A Lesson From King Arthur

I recently finished writing a paper about heroism in Arthurian literature. The last portion of my paper was about The Once and Future King by T.H. White, and if you haven't read it, I recommend it. Anyway, as we hear about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrorists at Guantanamo, and the controversy over waterboarding, I started thinking about this book.

You see, throughout the entire novel, King Arthur tries to put an end to war and the barbaric idea that "only Might makes Right." He struggles with this his entire life, then ultimately fails as his kingdom collapses around him.

In the last chapter, as Arthur is about to enter the final battle with the traitor Mordred, he looks back and ponders his kingdom. He wonders why his dream failed and why war was inevitable:

"He had been taught by Merlyn to believe that man was perfectible: that he was on the whole more decent than beastly: that good was worth trying: that there was no such thing as original sin. He had been forged as a weapon for the aid of man, on the assumption that men were good...His Table, his idea of Chivalry, his Holy Grail, his devotion to Justice: these had been progressive steps in the effort for which he had been bred...but the whole structure depended on the first premise: that man was decent."

The tragedy of "The Once and Future King" is Arthur's final realization: that man is NOT decent. On the whole, man is selfish, greedy, and violent. It's been this way since the Fall, and it won't change until the Second Coming. It's easy to be idealistic when it comes to war and violence. It's easy to say things like, "Give peace a chance!" and "Make love, not war!" But the sad reality is that, like Arthur realized, sometimes war is necessary. There is Evil in this world, and it must be opposed. Don't get me wrong, I think war is a terrible thing. I don't like seeing innocent people die, and I think we should avoid war whenever we can. However, we have to look through the lens of reality.

Is it wrong to make an imprisoned terrorist think he's drowning in order to extract information? Or is it more wrong to treat the same terrorist respectfully, thereby allowing thousands of innocents to die in an attack that would have otherwise been prevented? Is it wrong to invade a nation run by a tyrannical dictator? Or is it more wrong to allow the dictator to continue murdering and oppressing his own people? Is it wrong for soldiers to shoot and kill a bunch of pirates who have kidnapped an innocent ship captain? Maybe there is no right answer to any of this. We live in a world beset by Evil - a world of men who rape, steal, and kill for stupid reasons (or sometimes no reason at all). Most of them can't be bought or reasoned with. These monsters don't capture combatants; they kidnap innocent people and cut off their heads on video for the world to see.

Would you allow waterboarding to save your child's life? I imagine most people would do so in a heartbeat. How about the life of another child? How about the lives of thousands? There is a reason why the show 24 is so popular. Despite what some may say, despite the "holier than thou" idealism some adhere to, deep down everyone knows that we need men like Jack Bauer to protect us. Just as Arthur realized, man is not decent, and until this world is changed and perfected, we have to be able to survive it.