Do you want vengeance or peace? Because you cannot have both

[Mister Ed]

64. I'll try to answer as best I can.

Upthread, I've compared the terrorists of Paris to those criminals in our own society who commit strings of grisly rapes and murders. I'll continue with that analogy.

First, I know that action must be taken to stop the criminal. If no action is taken, there will be more victims. We have a responsibility to try to protect those prospective victims.

Candlelight vigils and outpourings of sympathy are good and important things, but they will not prevent the criminal from taking another victim. Indeed, he may take perverse delight in our massive display of suffering and pain.

I know that I will not be one of the police detectives who takes on the ugly and soul-sapping work of tracking the psychopath, chasing him down the dark mental tunnels of an otherworld of evil. I know also that I will not be one of the brave police officers who ultimately corner him and apprehend him, at great risk to their own lives. Those people will have my gratitude and support, but I know that I am unlikely to be working shoulder-to-shoulder with them.

In the extremely unlikely event that I should find myself between the criminal and an intended victim, then yes, I will die to protect her. I am not brave and I am not heroic, but I will do no less than I have asked of those law officers whose efforts I support.

Of course, I will not support any type of "law enforcement" that calls for embattling and occupying the criminal's entire neighborhood and demonizing his neighbors, and I will staunchly oppose local politicians who try to exploit our fear and anger over the rapes and murders for the purpose of increasing their own power and wealth.

It should be understood that, in all of this, there is no such thing as victory. At least one woman has been cruelly, viciously raped and murdered. Nothing can reclaim her life, or undo her suffering. There will be no cause for celebration when the criminal is finally halted.

It should also be understood that there can be no end to this effort to protect the innocent from the evil. After this criminal is stopped, another will appear. I am glad that there are those who are fighting the long battle, and working to understand and change the psychological and societal conditions that allow such criminals to develop and flourish. I will support their efforts as well.

And so we return to the terrorists. Action must be taken, just as it must be taken against the murderer/rapist. The action must be very sharply focused upon the terrorist organizations themselves: upon their foot-soldiers, upon their leaders, and upon their wealthy and powerful financial sponsors. That's the short battle. The long battle is to understand, and change, the conditions that provide fertile soil for evil such as ISIS to flourish.

We must, above all, prevent the even greater evil of mass retaliation against the innocent, as happened in the wake of 9/11. I think that we in the U.S. are fortunate to have someone like President Obama as chief executive, for he has given me confidence that he possesses the wisdom, determination, restraint, morality, and conscience that are needed - and that his predecessor so sorely lacked.