, did they just wake up one day and decide to murder so many innocent people? No. In fact, if you look back in history, it took many, many years of mental persuasion to bring them to that point. I recently read one historical fact that sent chills down my spine. In 1920 Germany tow men, lawyer Karl Binding, and forensic psychiatrist Alfred Hoche,
wrote a short book in which they coined the
phrase, “a life unworthy of life”. In this book
they proposed that people who were nothing but a
burden on the community should simply be killed.
The incurably ill and the mentally retarded,
they said, were costing millions and taking up
thousands of much needed hospital beds- and that
was the justification to take that life.
Now, these men and
their soulless ideals were not immediately
accepted. But they were also not driven away and
pushed out. Instead, they were allowed to stay
and fester and grow and to be built upon until
some 20 years later when the circumstances in
Germany were just dire enough. Then, Adolph
Hitler took this idea of a “life unworthy of
life”. He put it upon the people, and no one
stopped him. Millions upon millions of their
weakest members were killed.
“But”, you say, “how
could a nation of people stand by and just let
this happen?” Sad to say, it was only a few
short years ago that we as a nation did this
very thing. In the name of choice and rule of
law, in the name of being humane, we stood by
and allowed a young woman, one of our weakest
members in our America – we allowed her to be
starved to death. And here’s the chilling
thought – when polls were taken, in some polls
over 50% of our nation agreed to that killing.
Now forget politics or judges or Congress or
rule of law. Let us not hide behind something
else, and just focus on these words once more:
“A nation’s character is not measured by its
wealth or its holdings or it’s economy. The
character of a nation is measured by how it
looks after and protects its weakest members.”
What America, what "We
the People" need today is a character check. We
must wake up now lest we may look like Nazi
Germany in just 20 short years. Think about it.
Jerry Stewart
