Triumph of Freedom and Will and Faith

The amazing aspect of the Kyle Maynard story is the opposite outcome of what most people might expect.

Following the discussion of an early post on Jacques Attali's Millennium, and seeing the other guests that were also on the Oprah show with Kyle, I see a pattern emerging out of American culture that is to be applauded. Instead of following blindly in the footstep of the bullies of the masses, Kyle's parents, with love in their hearts flowing from their strong faith in a loving God, deflected the bullying of the "Norm", and declared an extraordinary son normal. That is the irony and heroism of the story. Unlike other parents, who insist their average children are stars and have impossible expectations, Kyle's parents expect a child with challenging obstacles in his way to grow and mature like a normal child, and with love and nurturing, they achieve what most other parents dreamed impossible.

The tyranny of the masses, as the French Revolution has inspired so many writers to descibe, can be a horrifying force. When a mob of average people, whether wielding pitch forks or hurtful words, whether throwing stones or stabbing glances, can be a destructive force against which, an individual has no defence, except a faith as strong and formidable as God.

Some of us have lived through those years in school when bullies have nothing better to do than to impose their will, and anger on those who would accept it. Dr. Phil's show had a guest who was so filled with anger from her childhood, that she inflicts terror and fear on her children everyday, yelling and screaming, insulting and swearing. Bullies merely pass along what they cannot control, releasing the demons in their past, past on to them from their earlier years of innocence and helplessness. Rudolph Giuliani once said that he learned at an early age to stand up to bullies. I will add that we also need to pity them because, as Christ said, they know not what they do. Some of these bullies are also victims who have been so filled with anger, that their brains are no longer their own. They simply repeat the sins of their fathers. However, there are also bullies who are truly evil, in the sense of what M. Scott Peck described in his book, "People of the Lie."

Fortunately, even evil bullies, like those in Nazi Germany, can be conquered. Scott Peck's other books, "A Different Drum", and "A World Waiting to Be Born", as well as his classic "A Road Less Traveled", describe the process of community building that is the antidote to evil. It is the loving community behind Kyle Maynard that made his triumph possible; it is his personal courage that makes his triumph admirable.

On the same Oprah show with Kyle were Emmanuel Ofusu Yeboah and Jim MacLaren who are depicted in the movie Emmanuel's Gift. Their story is also a triump of freedom and will. Emmanuel, with the loving support of his mother, changed the bullying attitude of a nation, and freed his fellow citizens from a life of scorn and rejection.

These examples of courage gives me hope that our future is not as bleak as some futurists might tell us, nor as rosy, either.