We've all heard about the courage of former Atlanta hostage Ashley Smith in getting her captor, courthouse killer Brian Nichols, to surrender. The transcript of Smith's press statement is reproduced in Peggy Noonan's column today in the WSJ's OpinionJournal. Noonan takes note of the national impact that Smith's actions have had:
Tuesday evening on the news a "hostage rescue expert" explained that she "negotiated like a pro." Actually what she did is give Christian witness. It wasn't negotiation. It had to do with being human. * * *
The more the news played the testimony of Ashley Smith, the more each news show came to seem elevated, ennobled. The past few days the TV screen has been filled with some wonderful light.
* * *Is it an accident that a great but troubled country that yearns so to be good is given such instruction at this time?
Maybe we should be thinking: God loves all of us, every one of us most tenderly, even convicts, maybe especially convicts, who know what they are and hang their heads and one of whom, so long ago, looked up, and cried out to the man on the other cross, and received from him a promise of forgiveness and a promise that soon, very soon, they would stand together in a place without pain. * * *
I just feel like bowing to everyone, all the victims and all the survivors, the good judge, the good guards, the good woman, the reporters, all of whom became part of something big and without borders. The only lesson is love. I feel certain this is true.
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I really, really love Peggy Noonan's writing style. She seems to be getting better as she ages, too.
Lately I've been finding myself nodding in agreement with many of the things she writes. I guess that means either that I'm growing more conservative or that she's growing less so. Either is possible.
Or perhaps it has nothing to do with the liberal/conservative dichotomy and she's simply found a means of communication we all should learn how to use?
Posted by: bls | March 17, 2005 at 02:07 PM