"Enough is enough," said British Prime Minister Teresa May following the mayhem, killings, and woundings in the heart of London but a statement without a proper objective is empty. To be fair, May said she wanted a review of counterterrorism strategy. The implication is that we can do better at warding off these attacks.
The awe-full truth
Pardon the rewriting of the term awful. I mean merely that the truth always inspires awe and that is because, as Keats said, "truth is always beauty as well." The beautiful truth is the actual answer to what "enough is enough" means.
It means enough of the notion that we are powerless to do anything. It means we have options and the freedom to make choices.
After London Attack, Prime Minister Says, ‘Enough Is Enough’ https://t.co/wBAlc9I9Y4
— Stephen C. Rose (@stephencrose) June 5, 2017
Theresa May would be laughed at
The Prime Minister might well be laughed at for sharing a beautiful truth. Terrorism is a child of cynicism, of believing there is nothing to a life worth saving. The beautiful truth is that we must grasp life and espouse the very values at the center a life that's good and free. Donald Trump does not grasp these values. He is, in fact, one with the very view that underlies terror. Barack Obama professed Universal Values but fell short.
What values are we speaking of?
There ae four universal values that work together to enable any person to move in the direction of truth and beauty. They are tolerance, helpfulness, and democracy. These are active values. The value that underlies them all is non-idolatry. It means we are meant to be iconoclasts. It means we are to be critical thinkers who use our precious Freedom To Choose the values we live by.
Misunderstanding freedom
We misunderstand freedom if we see it as a basis for doing anything we like. It is actually the inner capacity to choose among the values that determine life. If we incline toward evil, we may end up in the middle of London wielding a knife or aiming a vehicle at innocents.
If we incline toward good, choosing the values mentioned above, we may, in fact, become free and loving human beings.
This is not the automatic result of upbringing. It is our use or misuse of our limited and crucial freedom to choose who we will be.
We have had more than enough
We have too much binary idiocy in the world. It is the practice of politicians. It is the attitude of corporations that treat people as ciphers. It is the predominant mood of culture that celebrates hunger games and walking dead and serial killers as heroes.
This is not entertainment. It is induction into an acceptance of violence as normal. Enough is enough. Enough violence Enough phony ethics. Enough suggestion that civilization and the one percent are synonymous.
