The State Department Denied Requests to Secure Embassy in Libya

I've been reading and reflecting on these reports over the course of the last week and am truly at a loss to understand the apathy of American citizens.

 If I didn't know any better, I'd wonder if Obama has persuaded the masses to support the Taliban whom they know will one day will destroy them.

 Has a familiar ring, doesn't it? 

Being attracted to things that will destroy us is the story of our lives.  We are moths to the flame. Without Sacramental Grace, we are without the tools to resist our own destruction. It is always veiled in something attractive.

 The Trojan Horse rolls in. By the time the druids come out of the trap door, we are so captivated by the craftsmanship that we embrace our own executioners.

 In a good faith effort to serve God and our brothers and sisters with some need, we start a service project. Conflicts with the First Commandment are most difficult to recognize, aren't they? Before long, we forget God is the wind behind the sail. We collect the victories in the treasure chest of our ego and grow smitten with the false idol in the mirror.

 Then there's the id. Prince Charming arrives on his horse to whisk us off to Camelot. Where there is no common understanding and fiat, there is no ground game. By the time the eros is in full swing, the battle to resist the resistance either consumes the relationship or we surrender to temptation and embrace mortal sin with full consent of our will.

 It's the same old song and dance.

 In high school, a very attractive woman joined the staff. Faith immature as teenagers who had not yet tasted nor understood the intimacy of Christ, we once asked why she would 'waste' her life, how she survived the gauntlet as an attractive woman. She told us she was attracted and tempted all the time. She said just recently began taking the bus to the school and had developed a friendship with a fellow male passenger.

 She paused and waited for our questions.

 In our Sound of Music moment, we excitedly asked her what she anticipated would be next. She burst our bubble by telling us that she stopped taking the bus. She taught us what mature faith only recognizes after numerous and profound failures: Nip it in the bud. The more entrenched it gets, the less likely you will recognize it; the more attractive its appearance; and, the harder it will be to resist.

 A few weeks back, Ben Stein wrote a piece called Something is Wrong. Those of us living this maxim can smell the sulfur.

 As I watched Obama's defeated demeanor during the debate this week, I think deep down he knows he's caught up in the ancient habit of pinning a rose on our own destruction. We always do.