What does it mean to be human? The book of Genesis says that we have value and dignity because we have been created in the image of God. In the New Testament we are then told to love one another, yet we have all experienced the opposite – hatred, hurt, pain, and discord – in our lives. How does our experience align with the ideal set forth in the Bible? How do we understand what it means to be someone who puts his or her life on the line? Often our duty, especially as a soldier, requires taking human life while risking our own lives. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer was part of the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler for the greater good of the world. He was executed for his beliefs, and he was prepared for this possibility. As George Orwell said, “Those who abjure violence can do so only because others [rough men] are committing violence on their behalf (Bookey, 2024.)

As soldiers, first responders, healthcare providers, as well as anyone who has either caused moral injury to others or has experienced it, and often both, how can we reconcile everyday life with our highest principles?

I wrestle with this quandary myself in the context of the books I like to read. One of my favorite fictional characters is Evan Smoak. Also known as Orphan X and the Nowhere Man, Evan has blood on his hands. He has spent his life killing for the President of the United States and the Secret Service. Recruited from a group home when he was twelve, Evan Smoak was trained as an assassin to perform covert assignments whose watchwords were plausible deniability and expendability. 

 Nonetheless, everyone, even a superhero or a former black-ops assassin, has a moral code or ethical framework by which he lives his life. The Ten Commandments of the Orphan program were Evan’s code. His handler, mentor, and father figure was Jack Johns who told Evan, “Always respect life. Then you’ll value yours. The hard part isn’t turning you into a killer. The hard part is keeping you human.” Fundamental to his credo, of all the commandments that Evan was taught, beginning with “assume nothing,” he epitomizes the Tenth Commandment: “never let an innocent die” (Hurwitz, 2016).

There are nine Orphan X books. The plot of Lone Wolf requires that Evan must eliminate a Silicon Valley billionaire technocrat who has created a digital conscience that could make decisions to kill so as to spare soldiers the moral burden. Evan must nullify this evil genius who has already killed several of those in disagreement. Paradoxically, thought Evan, the moral burden was the only thing connecting soldiers and all of humanity to the cost of killing. An AI conscience became Godlike and inhuman (Hurwitz, 2024). 

Crucial to Evan’s development as a human being, in this book he meets his worthless father whose callous indifference to his son shatters Evan’s sense of right and wrong. Devastated and demoralized, Evan returns to his sense of purpose through learning to experience empathy. As he functions in his mission as the Nowhere Man he begins to feel another person’s point of view, as he overcomes his strictly selfish perspective, and learns to empathize with his fellow orphan Joey, with his niece, and with the annoying residents of his high-rise apartment complex.

The moral imperative of the Nowhere Man is that he is committed to come to the rescue when someone he has previously helped gives his Roamzone phone number to a friend who desperately needs what only he can do. He always answers, “Do you need my help?”

I am fascinated by this thriller hero or vigilante who saves those who have been mercilessly preyed upon.  His empathy comes from his own hurt. He has an overdeveloped sense of justice because he was treated so unjustly in his youth, before he became Jack John’s protégé at age twelve. He carries others’ burdens while potentially injuring himself. Likewise, military chaplains run this same risk. Often, they are embedded with the troops, which makes them more effective, and likewise more susceptible to potentially morally injurious situations. It is where they find themselves most useful to their fellow soldiers (Stewart and Lumpkin, 2023). Chaplains are uniquely positioned to engage in dialogue with soldiers to reconstruct and recalibrate their lives as they find healing from moral injury.

Resonant with Evan Smoaks’ purpose, their mission is “Never let an innocent die,” literally or figuratively. I welcome your comments regarding Orphan X and other vigilante heroes. There is a lot of room for discussion and disagreement.

Learn more about Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen, Inc. and sign up for our newsletter at: https://misns.org.
Get to know our team: https://misns.org/about-us/
Donate to our cause: https://misns.org/donation/ 

To learn more and become better equipped for service, we welcome you to attend the annual Comprehensive Moral Injury Conference this summer in Sandy Springs, Georgia, from September 16-19, 2024.

Click here for further information and to register: https://misns.org/programs/cmic/

Sources

Bookey. Orwell. https://www.bookey.app/quote-author-edit/george-orwell_those-who-‘a-8

Hurwitz, Gregg (2024). Lone Wolf. Thorndike Press.

Hurwitz, Gregg (2016).  The Nowhere. Minotaur Press.

Stewart, Philip N and Lumpkin, Douglas E. (2023). Bearing Witness: A Phenomenological Analysis of the Intersections between Service Members, Military Chaplains, and Potentially Morally Injurious Events. In Watson, Susan and Roberts, Daniel L., ed. (2023). Moral injury research, discussions, and support methods, Volume 2. Moral Injury Support Network for Servicewomen Inc.