You Are the Enemy

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You are the enemy.

But wait, you say, I’m one of the good guys!  I live right, and I do my best to be on the side of truth and justice, don’t I?  

Let's take a moment to look back on previous times of trouble, when it seemed far easier to know who your enemies were and were not.

First, we visit World War II.  The second Great War is now considered to have been be a just war, and the last of such within our lifetimes.  Europe was being crushed under the brutal Third Reich of Adolf Hitler, and Japan had begun expanding its empire by occupying French Indochina.  On December 7th of 1941, the Japanese Air Force carried out their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, dragging the United States into a conflict we’d hoped to avoid.  Before too long, the entire nation was mobilized against enemies both in the South Pacific and Europe.  We knew the shape of our foes as the dreaded Nazis and the “Japs”, and we were determined to show them our American might.  Many fought, many died, but the Allied forces won the day, and the world was once more at peace.

The Germans of this era had a very different view of what the war was about.  Their country had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Entente Powers in World War I, and Hitler was leading the way to regain their national pride.  Der Fürher warned his people of other threats: the Jews, the homosexuals, and the Gypsies.  In the spirit of purifying the Fatherland by purging all pariahs, the German people encouraged Hitler’s Brown Shirts to usher these vermin away into concentration camps; out of sight, out of mind.  Those citizens who were disquieted by this kept their peace.  It is never good to go against the grain lest you be singled out.

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Although our Great War and its triumph are a ringing victory in our history, the Civil War between North and South still troubles the soul of this nation.  For more than two centuries, the British colonies, and then the young nation of the United States, made their fortunes on the backs of captives from Africa.  Pressed by strong arguments from abolitionists, President Abraham Lincoln mounted a war against the Southern States, who would rather secede from our Union than abandon the practice of chattel slavery.  Slavery had lined the pockets of plantation owners, and provided those States with political clout unavailable to the Northern states.  

The North had begun to distance themselves from this cruel practice, and many wished to see abolition become the law of the land.  Lincoln knew that the cost of a war between the States would be heavy, but he also knew where the political winds were blowing.  There was no choice but to proceed.  Through blood and smoke and agony, our nation heaved into birth a new law that made enslaving our fellow man a crime.  We wept for our dead, and moved on.

In the South, the growing cry to abolish slavery was a threat to their agrarian way of life.  Agriculture, which depends on hard manual labor, was only sustainable if that labor came at no financial cost.  The notion that slavery might suddenly be abolished brought visions of chaos to rival the turmoil of the French Revolution of only a half century before.  Plantation owners foresaw bankruptcy and ruin. Poor whites, already living on the knife edge of starvation, saw doom and death if they had to free their “darkies”.

To the minds of Southern whites, slavery was not only an economic necessity, but the natural order of Man.  Had not the ancient Greeks and Romans, the founders of civilization, held slaves?  Even the Bible was called in to defend the institution.  Revered Abraham owned slaves, and consider Paul, who returned Philemon to his master.  No, Blacks were naturally weak of mind and, like the beasts of the field, needed the protection of a loving Master, and useful work to do.

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So where does that leave us today?  We are the inheritors of a world altered by mighty struggles generation after generation.  Most wars are fought for land or gold, but nearly all are sold as a battle of ideals.  Today we face growing unrest over deeply ideological issues.  The conservative Right opposes the liberal Left in nearly every particular, and this pattern is repeated all over the globe.  There are real threats, such as the massive displacement of populations due to wars and climate change.  Other conflicts have arisen over social issues: abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and marriage, the sovereignty of our Second Amendment, and lately, the demand to bring true racial justice to America.

As with the battles outlined above, there are sides with very different visions of what the world should be.  Are you in favor of the status quo, or do you wish to see a new era of social progress?  The battle lines have been drawn, and we have already seen many casualties.  I fear there will be many more before the end of it.

So yes, you are somebody's enemy, whether you wish to be or not.  There can be no sitting on the sidelines to wait it out.  It will affect all of us.  Whatever the outcome, some group of people will gain while others will lose.  Some will be empowered while others are disenfranchised.  

And what will become of the losers?  They will continue to live among us, and will be forced to accept a world that rejects their ideology.  And do not be fooled—they will seek to prevail again.

In order to make a lasting change, we must strive to bring justice for all of us into this picture.  Nothing tastes sweeter than victory, but it is hollow if we stand on the necks of the vanquished and crow about our greatness.  As the days and weeks and months roll on through these dire times, keep ever in mind how the world will be at its end.  And we, all of us, have a hand in that end.