78-09-B4
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Alex. Solzhenitsyn
TranscriptRemembering the anti-Vietnam war sentiment of the late '60's and early '70's, some might find a bit of irony in the fact that Alexander Solzhenitsyn was this June's Harvard University graduation speaker. It is always good to see ourselves as others see us, so I'd like to quote just a few paragraphs from his address which dealt uncompromisingly with, what he called "the decline of courage in the West". He saw that decline in all of the Western world; in each country, each government, each political party and in the United Nations. He said, "It is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society." He made plain, however, that possibly there was courage to be found among our people, but they were not making their influence felt in government. He said, "Political and intellectual bureaucrats show depression, passivity and perplexity," ... "in their actions and in their statements to explain how reasonable and even morally warranted it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice." He went on to say that they can be inflexible and even angry when dealing with weak countries. But "they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments, aggressors and international terrorists". He reminded his Harvard audience of our own Declaration or Independence; that "when the modern Western states were created they proclaimed that governments are meant to serve man and man lives to be free and to pursue happiness". Saying they are "meaningful warnings which history gives a threatened and perishing society", Solzhenitsyn described the fight for our planet earth, physical and spiritual, as of cosmic proportions. And, he said, "it was not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of evil have begun their decisive offense, you can feel their pressure, and yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses." Then he asked: "What is the joy about?" For those who think hopefully that Angola might become the Soviet Union's Vietnam or that Cuba's adventuring in Africa can be stopped by being polite to Castro, he has an answer. He describes their failure to understand the Vietnam war as, "the most crucial mistake. Members of the U.S. anti-war movement wound up being involved in the betrayal of Far Eastern nations in a genocide and in suffering today imposed on 30 million people". And he asked, "Do they understand their responsibility today? Or do they prefer not to hear?" This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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