Good vs. Evil: A Matter of Conscience

So much darkness. Along with all the rest, in quick succession, the shootings at Brown and Bondi Beach, the murder of director and activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, and then the responses. To the beloved Reiner's awful end, a sick man-child spewed vile, loathsome filth that "says it all" about who he is. To the hateful attack on Jews, a Muslim man stood up for humanity with selfless grace and courage, a beacon of hope. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Rob Reiner, 78, and his producer wife Michele Singer Reiner, 68, were found dead in their L.A. home on Sunday; their troubled son Nick, 32, was arrested and booked for murder for their gruesome deaths. Reiner was not just Hollywood aristocracy, All In the Family's pacifist "Meathead" who went on to become the buoyant director of classics like This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally; he was a fierce, thoughtful defender of democracy and decades-long advocate for causes he believed in - marriage equality, child development services, and taxing the rich for worthwhile goals like funding universal preschool with, brilliantly, a tobacco tax. Willing to speak out "when silence was simply easier," said one friend, "Rob chose clarity. He stood for truth and accountability, unapologetically." His work featured "a deep belief in the goodness of people - and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action," said Barack Obama. "Together, he and his wife lived lives defined by purpose."

In grotesque contrast is the malignant narcissist and "one of the worst humans to have ever poisoned the planet" who responded to a personal tragedy by raving it was due to Reiner's "massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction (of) TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME (with) his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as (we) surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness." Some reactions: "Insane," "Fucking grotesque,” “a monstrosity,”, “DESPICABLE,” "This is a sick man." Evangelical Russell Moore: "How this vile, disgusting, and immoral behavior has become normalized (is) something our descendants will study in school." "Goodness is determined by the way you move through this world," pastor John Pavloviitz writes. "Objectively speaking, (Trump) is the very worst humanity has produced," a "moral bottom-feeder" without scruples as are those who persist in supporting him. "He is simply a bad human being." In other words, said one sage on the grievous loss of Reiner, "In a world full of Archie Bunkers, be a Meathead."

Or, on the other side of the world, an Ahmed el-Ahmed, the heroic, 43-year-old Muslim Syrian, small tobacco shop and fruit stand owner, father of two young daughters and Australian citizen who, in now-viral video, crept up between cars to wrestle with and disarm one of two father-son shooters who killed 15 people Sunday night at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's popular Bondi Beach. In the riveting video we see Ahmed, who has no experience with guns, seize the rifle and tentatively point it at the shooter, who stumbles to the ground, stands dazed and small with no weapon, and scrambles away. Ahmed gently leans the gun against a tree, and raises one hand in the air to show police he's innocent of any crime. Later, his cousin Jozay Alkanj.Alkanj said the two had gone out to get coffee, walked by the event, and had just been offered some food when gunfire suddenly erupted. Ahmed turned to his cousin and said, "I’m going to die - please see my family and tell them I went down to try to save people's lives."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Later footage shows the gunman, the 50-year-old father of the pair, join his son at a small bridge, grab another weapon, and continue firing. Either he or the son, 24, eventually hit Ahmed four or five times, in the arm and shoulder. Police later killed the father, who reportedly arrived in Australia in 1998 on a student visa and had amassed six guns, all legally, over the past decade. The Australian-born son was shot and wounded by police, and is in the hospital. Ahmed is at St. George Hospital in Kogarah; he lost a lot of blood and is now recovering from his first surgery, with at least two more to follow. Sam Issa, his immigration attorney, said Ahmed arrived in the country in 2006, had to overcome multiple obstacles and appeals before getting citizenship in 2022, and feels "indebted" to the Australian community. "He makes a great citizen, and he has worked very hard," he said. "Ahmed is a humble man. He just did what he was compelled to do as a human being on that day."

Another cousin, Mustafa al-Asaad, said Ahmed told him in the hospital he didn't know what came over him in that moment, but "God gave me strength." "When he saw people dying and their families being shot, he couldn't bear it," he said. "It was a humanitarian act more than anything else. It was a matter of conscience." Ahmed's parents, Mohamed Fateh al-Ahmed and Malakeh Hasan al-Ahmed only arrived in Sydney two months ago, and hadn't seen their son since 2006. "I feel pride and honor because my son is a hero of Australia," said his father Mohamed, who added Ahmed had "served with the police. He has the passion to defend people." He stressed Ahmed "wasn’t thinking about the background of the people he’s saving, he doesn’t discriminate between one nationality and another." Echoing him, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted they'd just seen both the worst and best of humanity: “We have seen Australians today run towards danger in order to help others, and strangers."

For many, the grim - and in Australia, rare - horror of another mass shooting was partly eased by a the bravery of a Syrian-Australian migrant they saw as "the best of us in the darkest of times." "In a moment of chaos and danger, he stepped forward without hesitation," wrote organizers of a GoFundMe that's raised over $2 million for Ahmed and his family. "No one expects to be a hero, but when the moment came, he was." Moved donors called Ahmed "a beacon of hope for what mankind can be when we stand as one," "a shining light in an otherwise bleak time," "a Righteous among the Nations," "a light of hope for the world." A Muslim man saving Jewish families, one wrote, "shows the world what truly matters - humanity above all else." Outside the hospital, strangers brought flowers. Said one woman: "My husband is Russian, my father is Jewish, my grandpa is Muslim. This is not only about Bondi, this is about every person." Said Ahmed inside, groggy as he was wheeled into surgery: "Pray for us."

.