Mark Steyn’s Bigley piece was dead on, though of course a kick in the solar
plexus to the sappy, Oprah-ified sentimentality in which Western culture is
now very thoroughly marinated. A lot of people felt, as Mark did, and I
did, that there was something ignoble about all the to-ing and fro-ing of
trying to get some negotiations going with the terrorists; and also, though
it’s a hard thing to say, something ignoble and unmanly about Bigley’s
behavior.
We need to restore the old Roman ideal of making a good death.
Nobody knows if he himself will be able to make a good death if put to the
test. I sure don’t have any certainty about myself on this score. Unless
we hold it up as an ideal, though, not many people are even going to carry
the concept of a good death around in their heads. That’s why what we
teach, and what we preach, and what we promote and applaud, are important.
Fabrizio Quattrocchi was, in my opinion, a hero of Western civilization.
His name ought to be a household word. That it isn’t, say a great deal
about us.
We are all going to die, and there are some things worse than dying. These
are old and unfashionable truths; but perhaps it’s time we restored them to
widespread public understanding and approval.