A number of years ago, I wrote a post titled, “Forthwith: A Tale of Fire and the Flammables.”

The post, essentially a parable, substituted fire—and particularly those that supported it-- for “evil.”

The events on and after October 7 have illustrated the point of that piece all too tragically well. Evil exists. It has always existed. It always will exist, the better to define evil—and the character of men. This is a Biblical observation. (We are talking about Israel here.)

The real tragedy is how many support it, openly and zealously. (Those who celebrate the atrocities being committed against Jews should remember that they aren’t immune. Evil, like fire, does not discriminate.)

In truth, something evil abhors, evil may appear generic, amorphous. This is deceptive.

At its core, evil is specific, identifiable—if, in a certain sense, all-encompassing. Good people know it when they see it. Much like the truth.

And, like the truth, it is never supposed to be mentioned or acknowledged, according to our progressive elites. (Unless as regards-- or in conjunction with-- Republicans and white males from the hinterlands.)

The pre-civilizational butchers of 10/7 slaughtered the innocent, killed children in front of their parents-- and parents in front of their children. They trafficked in torture and engaged in rape and necrophilia. And they were followed into Israel by a great many Gaza civilians, who were keen to join the raping, looting, and pillaging. And yet a large portion of the global community has sided with the bloodthirsty aggressors seeking to push the Jews into the sea.

Yes, as with 9/11, what the monsters did was unspeakably evil, yet we must speak of it…and speak of it as the heinous evil that it was. There is no other honest way to do so, no way to parse it otherwise. If we fail to do this, we, too, become like the supporters of the all-encompassing and destructive fire in my parable. And like those who have taken to the streets across the world to celebrate the rape, death, and beheadings of innocent Israelis—men, women, and children. And babies.

In effect, we become death, the destroyer of worlds.

And we may well be re-introduced to fire in the next one.

Image: User898, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 4.0