Of course all these cases were more complex than a brief mention can convey. And of course US foreign policy, under presidents from Nixon to Obama, has accomplished enormous good in the world — including, at times, the saving of many lives.
Yet the good America has done is dwarfed by the good America could have done. Too often we have been willing to disregard unspeakable evil in the mistaken belief that preventing atrocities is not “an American concern.” Kissinger’s words to Nixon that day in 1973 were repellent. The mindset behind them has been all too common.
Those are the closing two paragraphs of Yes, genocide is ‘an American concern’ by Jeff Jacoby.
I’m wondering, though, what lessons the article has for me as a Christian — lessons in responding to the needs of those who are outside my various circles and thus don’t touch or affect me directly.