The American Spectator

Special Report

Only once ever did a man introduce himself to me as bad, and that turned out to be Mr. Mann with a head cold. It seems to be the conceit of enormous swaths of humankind that they number among the good. So much so that when ill befalls their lot, they imagine themselves equipped with evidence to indict God -- if not for malice aforethought, then certainly for negligence. 'Tis scarce indeed to encounter one so schooled in humility that he'd say like Macduff:

blockquote>"...Did heaven look on br> And would not take their part? Sinful Macduff, br> They were all struck for thee! naught that I am. br> Not for their own demerits, but for mine, br> Fell slaughter on their souls..." /blockquote>

Or like Jonah in the Bible explaining the typhoon that lashed the ship carrying citizens of many nations: "Lift me and place me into the sea and the sea will be silenced from upon you, because I know that it is because of mine [sins] that this great hurricane is upon you." (Jonah 1:12)

It's Thanksgiving and here we stand as a nation, bloodied by the predations of Bin Laden and Zarqawi and the depredations of Katrina, Rita and Wilma, and we wonder what it all means. Macduff again:

blockquote>"...each new morn br> New widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrows br> Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds br> ...and yell'd out br> Like syllable of dolour." /blockquote>

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