The enemy within

I think there are some people out there who are just inherently evil," my co-worker said.\nLast June, on the eve of Timothy McVeigh's execution, a co-worker and I talked about the nature of evil. We tried to fathom how a man could murder 168 people and injure 500 others.\nLast Tuesday, Sept. 11, I reflected on those thoughts. As in the Oklahoma City bombing, federal law enforcement and the military have promised to catch the perpetrators. Swift and relentless military action has been promised against any country found to harbor the terrorists. In the news media and the halls of power, television personalities and officials speak of "America at war." Congress authorized something similar to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that awarded President Lyndon Johnson unlimited freedom to pursue war in Vietnam.\nMillions of Americans felt righteous as the chemicals entered Timothy McVeigh's body, first putting him to sleep, then paralyzing him and finally stopping his heart. In the weeks and months ahead, millions of Americans will claim righteousness as they wage war against "animals" and "cowards." Bombs will be dropped, bullets will tear through flesh, limbs will be torn and babies will be "collateral damage" in the name of American democracy.\nWe are about to embark down a path of darkness. I am not a religious man, so I would like someone to tell me why this will be a righteous war. A reporter said the other day that we are engaged in a war against the forces of evil. Is evil inherent? Were Timothy McVeigh and the 19 hijackers truly evil men, or were they just like me? How can I truly identify the forces of evil? Singling out Arabs and Muslims clearly won't do it. If the terrorists are smart, they will draft a few blond Kansas boys to do their work. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold certainly showed their willingness to kill themselves and other Americans at Columbine High School.\nOn the other hand, I was spiritually uplifted to see the millions of people who showed up to give blood, tend to the wounded and lay flowers in a sorrowful gesture. I nearly cried when I saw the second jet slice through the World Trade Center tower live on television. And when I saw the face of an 8-year-old girl desperately searching for her father among a hospital's victims, I almost broke down. \nI ran into a friend the other day. She told me about her daughter trapped in a building two blocks from the twin towers. Another friend who works in New York called to tell me he was OK. He was driving on the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River when he saw the jet plunge toward the Pentagon.\nWho am I to avenge these people and the deaths of 5,000 others? War doesn't ennoble humans, it brutalizes them. Perhaps a more appropriate action would be to step back and analyze what we have done to produce this kind of anger. Is it enough to say human beings will always do evil things and we have to be prepared to defend ourselves militarily? Or can humanity devise something better?\nI have often thought about having children. In a world that accepts without much thought the duality of human nature, the capacity to cry and empathize and the willingness to inflict pain and sorrow, I'm not sure I want to be a father. May we have mercy on ourselves.