Michael Berg, the father of Nicholas Berg who was beheaded in Iraq in 2004, was chosen by some broadcasters as a symbol of the effects of Zarqawi’s terrorism and they eagerly sought his reaction to the news that Zarqawi had been killed in a bombing in Iraq.
It’s obvious to assert that these reporters assumed Mr Berg would roundly condemn Zarqawi for his supposed actions, but that’s not what happened as this interview with CNN’s Soldedad O’Brien clearly shows:
Berg: Zarqawi is also a political figure and his death will reignite yet another wave of revenge-revenge is something I do not follow. I do not ask for against anybody and it's an endless cycle as long as people use violence to combat violence-ahh we will always have violence.
Soledad: I have to say sir I'm surprised, I know how devastated you were-your family was frankly when Nick was killed in such a horrible and brutal---
Berg: Well you shouldn't be surprised because I have never said anything but forgiveness and peace...
Mr Berg was also interviewed later that day by CNN’s Larry King, who also seemed stunned by his reaction:
KING: Joining us now in Wilmington, Delaware, is Michael Berg. His son Nick was beheaded in Iraq in May of 2004. Al Zarqawi's organization took responsibility for the killing, which was videotaped and posted on the Internet. U.S. officials have said they believe Zarqawi himself did the beheading. Michael is running as a green party candidate for the at-large congressional seat in Delaware. You said that you feel no relief at the death of Al Zarqawi. Why not?
BERG: Well, first of all, it won't bring my son, Nick, back to me. And secondly, I believe, as many Americans believe, that the death of any human being diminishes us all. In Zarqawi's case, it's a double-tragedy because not only is this a human being who has family and loved ones, who are suffering the same feelings that I suffered and my family suffered when Nick was killed. But it's a political -- he's a political figure. And his death is going to inflame, once again, the insurgency. His death wasn't the only death that occurred this morning. I looked at those films and it looks to me like many, many houses were bombed. And it looks to me like many, many people were killed. And each one of those deaths is going to breed new insurgents.
KING: I understand. But Michael, emotionally, he killed your son. He killed your son. No him, your son might be with you.
BERG: Yes.
KING: Doesn't that have any impact?
BERG: Yes. Of course, it has impact on me. But killing Zarqawi won't bring my son back. Killing Zarqawi will only continue what really killed my son. And that is the feeling in this country and in Iraq, that revenge is okay. Revenge is what killed my son. Revenge of George Bush against Iraq, revenge of Zarqawi against the United States, that's what killed my son and the cycle of revenge has to stop or it becomes perpetual. It is perpetual.
KING: Didn't your son support President Bush, though?
BERG: He did. But he also praised me for standing up for my beliefs, even though they were different than his and I believe that he would still be doing that today, were he alive.
KING: And there was no instant feeling of some kind of closure or relief when you heard the news that Zarqawi was killed? None of that?
BERG: No. No, there's no feeling of relief, when another human being dies. As I said, I feel that we're -- we're all diminished.
Many people were taken aback by Michael Berg’s humility.
And so it is when the culture of revenge permeates societies.
This certainly isn’t a new or solely American reality. Mankind has suffered through millennia of this primitive need to exact justice in the form of revenge, as if that can be called justice at all. And, despite the fact that billions of people embrace religions and philosophies that assign revenge as either being in the realm of their Gods (Deuteronomy 32:35) or as being apart from basic concepts of human and civil rights and true justice, there remains the stark fact that, overall, the practice of vengeful behaviour against our families, our neighbours and other countries is not only acceptable, but desirable, because it allows one to separate oneself from their conscience and their humanity in the name of might and power.
We tend to view those who refuse to travel the path of destruction as superhuman – as if people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King were imbued with some special gift that is out of our grasp. The fact is that we are all capable of following that path. It’s just easier not to. And so we use our self-perceived fallibilities and self-perpetuating weaknesses as justifications for continuing to act out the most base of human characteristics, when if we actually made a conscious effort to “be the change you want to see” we would find that no special gifts are involved at all – only choice, willingness, authenticity and effort. And the practice of those things is not as difficult as one would make them out to be.
How we choose to act when one of our own has been the victim of revenge ought to be consistent with how we choose to act on a larger scale. (Note: that diary at Booman Tribune which I linked to and which had over 200 comments attached to it seems to have disappeared. I have yet to find out why.) If I am to stand up for torture victims, kidnapped ‘detainees’, the starving and the poor of the world, I must also extend that defense to those who enter my private life and are in need of help. If I choose not to do so, I am simply a hypocrite and the principles I espouse are just meaningless words that do nothing but engender me to some popular group or political movement. My ego becomes who I am and humility is a vague, embarrassing shadow.
So, while we stand in awe at people like Michael Berg and tremendously historical occurances like South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, among so many other examples of true expressions of justice, we fail ourselves and those we impact if we cannot find ourselves capable of such humble actions.
Mr Berg and those who participated in that commission are and were nothing more than you and I – ordinary people. Where they do stand apart is in the fact that they have grabbed onto their humanity in a way that many people only dream of. But, there’s the rub. It’s long past the time that we simply dream. Each moment offers us the opportunity to act and, if we forego the opportunities we are given, we have sold out our own humanity to the base forces which would have us hold on to primitive means of interacting with people that only further destruction and death.
We all have a choice. And the time to make that choice is now.
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