Don’s Diary
I once saw an oldish man being
threatened by a young “hood” in a pub. The man, with his hands still at his
sides and looking firmly in the eye of the aggressor just said: “You had better
make your first punch a good one, mate”, and the “hood” immediately backed
off. The “hood” realised that even if he
could beat the older man he would be likely to lose at least some skin and hair
in the process. He might have ended up
in hospital at best. This illustrates
the use and power of a sanction.
I remember the debate after WW2 which
was brought to a close with two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. There was
concern about the likelihood of nuclear proliferation. The older, wiser military chiefs knowing the
power of a sanction, because that is the best role of the military, advised
that the best defence was a strong second-strike nuclear capability coupled
with arms control. That advice was
taken, and rather than an arms race, we have so far averted the further use of
nuclear weapons but we have had limited warfare and the advent of
terrorism. However, the desire remains
by some nations and groups to use military force and the politics of violence.
With today’s terrorism you could be excused for thinking the world has gone
mad.
But take heart. As Shakespeare said “If there be nothing new, but that which
is hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,……”, or as a
Freemason you may prefer Ecclesiastes 1.9: "The thing that hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath
been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun."
The bequeathed culture that I saw as a
boy growing up in Victoria has regrettably gone. I used to like saying how
lucky we were having benefited from the legacy
of 600
years of political and cultural turmoil in the now United Kingdom – the
reformation, the separation of church and state, our liberties and our
Constitutional democracy. Older Australia’s have paid a price for this with
family losses in at least two world wars, the privations of those wars and
especially the Great Depression. Many in more recent generations and newcomers
seen to want to destroy the very reasons that they find attractive in our
country. We see our inherent liberties replaced with political correctness and
license. We feel the threat of terrorism as has occurred overseas.
The way to deal with these threats is
of old: the threat of sanctions for the malcontent and potential offenders as
it will never be possible to police every movement and threat. Threats to our
security and safety must be excluded ideally or interned as we have done
before. We must accept that regrettably
there may be some over-reaction in our defence but this is the price of our
liberty – “Eternal vigilance is the price
of liberty”. You will hear the
“bleeding hearts” scream and the “Do-gooders” complain –
some opportunist and naïve politicians will use an issue to illegitimately
advance their cause. However we need to remember that there is nothing new
under the sun, our predecessors went through similar problems and we must be
prepared to do the same if we are to leave our successors the beauty of our
Western culture in Australia.
Yours fraternally,
Don Paterson