Back during the Cold War, my family and I lived in England for a few years. My best friend while we lived there was neither American nor British; he was Finnish.
Those who know me may be aware of my political conservatism, and I’ve been a conservative for a long time, so it will not surprise you that I was anti-communist even as a teenager.
One day, my friend asked me an interesting question. What would I do if I found out my father was actually a sleeper agent for the Soviet Union? Would my loyalty to my father take precedence over my loyalty to the United States?
I thought about this question a bit before answering. To a great extent, my political beliefs as a teenager came from what my father had taught me. What if he’d only been pretending to be a conservative, so as to mask his true communist beliefs?
I told my friend that I would attempt to persuade my father to turn himself in to U.S. authorities and become a double agent, but failing that I would turn him in. (Dad, if you’re reading this, you did a good job of turning me into a loyal American. Hope that was what you wanted.)
Well, the Cold War is over, so the question is pretty irrelevant now. But what brought this to mind recently was Mark Hacking’s brothers telling the police about his confession. (A similar thing happened a few years ago when the Unabomber’s brother tipped off authorities.) It must have been very difficult for them, but I’m sure it was the right thing for them to do.
I just want to tell my brothers (and sisters, too) this: if you ever have evidence that I have committed a serious crime and are wondering whether to tell the police, I know where you live (well, except you, Michael, because you just moved and I don’t have your new address), so it should be easy for me to hunt you down and wreak my vengeance upon you. go ahead and tell them.