I have a friend who is a big guy. Shane. 280, 6'7". Bigger than me. He's a guy who's imposing at best. He wouldn't hurt a flea unless that flea threatened to hurt someone else. He's a gentle giant. But, don't tick him off and don't threaten his friends. He can hurt you. It's better to be his friend or keep your distance if you are him enemy.
I remember in grade school there were bullies, brutal thugs. I won't call the names. But they were tough guys who frequently enjoyed beating the toast out of me and others.
I wish my friend Shane had been around then. His very presence could have restrained the brutal bullies. Oh, he might have been looked upon as a bully himself if he had needed to kick the toast out of them. Many wouldn't have understood his motivation and action would have been protection and the better good even if some people had to be hurt.
That's the way Gentle Giants and Benevolent Bullies are. They only strike back when the brutal bullies get out of hand. Others observing may not understand what or why. They might even be critical.
In the end a gentle giant is essential. The mere fear that if you step over the line he might crush you keeps potential bullies at bay and far away. Someday those bullies grow up and are defanged by adulthood. That's what happened to the bullies I grew up with. They became good productive members of society. It took a gentle giant that maybe looked like a bully to others to keep them at bay. There was such a man in Ellendale Grade School who was a defender of the weak. I'm thankful he sometimes bullied the bullies.
And that my friends, Ron and all, is what our role is in the world, in Afghanistan and Iraq. It looks like something it's not unless you are on the field of play. I am thankful we have the giant able and willing but restrained enough to do good. How would anyone have it different. Allow the bullies of the world to intimidate and beat the toast out of everyone else.
I can only hope not. At least not as long as GWB is in power. Thank God!
1 comment:
Gene
I think you may have watched too many westerns.
Bullies always kid themselves that they are benevolent. America may look from benevolent from Wyoming, but it looks different from the other side of the fence.
Bullies lash out at anyone that comes across their path. The 9/11 pilots were mostly Saudis living in Germany, but America lashes out at Iraq.
Bullies choose their friends badly. America is currently pouring billions of dollars into Saudi Arabia, just as it once did to Iraq and before that to Iran. The mouths that it feeds will bite it.
Bullies begat bullies. Saddam Hussein was put in place by the CIA. America is currently setting up bullies in Afghanistan and it will do the same in Iraq, because bullying is the only language that it knows.
Bullies eventually get beaten. America got beaten in Vietnam. It is already beaten in Iraq, only the American people are too proud to admit it.
Bullies sometimes turn into a Beast. God did not appoint America to be World Bully. If America continues down its current path, it will become Beast of Revelation.
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