Millions of Ottos

From a safe distance we were able to witness the distilled truth of how barbarous, fiendish and merciless the world can be. No parent should live to bury their young, and fortunately, for most of us, the closest clash of reality with this ever happening occurs only in a fever-pitched dream. But last week, for Mr. and Mrs. Warmbier of Ohio, their son was delivered from North Korea in a vegetable state and has now passed away. As the story started to trickle into the news, it became apparent that this unfortunate event is a stark prompting that it is not a cliche but truly an extreme measure of fortune that we live in the United States of America.

“Let’s arm ourselves strongly with Kim Jong-il’s patriotism,” is what was written on the banner Otto Warmbier took from the hotel he was staying at during his North Korean tour last year. The 21-year-old Jewish-American student wanted to take home a souvenir from his travels in the elusive North Korea, a country where few Americans are allowed to travel every year. For this crime he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

The government sponsored North Korean news agency, KCNA, described his actions as “a hostile act against the state.” In what was almost undoubtedly forced, Otto in his testimony before a North Korean court said “I never should have allowed myself to be lured by the United States administration to commit a crime in this country. I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries” He was begging for his life from a deaf, brutal regime with no capacity for mercy and unmatched 1984 villainy.

The eyewitness account from Otto’s roommate stated that two guards dressed in gray uniforms came into their room without saying a word. They tapped Otto on the shoulder and escorted him out of the building. The roommate said he nervously quipped to Otto, “well, that’s the last we’ll see of you.” His words were an accurate foreshadowing of Otto’s fate.

A personal directive from President Trump was given to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to negotiate the release of Otto Warmbier. It was only a week before his release that anyone knew of Otto’s condition. At an unknown point during his imprisonment, Otto received brain damage and fell into a coma. North Korean officials said Otto developed botulism and had a bad reaction with a sleeping pill but American doctors see no evidence of that. For a petty crime, this boy was mistreated, tortured and given an early death sentence.

It is evident that the U.S. is the last bastion of hope in this world, the last safe-haven. It is sobering to know that millions around the world are permanently entrapped in barely Medieval countries like North Korea. By chance, we lucky few are born here. Even among other democracies, the U.S. stands a notch above. Freedom of speech in Europe and Canada is not absolute. You can be put in jail for supposed hate speech involving criticizing a religion or misgendering someone. There is no second amendment in most of these countries either. The Bill of Rights is a unique document to our government system. Communism, fascism and socialism have all failed. Last century was a large experiment for these ideologies and North Korea still clings to its most negative impulses. If Otto would of been in the United States, he never would of received such cruel and unusual punishment. But citizens of North Korea live everyday under the foot of a despotic dictatorship. Desperate for emancipation, millions of Ottos wish for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness everyday but never get it.