June 13, 2013  The Quality of Mercy  J.R. Dunn  One of the
elements that makes Western civilization unique is the unspoken
recognition that we comprise a brotherhood against death. In the
West, no one is allowed to go into the darkness in quietude or
with indifference. When a small boat is lost, hundreds set out
to search for it. When a hiker disappears, the area is combed
thoroughly for weeks if necessary. When a small child lies
deathly ill, the nation itself is mobilized. Nothing -- not
convenience, not expense, not even the risk of death to the
rescuers themselves, is allowed to get in the way. It is part of
our religious faith, our literature and art, and our day-to-day
lives. When the effort fails and someone is lost without trace,
we brood over it for years, because it represents the breaking
of an unspoken vow.  Progressivism, as part of its war against
our civilization, has done its best to degrade this impulse.
Through crime, where the fate of the victims has been rendered
secondary to that of the c