We must be prepared to deal with evil, at home or abroad. Else it will deal with us.

An orphaned Rwandan child

“War leaves all children behind.”

A sentiment with which we may all share a great measure of  sympathy. War is a terrible thing and children are often casualties, emotionally if not physically. Photographs from war zones tear at our hearts, compel us to demand the cessation of hostilities. But too often, our demands are unmet.

The unfortunate truth is that we are not all kind, compassionate human beings. There are some number of us who are out and out criminal, possibly thirty percent according to a Wall Street Journal article. Citing a study first published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the study (“Cumulative Prevalence of Arrest From Ages 8 to 23 in a National Sample”, December 2011) found that by age 23, the prevalence of non-traffic arrests “lies between 25.3% and 41.4%.”

The AAP’s finding: “At a minimum, being arrested for criminal activity signifies increased risk of unhealthy lifestyle, violence involvement, and violent victimization.”

Let’s ponder that last bit, violent victimization, and remember that this tendency may exist in approximately 30% of the population.

Now, pivoting quickly to Africa, and back in time to 1994, let’s consider the mass slaughter that “wiped out about three-quarters of the ethnic Tutsi population in the African nation of Rwanda…” (Science News, “Duty Bound Killings,” August 19, 2017). Although estimates of the carnage of this modern genocide range from 500,000 to 1.2 million deaths, “most scholars place the death toll at 800,000.” The dead were indiscriminately made up of men, women, and children. Perhaps these children would have wished for a military intervention (war) to relieve them of their affliction.

Let’s consider, though, how many of the Hutus made up the killing squads? “In reality, only 20 percent of Hutu men seriously injured or killed at least one person during the genocidal outbreak.”

Now we have two estimates, ranging from twenty to thirty percent, of human beings who are willing and capable of visiting violence upon their fellow creatures. Is it any wonder that we must invest billions of dollars in police assets to discourage such violence? And at the national level, these same psychoses exist, with good and evil nations, since nations are only human tribes. And when the evil ones wrest control somehow, such as in North Korea, it is their own people who suffer, and we who are threatened.

And thus the need for a strong military, to discourage the adventurism of evil nations. While we might want to believe in the beauty of the pure, good human soul, it is clearly not universal. We made this mistake in the run-up to World War II, when we and our Allies disregarded the adventurism of the Germans and Japanese. It was our relative weakness that encouraged their boldness.

While tomes have been written by learned sages in hallowed halls, it still comes down to this. If we let you bully us, you will. If we show weakness, you will seek advantage. This is human nature, twenty to thirty percent of which is entirely disagreeable. This applies to individuals and nation states equally, as we are all human.

There are many stories of human goodness. Witness Houston, with volunteers flocking to the rescue, bringing their personal boats and monster trucks to patrol flooded neighborhoods, bringing succor to those poor victims of the storm. Irrespective of race or station in life, they were rescued and were grateful. But those good people are the seventy percent. We must still deal with the thirty. Police are a necessity. A strong military is essential.

We must be prepared to deal with evil, at home or abroad. Else it will deal with us.