Duty, Honor,
Country
Portage Patriot
There are few (very few) men that I
have met that I truly admire. Ya know, I’m going to take that back. I have
never met a man that I truly admire, I’ve met many men that I respect, but the
two men I actually admire are giant figures of the past. General Douglas MacArthur
and Sir Winston Churchill.
Wm. Manchester wrote a biography of General
MacArthur titled “American Caesar”, that should be read by every school kid
above the age of 15, but it’s a life story of a true American patriot and my
impression of our American schools is that they do not teach American
patriotism. Please, some teacher write, call, or email me with proof that I’m
wrong.
Sir Winston Churchill was the
greatest statesman to ever walk this planet and if President Roosevelt would
have listened to Churchill the world would be a much different, much safer
place today. Once again, it’s my impression that our children are not being
taught the true meaning of history and if there is someone out there that can
prove me wrong, please do so. Evidence supporting what I’ve just written
abounds in today’s headlines.
The three words that opened this article were
spoken by General MacArthur at his final speech at West Point. I ask each of
you that are reading this to Google “American Rhetoric.com” and read the whole
speech. He directed his speech to the Cadets, but we should apply his words in
our lives today.
Duty: seems old fashioned today,
when more and more careers (jobs) are government jobs or at least funded by
government, and the employee is called a bureaucrat and their most pressing
obligation is to see to it that their position is not de-funded. If you have
ever had anything to do with the IRS, USDA, DOT or the like you know just what
I’m talking about. I’ve heard it said that most government workers are
hardworking and dedicated, but I don’t think so, not when the word “most” is
used. And it’s just not appointed (or civil service) I refer to. A shining
example of what I suggest occurred this spring in Madison. Those democrats were
elected to do a job and they ran away. That is dereliction of duty and you libs
can call me all sorts of names for saying that, but those people have no sense
of duty and I’ll call ‘em as I see ‘em. The same goes for those teachers that
abandoned their classrooms. I’ll refer once again to what is happening in our
own back yard where two low level bureaucrats right here in Portage have taken it
upon themselves to make life miserable for Mr. Russell Smith.
Honor: I know what it is, but
difficult to define, easier to give examples of what is not honorable. The word
honor, like the word love is used too easily, as in; “the honorable”, fill in
the blank. By the time you read this the State Senate re-call elections will be
long over, but the gubernatorial re-call is coming up. No matter the result,
there was no honor in that whole miserable episode. Truth be told, when I think
of honor I think in term of our military. What an honor to serve our country. What
an honor to salute the colors as they pass. Honor: I know it when I see it, and
I don’t see it often enough.
Country: ah, the Country. The United
States of America, God did truly shed His grace on thee. This country is the
greatest country God placed on His earth. There are 224 other
countries in the world and at this writing 6,775,235,700 people. Some of those
countries and a lot of those people never heard of the United States of
America, but in the heart of those humans God has placed a spark, a yearning
for something more, something better. They don’t even know what yearning is and
will never find it, don’t even know where to look, but it was that spark, that
yearning that founded our Nation, and out there among those 224 countries are
peoples that do know there is a better place but they long to be here. It’s
been this way since Plymouth Rock. Look past the fact that Islam has declared
the United States the Great Satan. The Arab Spring is happening because those
people want to be free. They want what we have, they want to be free!
But all across this land there are
people that will argue that the United States is the epitome of evil and greed.
Most days, right here in this newspaper, on this page, I read from Americans
who hate this country. They live off the largess of this country, they take
advantage of the freedoms they have (just because they happen to be born here),
to disparage and denigrate this country every chance they get. They wring their
hands and moan, what a wretched country this is, but they stay here, they work
the system for all they can and when I point out their hypocrisy I’m told to
take my Bible and my Vietnam service and stick it up my___. Yes folks it happened. Fascist is one of the
more moderate words used to describe me by the dark side.
In the end it’s still about Duty,
Honor, Country, and I’ll stand in the shadow of General Douglas MacArthur.
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