Good and Evil

Last night, I saw Lord of War. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you see it. (The soundtrack even features Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" -- also heard in the German film the Edukators. I love that song!) Anyway, in one of the most memorable quotes from the movie, Yuri Orlov (Nic Cage) comments on the futility of getting out of the gun-running business by saying something like, “They say evil prevails when good men do not intervene. What they should say is: Evil prevails.” Yuri’s driving forces are, one, he’s really good at gun-running and, two, he’s completely convinced that if he were to stop gun-running, the next guy in line would simply move up and take his place. I’m an optimist and I support nonviolence as a first-choice response; therefore, I disagree with one of the central themes in the movie: war is not only inevitable, it’s a natural way to resolve conflict. (Though, it is worth mentioning that the movie ends by explicitly stating the root cause of the gun-running problem: the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are also the top five gun-running countries.) Interestingly, in recent weeks, I’ve now seen two movies on the topic of Good & Evil in respect to international law in Africa. (The Constant Gardener was the other one.) But, off of the silver screen and back to my own life … Do you hear what I hear right now? That wonderful sound is the quiet jingle of keys. Keys to my new apartment. I did it! I’m finally all moved into the new place and all of my stuff is out of the old one. Exciting shit, indeed! There are a million piles of clothes and boxes everywhere, but I’m sure it will all get sorted out in due time ...