Person of the Year
I didn't really bother too much with the Time Magazine Person of the Year. I will concede that Bush 43's achievements (along with staff: Karl Rove, etc... ) last year were considerable, but it didn't seem worth the effort to pick a person we read about every day as "man of the year." As I look at what Time picked as "people that mattered" and run into Kobe Bryant, or the Desperate Housewives, I don't feel as though I missed too much.
But what prompted this is The Globalist pick of man of the year, someone who really went beyond themselves and prompted a shift in how we think and how we see the world. There's something refreshing to that, something that matters.
Seargeant Joseph Darby, their choice for man of 2004, was the insider who moved first to bring attention to the inner workings of Abu Ghraib by leaving anonymous CD-roms and notes on the desk of his superior.
On one hand, we see the truth of America: at war, Americans are no better than others, still vulnerable to the fog of right and wrong under pressure, still capable of atrocities like any other country at war. It should surprise but the results have been muted: while I hear lots of preaching and social cheers for the "good" of America, I've yet to hear a proper confrontation of what "good" really means in the world we live in.
The other hand tells us another truth: America is different. Americans do have a moral compass, and, unlike other countries in which this is also true, Americans have the freedom and courage to shine light on the worst they have to offer. That is admirable.
Darby had little to gain; The Globalist reports that he is in hiding and under protection, and yet he was willing to reveal the truth because he saw the prisoners as real people. I wonder how special that is, especially in a military structure that was so willing to look the other way.
What an excellent and thought provoking choice for the rest of us to consider right, wrong, and America.
4:18:36 PM 
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