Betrayal and heroism

By now, we've all seen the coverage of the horrific events that took place at Ft. Hood on Thursday. An Army Major and psychiatrist, Nidal Hasan, killed thirteen souls and wounded 38, before being seriously wounded by law enforcement officers responding to the incident. Perhaps the most shocking facts present in that last sentence deal with the shooter's profession and vocation.

An Army officer who, by virtue of his commission, had sworn to support and defend the constitution of the United States and bear true faith and allegiance to the same committed this crime. A physician who, by virtue of the Hippocratic oath and the other ethical values of his profession, had sworn to deliver care and healing to those trusted to his care, committed this crime.

I'm sure most of us are wondering how any human being can reach a point in their journey where employing a firearm against your sworn comrades in arms and patients seems to be the right path to take. As someone who has taken much the same oath of service in the past, I cannot imagine how you can knowingly choose to travel that road. His actions have broken the faith with his family, his comrades, his colleagues and his community. A sworn officer and physician has violently turned his back on his duty and taken the life of innocents. Why?

Thankfully and perhaps amazingly, there seems to have been no rush to judgement as to motive. It would be all too easy in this day and age to give in to fear and prejudice, to assume that, as a practicing Muslim and as a man of Palestinian descent, that Maj. Hasan was the tool of conspiracy or that his crime was a result of religious fervor. Here's hoping that sanity continues to prevail. The Army has a difficult task ahead, investigating the crime, consoling the families, healing the injured and honoring the dead. We should all trust them to that task and suspend judgement until the facts are known. We should also remember that Maj. Hasan's victims include his own family members, who must be feeling a special brand of grief and horror.

In the coming days, as the facts come to light and the picture becomes less murky, let's all make an effort to remember the victims, to respect their right to grieve privately and to recover. Let us honor our fallen comrades and celebrate their lives and contributions to our nation. Let us practice patience as we grieve, and judge the aftermath with a surfeit of fact and sober reflection. When you see the our nations flag flying low, remember why and remember the price of freedom is not always exacted far from home or in a strange place. Sometimes the tree of liberty extracts is blood price far to close to home.