by Who knew Ken Starr — of cum-stained blue dress infamy — would be the new darling of the liberal press this morning after he leapt to the defense of Justice Department lawyers venomously labeled the “Al-Qaeda 7” for providing legal counsel to accused terrorists, and against Liz Cheney, the conservative and vile offspring of Dick.
I am dismayed by this rush of love for Ken Starr because it is
convenient — and because it so easily ignores his multiplicity of sins
against our nation as he sniffed through President Clinton’s underwear
drawer looking for a Whitewater scandal that could not be found — and I
don’t appreciate his sudden and reverent elevation in the liberal media
as someone to admire.
When you do the right thing — like standing up for falsely accused lawyers — you should not be applauded or celebrated.
Doing the right thing non-negotiable because it must be done. When
something is required of us, we should not expect, or give, special
treatment.
Doing the right thing is sometimes unpopular and always trying in that the task unmasks our values and morals in the public square for mores examination by strangers.
Doing the right this has no political alliances or set religious dogma. Doing the right thing is the necessary human requirement to do no harm and to protect each of us from each other.
Ken Starr doing the right thing should not be news — though it is —
but it must not be admired because that method of thinking encourages
bad behavior that, when corrected, is celebrated.
We should be celebrating people who go beyond the ordinary right and into the unexpected exceptional fantastic like doctors who heal sick children without expecting a paycheck, police officers who step beyond required duty to follow up and care for a suffering family, or a PATH train engineer who saves the legs of a young boy and refuses to accept any honor other than continuing to do the right thing.
We must begin to assume again that the all of us will, once again, do
the right thing by default — and while we appreciate the notion of
preserving community standards and tightening the effects of belonging
— we should never be so depraved to give credit for a stand that should
have been upright from the start.
Let’s next applaud teachers as they come in to work every day, and stand up and cheer as the reference librarian points someone towards the direction of the toilets. We should celebrate the extraordinary, not the expected. Especially when the expected comes from someone with such a sick past.
Should we applaud teachers who come to work every day? Isn’t that their job? Many teachers dig into their own pockets to pay for school supplies and never get, or expect to be, reimbursed. I applaud that selfless dedication to the cause because that is going far beyond just doing the right thing.
I definitely applaud the ones who pay for supplies because that’s going beyond the call of duty. I had some teachers when I was a kid that were definitely just phoning it in every day because they just lost the passion. I feel badly for them, in retrospect.
Yeah, phoning it in is dangerous in any occupation. When you feel dead in your job — you must find another or you risk being apathetic for the rest of your days.