A matter of Cosmic Timing

OK. I'm going to stretch a parallel a little, but here goes:

We have two big media events coinciding this week:

- the capture of Sadaam Hussein
- the opening of "The Return of the King", the 3rd movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

What do the have in common? Good opposing Evil. One fictional, one very real.

A stretch? I don't think so.

We're going to see in "The Return of the King" one of the greatest cinematic portrayal of good overcoming evil ever. The book certainly lives up to that. The movie will trump it. From a review by Charles Colson, former Nixon operative - now minister:

"According to screenwriters Boyens and Walsh, The Return of the King is ultimately about faith: faith in the need for good to oppose evil; faith in those who join you in that struggle; and faith in a higher power that ensures good’s eventual triumph."

I like the way he said that: "the need for good to oppose evil". Of the large issues of our time - what could be a more important truth? And the hope that Tolkein delivers, rooted in his Christian faith, - "...that ensures good's eventual triumph". Certainly the oppressed people of Iraq who had suffered hundreds of thousands of death at the monster Sadaam's hands needed us to understand that.

And George W. Bush understands the conflict of Good vs. Evil in the post 9/11 world. And all of the hand wringing and caterwauling from his critics won't deter him. It's clear that there are many people in our land, on the left, who can't bring themselves to label a murdering tyrant like Sadaam as "evil". I have no problem with the word. George Bush is clear about it. And we need that clarity to defeat terrorism.

Some saw the pictures this week of the haggard Sadaam getting his medical exam and saw an object of compassion. I understand that. But I don't share it. I saw evil, trapped and caught. And I saw " good's eventual triumph".