When almost half the population of the United States believes that the torture of prisoners can be justified, I wonder if our citizenship has lost its moral compass.

The biography of William F. Dodd, ambassador to Germany during the time of the Nazi rise to power, cogently clarifies that when the population of a given country accepts and even promotes atrocities, the soul of its people has become shrouded in a pernicious, willful darkness.

In this holiday season, dedicated to light, ask yourself if torture, for any reason whatsoever, can ever, ever be acceptable.

Jo Going