Years ago, there was a fast-food slogan: “a break away from the everyday.” I can’t remember what chain it was for. Anyway, if you care for a break away from the everyday, I have an Arizona journal for you, here, replete with photos, observations, and comments. I spent some time with the Wildcats of Arizona (University of) and the Sun Devils of Arizona State. Enjoyable experiences.
I’d like to publish a little reader mail. Last Sunday, I published a statement from an Afghan girl, turning 17. A reader of ours writes,
I teach at a dental school in San Francisco. About ten years ago I noticed that one female student was quite different from others I’d encountered. One evening I asked her for her story. She was an Afghan.
“My mother is an obstetrician. I was six or eight years old during the first period of Taliban rule. The closest hospital was outside of our village. Women started getting raped on the way to give birth or receive care. Therefore, my mother set up an obstetrics ward in our basement. From the age of about eight, I saw and helped with everything. Some years later we received a message from friends that the Taliban had found out about us. We fled immediately to Pakistan. Made our way to the States.”
I was able to meet her parents at graduation.
On Monday, I published a piece called “Russian Honor, Exemplified.” It is about Vladimir Kara-Murza, Father Georgy Edelstein, and other Russians who have stood up to the Kremlin, often at great personal cost. (Kara-Murza is now in prison.) Several readers sent notes such as the following:
We need to be reminded of how blessed we are to be “dissidents” whenever we choose to be, and to be reminded of the price that others pay in their quest for what we take for granted.
Finally, something that may put a smile on your face. In a column last week, I had a note on Robert Nozick and related matters. A reader writes,
. . . I am reminded of the answer our daughter gave to a constitutional-law professor who had quipped, “‘Well-ordered liberty’ is an oxymoron.” Said our daughter, “You are confusing liberty with license, sir.”
Well done. Without order — without the rule of law — you have no liberty at all. You are at the mercy of the lawless.