Is there a gene for idealism? Are some people just hard-wired for softness in a world of hardships and brutal realities? Do you envision your life in a land of wishes? Think for a moment as Lennon thought:
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Do you count yourself among the people who want the world to behave according to principles they derive not from experience, but rather from imagining: People who believe, for example, that all bad guys can be reformed, regardless of the depth of their social and psychological pathologies?
Is it possible that your social and political ideals aren’t practicable? And if they aren’t, then why entertain them except for entertainment?
Recall these lines from A. E. Housman’s “Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff”:
43 Therefore, since the world has still
44 Much good, but much less good than ill,
45 And while the sun and moon endure
46 Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
47 I'd face it as a wise man would,
48 And train for ill and not for good.
Might we draw a lesson on worldview from Ezekiel (Ezechiel)? No, you say, that bespeaks of religion, and Lennon asks us to imagine “no countries” and “no religion, too.” “Deer droppings!” I say. There are evil-doers, and those who flutter above imaginary fields of flowers always have to learn their lessons the hard way. History reveals that appeasement is an ineffective defense of ideals. History seems to indicate that protecting “ideals” often requires the action of brutal men.
The Book of Ezekiel is a harsh book filled with threats against evil-doers. Here’s one that captures the threat of vengeance that the pathological eventually face at the hands of brutal men who protect idealists like Lennon: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in fury”… Ch. 19, v. 17). Sure, elsewhere in the book, Ezekiel has God say that if the pathological change their ways, he will forget and forgive, but always in the background lies that overt threat: Perpetrate evil and you can expect some rough times in return. That is, of course, if someone is there with the will to exact vengeance. Lennonites need not apply.
And now, in September, 2021, we can see once again that only under the protection of brutal men do idealists find their imagined world in which people live in harmony. Armies of the “Just” have to exist to protect innocent idealists when armies of the “Unjust” attack. Keep Housman’s lines in mind: “..trouble’s sure,/I’d face it as a wise man would,/And train for ill and not for good.”