Friends in Low Places

-Norma Zager “No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.” François de la Rochefoucauld

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The Faust legend is a cautionary tale that has transcended the centuries and became the basis for numerous literary efforts.  Great writers like Goethe and Oscar Wilde have sought to adopt the message in such classics as Dr. Faustus and The Picture of Dorian Gray.   Broadway’s Damn Yankees lives to this day as a classic warning that Satan stands at the ready to offer what man seeks most, the fulfillment of even the smallest of greedy dreams.  Oddly, no books or plays have been written featuring man selling his soul to end evil dictators or the horrors in Darfur. Is this a sign that all is good and right in the world and man no longer has a need for soul selling?  Or perhaps the price of a soul comes so cheaply today the devil needs not haggle any longer?   Is man so eager to give away his soul no compensation is demanded?  It would seem so.   The United States’ intention to join the United Nations Human Rights Council, a decision akin to joining the Nazi party to fight Hitler, may be proof of my theory.  Sensible? Correct? I think not.   In my mind festers the question how much the United States was offered to sell its soul.  What goodies or promises did we receive for this agreement? Or were we happy to jump into Satan’s fray and pull up a seat at the Table of Malice for free?   The United Nations somehow inspires my memories of the handsome actor Hurd Hatfield in Oscar Wilde’s classic The Picture of Dorian Gray. Highly positioned, beautifully appointed, intensely shallow and vain beyond human belief.   The edifice that sits regally along the shore of the Hudson River bursts with the swell of pride so seductive to purveyors of evil. Greed and power fill its beautifully appointed halls, and humanity is sacrificed for political power grabs and national agendas. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Angola, regimes that embrace no regard for human rights, enjoy equal standing with free countries like Canada, France and the United Kingdom.   The Council’s abysmal human rights record has ignored some of the most serious human rights abuses of our time, including Darfur. It is a central venue for the most virulent Israel-bashing, and Anne Bayefsky reported that the Council "has adopted more condemnations of Israel than all the other 191 U.N. states combined, while terminating human rights investigations on the likes of Iran, Cuba and Belarus.”   Not merely extending an olive branch to America’s enemies, but throwing the entire tree, the Obama administration seems determined to play games and bow to those whose rules are straight out of evil’s playbook.   The United Nations ceased to be a project for peace long ago and now exists as a mind-numbing waste of valuable American real estate and taxpayer money.   Giving credibility to their wrong-thinking attitude brings our motives into question.  Why would the greatest country in the world want to buddy up to those who seek to ignore evil?  Perhaps it’s a question we need to begin asking?   American ethics have turned upside down and inside out. I awake barely recognizing my former beloved country any longer. It has begun hanging out with a new crowd, the bad crowd. Were our friends too dorky before, not cool enough perhaps, or maybe, just maybe, the devil’s temptress Lola’s offer was seductive enough?   Were it within my power I would search the attic of the White House for a portrait, slowly changing day by day and growing more ugly and corrupted by the minute. Perhaps all Americans should participate in the search before we wind up winning the pennant and losing all our souls.     In the series “Postcards from Israel,” Ari Bussel and Norma Zager invite readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports from Israel as seen by two sets of eyes: Bussel’s on the ground, Zager’s counter-point from home.  Israel and the United States are inter-related - the two countries we hold dearest to our hearts - and so is this “point - counter-point” presentation that has, since 2008, become part of our lives.   © Postcards from Home, April, 2009 Contact:  aribussel@gmail.com

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