And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that as is my custom, on the Sunday evening of that horrendous mass shooting in Florida, I went upstairs shortly after 8 p.m, so I could listen on my bedside radio to a few of the old time radio broadcasts aired on Wisconsin Public Radio.

One of them that Sunday was “The Halls of Ivy,” which featured Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Colman. For those-not familiar with that show from the early 1950s, it’s about the president of an Ivy League school who has to deal with school board members and wealthy donors as well as students.

What could those two events possibly have in common? Well, as I listened to the Colmans with their British accents quote one bon mot after another with references to Western European, British or early American authors, philosophers or poets, I was thankful once again for my education in western civilization, which allowed me to recognize many (but not all) of them.

And I wondered how many of today’s college or university students who are being deprived of instruction in western civilization could appreciate that sort of humor.

It is a crime that that is happening, because the “west” is where we exist, and the Judeo-Christian morality (see Ten Commandments) is incorporated into our civilization.

When institutions of higher education drop instruction in that area, what is substituted? And does the substitution allow citizens to be prepared for life? Certainly, we are citizens of the world, but it is important to understand how western civilizations differ from others.

As of this Monday morning, there is discussion about how much of that Florida shooting spree was the result of radical Muslim hatred of our civilization, and how much may have been the result of radical Muslim hatred of the gay community which frequented that Florida club.

Civilized westerners do not advocate killing others with different religious beliefs as a matter of faith nor do they kill those of different sexual orientation in the name of their own civilization or religion.

So far, at least, Muslims are free to practice their religion in the western world, as are other non-Christians or non-believers. And while gays are not always understood, they are generally recognized and accepted by the civilized.

I cite from my own experiences more than half a century ago while spending lots of time in San Francisco, a city which was a leader in that acceptance long before many others. It was a fact, and nobody cared.

An aside: That same weekend, almost as many (44) people were shot in Chicago with little notice. Maybe we are losing that “civilized” tag!