Have you noticed how simple life is when you are ignorant?
The more you know about anything, the less black and white it becomes. There are extenuating circumstances. There are pesky details. There are decisions that have to be made and no easy answers.
Take the death penalty. It seems pretty obvious. The Old Testament tells us that God is ok with "an eye for an eye" justice. If you kill someone, you should be put to death too. The problems set in once you learn a bit about the death penalty.
A lot of people who are innocent are put to death for crimes that other people committed. DNA evidence has a freed some of these innocent individuals after years of incarceration but once you learn that this is happening routinely, you have to look at the whole thing differently. The death penalty isnt as clear cut as one would like to think.
This week the topic has been the drugs used for "lethal injection." Again, this seems like an easy issue. There are all kinds of drugs that put people to sleep and stop their heart or their breathing. Hell, rock stars do it all the time just by accident.
But now a case goes to the Supreme Court and we learn that the drugs used in most states are so painful that veterinarians no longer use them on ANIMALS! What is that about? Justice or sadism? The answer is not so black and white any longer.
Another issue in the news today is Iraq. President Bush has made a surprise visit to Iraq. On the face of it, this is not surprising.
After 9/11, the President went to NYC and stood on that rubble at Ground Zero and talked to people there. He got a first hand experience with the situation, which is what any leader of anything would do if they really wanted to be in charge.
A trip to Iraq seems routine until one learns that this is only the President's SECOND trip in 3 years! And on his first trip, he never left the airport. Some people say the President is out of touch and that doesnt seem to far off when you learn that he hasnt seen any more of Iraq than you or I have.
The world appears pleasingly simple to those people who see things in black and white. The problem is that to maintain this simplicity, one has to ignore facts with a purpose. Ignorance is bliss but it doesnt lead to good decisions or good leaders.
