Point of View: Of Hate and Grace

It’s hard to imagine that participating in sectarian slaughters fraught with possibilities that we’ll be played for suckers perhaps by all the combatants will lead to any good, and yet it seems we have no choice given the likelihood of a greater evil emerging insofar as Americans are concerned from a jihadist triumph.

The recent beheadings by ISIS of two American journalists and a British aid worker have fueled revanchist fire — all the more reason to be grateful that we have a president with a cool head, one who, as was the tragic case a decade ago, when the Pandora’s box  was opened, is not likely to go off half-cocked.

Tom Lehrer, I gather, does not like to be invoked, but these days I find the lyrics of a song of his that masterfully catalogued the world’s sectarian, political, and racial hatreds, which ended with “and I don’t like anybody very much,” dancing in my head.

And with the above in mind, I’d like to recall the late Denis Craine, who had much to teach, and who died, at 56, of Lou Gehrig’s disease in March 2003, the same month, if I’m not mistaken, that we invaded Iraq.

What follows are some excerpts from his obituary and an interview with him, both of which I wrote:

“ ‘. . . In the end, though pride and judgments get in the way, love is all that endures,’ wrote Mr. Craine. He thanked his five children for having taught him to be sensitive, to be inquisitive, to be courageous, to live in the present, and to let the spirit move him.”

“. . . Five years ago, to promote inclusiveness in the East End’s schools, and to combat racism and bias crimes, Mr. Craine began to hold a Race Against Racism, also known as the W.E. Race, on Columbus Day, in an effort ‘to rediscover America.’ ”

“. . . He recalled also that Dylan, then 5, had inspired him to jettison his self-pity [stemming from two operations he underwent in his mid-30s to remove a cancerous tumor] when he said, ‘You might die? Well, let’s play!’ That says it all. It has really been grace we’ve been talking about. When you have your faith and come to terms with what you’re dealing with, no matter how critical the crisis, it doesn’t become bigger than spiritual peace. That’s what grace is.”

Love is what endures. We cannot let hate win.