The lesser of two evils just became the greater …

The lesser of two evils just became the greater … During the recent presidential election cycle, many good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends tried to convince me to choose the lesser of the two evils. Among other components in my response, I asked them three questions: 1. Do you agree that the lesser of the two evils would still be evil? 2. What if the lesser of the two evils keeps doing evil for a protracted period of time; would that candidate still qualify as the lesser evil? 3. Lastly, if the lesser of the two evils surprised them with a heinous act of evil, would they favor truth over hope? Instead of a yes or no answer, most of my good-hearted friends expressed their big hope in the lesser of the two evils. They also asked me to prepare myself for many “pleasant surprises” and to embrace them when they happen. I certainly was waiting for them. These surprises did come early….but I ask, “Are they pleasant?” Less than two weeks after the victory songs earlier this month, we now have two ugly surprises from the lesser of the two evils. Just in case someone failed to notice, here they are: 1. The lesser of two evils declared that “he fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself”, implying that the occupied and the embattled Palestinians are to be denied this same right. The Palestinians evidently are to thank him--the lesser of the two evils and the evil he supports--for the airborne killing machines flying overhead which are so much more merciful than the land-based killers crawling all over them. (Perhaps we are to ignore Israel’s many hints about an imminent ground invasion of Gaza.) 2. The lesser of two evils earns the distinction of being the first to visit Myanmar – a land of monks running amuck. There, the lesser of the two evils heaps praise and offers hope to those who have been killing and watching the killing of a nameless and stateless people: the Rohingyas. May I now ask my good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends to join me in mourning the 10 month old Hanin Tafesh and the mass instantaneous murder of 3 generations of Dalu family. And, having received almost no call-backs from my many good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends, believers in the lesser of two evils, I decided to write this open letter as a reminder that, yes, the lesser of two evils is still evil!