Ken Bigley
Sep. 27th, 2004 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueKen Bigley is a doomed man.
He is being held hostage by fanatics, who are demanding the release of criminals.
They have already killed two others taken at the same time as him.
And the British government won't negotiate. Not even to save him.
It's an ugly choice to face. Being told by hostage takers that you can save this person's life, and all you have to do is one little thing. You're handed the responsibility for their life.
But we cannot yield. For to do so once, is to guarantee it will happen again. And the concessions demanded will be greater.
Ken Bigley is to be sacrified to the Greater Good. This will provide him and his family little enough consolation. The needs of the many, have outweighed the needs of the few.
How does this make us different from the Terrorists? Both are willing to give lives for their cause. Their own. Others. But neither will bend before the other.
In essence, it comes to this. They try and hide behind a false transferrence of responsibility for his life. They will kill him if we do not release the prisoners. But let's not forget that the hands doing the killing are theirs. We can never yield to terrorists. To do so, is to grant them victory.
And so we offer our best wishes. Our hopes. Our prayers. Not for a miracle. But simply that the hostage takers will relent. And let this one man. A son. Let him go home. We will not yield, since we cannot grant them that victory.
Let not this man die to prove a point.
He is being held hostage by fanatics, who are demanding the release of criminals.
They have already killed two others taken at the same time as him.
And the British government won't negotiate. Not even to save him.
It's an ugly choice to face. Being told by hostage takers that you can save this person's life, and all you have to do is one little thing. You're handed the responsibility for their life.
But we cannot yield. For to do so once, is to guarantee it will happen again. And the concessions demanded will be greater.
Ken Bigley is to be sacrified to the Greater Good. This will provide him and his family little enough consolation. The needs of the many, have outweighed the needs of the few.
How does this make us different from the Terrorists? Both are willing to give lives for their cause. Their own. Others. But neither will bend before the other.
In essence, it comes to this. They try and hide behind a false transferrence of responsibility for his life. They will kill him if we do not release the prisoners. But let's not forget that the hands doing the killing are theirs. We can never yield to terrorists. To do so, is to grant them victory.
And so we offer our best wishes. Our hopes. Our prayers. Not for a miracle. But simply that the hostage takers will relent. And let this one man. A son. Let him go home. We will not yield, since we cannot grant them that victory.
Let not this man die to prove a point.
