Their child-like faith is so touching . . .

In this holiday--er, Christmas season (sorry, Mr. O'Reilly), one of the most sentiment-inducing and sweetest things to see is the innocence of children. Putting out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve, or listening in wonder to the age-old stories we've all grown up on. Whether you're Christian or not, whose heart doesn't thrill just a little to the narrative of shepherds being visited by angels with a message of great joy and hope for all people? All of us hope, all of us want to see better days ahead. Days of peace and security, prosperity and enough for all.

But there comes a day in all of our lives when we know that merely hoping isn't enough. No, it's hard work to bring about the changes we want to see in the world. Gandhi said that a good place to start is to be the change you want to see in the world, and that seems like good advice to me. Live you life as you would want others to live. Philosophers and prophets show a surprising unanimity on the Golden Rule of treating others the way you yourself would like to be treated. It's difficult to return good for evil or to show kindness to everyone because there are so many jerks in the world, so many people whose basest interests are gratified only through depriving others of what belongs to them.

We work and we struggle for it. Sometimes we're successful, but often we fail. I don't have a lot of answers, but I do know one thing: You shouldn't ask the fox to guard the henhouse. In that vein, it's not touching, it's not sweet, and it's not sentimental to consider the recent disclosures of governmental and official misconduct in spying on our fellow citizens, whether it's the Catholic Workers in Washington DC or a Quaker discussion group in Lake Worth FL. One of the more disturbing notes in the past few days has been the news that New York's Finest, the police department immortalized in TV dramas, movies and other popular media as a bulwark against the bad guys, were actively trying to curtail free speech and instigate riots through agents provocateur.

And yet the New York Times maintains a simple, child-like faith that everything will come out just as right as rain. I'll let them tell you in their own editorial words from today (no subscription required):

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/opinion/23fri3.html

"Mayor Michael Bloomberg's record on free speech is already pretty poor. Unless he wants to make a disregard for New Yorkers' rights part of his legacy, he should make sure that the police understand what civil liberties mean in a democracy."

Yes, the Times is actually saying that the Mayor, whose record on free speech is already pretty poor is the only man in the entire city who will make sure that his police force understands what civil liberties mean in a democracy. Such faith in allegedly mature grown-ups is no longer sentimental or sweet; it's just sad. The Times used to be a great newspaper.

A genuine, one-to-a-customer gratuitous kick.