Which quarterbacks do we follow?

Which quarterbacks do we follow?

Jan. 17, 2001

Straight Talk
By Muriel Sluyter

Greetings, Gentle Reader,

The passengers on Flight 93 attacked their highjackers, willingly crashing their plane, because Todd Beamer knew, from his communication with a dispatcher, that their plane was going to be used as a missile.

Todd had a secret weapon: He was a quarterback, and every American knows what that means. He was a leader and a good one. This crisis required the best leadership available, and the best was available. Americans always follow a good leader, and they did so that day.

Then that goofball with the hot sneakers tried to take down another plane, and a stewardess played quarterback. She tried to stop the guy, then, overwhelmingly outweighed, called for help: "I need four or five big guys here." She didn’t have to ask twice. Several very big guys responded. The nut was a large man and fought hard, but he didn’t stand a chance. The passengers tied him with belts and gave him a shot, turning him into an instant noncombatant.

We Americans didn’t know the ropes when the attacks began, but we are quick learners, and now we know that we must fight back. Fortunately, Americans fight back very effectively — ask bin Laden.

Bin Laden is a good quarterback. Sadly, being a good leader is value-free; leaders can take their teams to victory or to destruction. Ask the Germans. They had their own bin Laden, and they "siegheiled" him until their country was little more than a pile of rubble. The same thing happened to Japan and Russia. Each of these countries had leaders who destroyed their country.

Those who were so enchanted with Hitler — and there were many millions — have to take responsibility for the annihilation of the country they loved. More to the point, the share his responsibility for the deaths of his victims, all multiple millions of them. A sobering thought indeed.

The Afghan men who maimed and murdered their countrymen and women are as much to blame as bin laden and his vile henchmen. All who have given their lives in his cause will be held to account for his actions as they stand before God, whom they expect to reward them with the much-made-of 72 virgins.

Humans need leaders who know right from wrong, who know how to do what is right, and who will readily set about it. Especially, free people need that, because they have the option to choose whom they will follow, whereas captive peoples have no such luxury.

Many leaders, including Americans, are not noble; they willingly harm their own. Those who follow and support leaders who attack and destroy our Constitutional protections, depriving their fellow Americans of freedoms in pursuit of a destructive ideology, are as guilty as those who make the actual attacks and do the damage.

We have many people in our country who want to make a positive difference, but do great damage instead, because they follow a destructive leader. It is the solemn responsibility of all humans to avoid that at all costs, but if we fail, permitting ourselves to be tricked into following someone who attacks and dismantles vital freedoms, we share the responsibility for that destruction. And once lost, freedoms are rarely regained.

It behooves all Americans to know what kind of quarterback they are following, because an emotional conviction of the nobility of a cause doesn’t make it so; it just makes it feel that way. There is a difference.