I grew up as a Pentecostal and a reader. Since I lived on a remote northern Minnesota farm 32 miles from the nearest public library, I tended to read what ever books I could get my hands on. The people in my church passed on to me books and some of them were accounts of Christians being tortured in Russia.

I grew up proud that the USA did not torture people like the communists.

Then the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center happened and on the following Sunday Vice President Dick Cheney said on NBC’s Meet the Press: “We have to work the dark side, if you will. We’re going to spend time in the shadows.”

Sadly, Cheney and our government began to sanction torture. Our work in the shadows is now chronicled in a new documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side. I haven’t seen the documentary yet but I plan on it.

When I was a boy reading the accounts of torture I never thought about what the meant for the torturers. Now I think about people who have tortured on our country’s behalf and I wonder how having tortured others affects their relationships as friends, spouses, and parents.

1st published 2/29/08.