As I was finishing this blog, President Trump announced that the execution by firing squad of the Army officer who was convicted in the mass shootings of fellow soldiers would not be live-streamed. Nevertheless, I want to post my condemnation of Pete Hegseth for proposing the live-streaming of the execution.

In many of my blogs, I mention “force” and “violence”. What is the difference?

Force impacts people in ways that implement a moral principle.

For example, force defends people. Force defends a government that secures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Police use force. But must never use violence.

The military use force.  But must never use violence.

Therefore, I’m alarmed that Pete Hegseth glories in “unshackling” our troops from the rules of war, such as the Geneva Convention.

I am alarmed that Pete Hegseth glories in violence.

He changed the name of the “Department of Defense” to the “Department of War”.

He urges “maximum destruction and lethality”. He praises the “warrior ethos”.

He wants to live-stream an execution by firing squad.

His own heart is hard. And he wants to make the hearts of Americans become hard by live-streaming cruelty.

By such words, he reveals the evil infesting his heart. He defiles himself. And he defiles the United States.

As Jesus taught, we are not defiled by what we eat, by what goes into our stomach. We are defiled by the words and actions that come out of our hearts. (Mark 7:14-23).

In contrast, my father had a soft heart. He survived vicious, desperate combat in  Italy in World War II. He was missing in action three times.

I heard him express remorse about only one incident. It happened as the Germans were fleeing in disarray near the end of the war.

My father was part of an ambush at nightfall that annihilated a column of German military units, including horses and nurses. For the rest of his life, my father told me how badly he felt that horses and nurses had been wounded and killed in that ambush.

He brought it up again near the end of his life. I believe he was nervously awaiting meeting so many people who he’d killed in combat. But especially those nurses who died in that ambush.

I believe that one of the great costs of war is the guilt that follows our troops for the rest of their lives from what they see and do in war. We turn gentle souls into vicious killers. Inflicting maximum destruction and lethality also inflicts maximum guilt on those who inflict it.

I believe that my father would be appalled at the idea of inflicting maximum destruction and lethality. At the idea of live-streaming an execution by firing squad.

My father had seen too much destruction. My father had seen too much lethality. He’d heard too much screaming from horses and nurses.

Unlike Pete Hegseth, my father’s heart was not hardened, his heart was not calloused.

Unlike Pete Hegseth, my father understood that force is sometimes necessary. But that violence is always evil.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Have you ever used force to protect people? Why? How?

Have you ever used force to protect moral principles, including defending a government that secures life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Why? How?

Have you ever used violence? Why? How?

Have you ever been the victim of violence? Why? How?

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For related thoughts, please read my blogs “Compassion in the Holy Land” and “Wishful Thinking: No Calories from Birthday Cake”.